at Strasbourg, written in his and his colleagues' name, together with a letter to Count Palatine Friedrich. *)
December 26, 1524.
To the Most Serene Prince and Lord, Lord Frederick, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, my most gracious Lord.
1. noble highborn prince, gracious lord. I wish grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ to E. F. G. with the offering of my submissive, completely willing service, always ready, beforehand. I say praise and glory to God, our merciful, most gracious Father, who has so graciously preserved E. F. G. until now, that she has by no means allowed herself to be moved to persecute the Gospel of our Savior JEsu Christ, as fiercely as 1) some of the [so-]called clergy have violently worked against it, but has also given her an inclined, good-willing heart to His holy Word, which shows itself daily more and more in true Christian deeds. 2) For it is a special great grace and blessing of God, when he sets godly princes before us, as it is his great wrath and heavy plague, when he lets the godless, children 3) and fools rule, as this is read in Isaiah 3 and 32, along with many other places in the Scriptures. And the wise prince Solomon says [Prov. 29, 2.]: When the righteous 4) flourish, the people prosper, but when the wicked rule, the people mourn." Therefore, like all godly people, it is a special joy for me in the Lord that I can hear the praise of how Father G., together with several other princes, has an inclined will to promote the holy gospel, which is a noticeable salutary splendor of his mercy and great grace, which I also have to rejoice in particular for the sake of Father G.. For when I was redeemed from the monastic state, in which there are truly few who know God, they so graciously appointed me as a servant.
1) d. i. yes also.
2) So from transposed instead of: "eiget". It is possible that originally "euget" was written rst, that is, lets itself be seen, shows itself.
3) So put by us instead of: "godless children".
4) Thus set by us according to Prov. 29:2. instead of: "rights".
After God had given me another calling, I took leave of absence again and was dispatched, so that I should rightly desire E.F.G.'s welfare and salvation before others and ask the Almighty for it with the utmost diligence, and also hear with great thanksgiving and delight of heart that He creates and works such things so abundantly with her. He, our God and Lord, who has the heart of all kings and princes in his hand, Prov. 21:1, and who alone works in all, both the will and the deed, Phil. 2:13.May He begin and accomplish His work in you, namely the knowledge of His most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, "whom He raised from the dead and seated at His right hand in the heavenly realm, above all principality, power, authority, dominion and all that is to be called, not only in this world but also in the world to come; And hath put all things under his feet, and hath set him before all things to be the head of the church, which is his body, and the fulness of him that filleth all in all". Eph. 1, 20-23.
(2) It may not be lacking, as the Lord himself also foretold, that there must be many unbelievers who come under his name, and manfully, but before princes and lords, as many others are attached to them, spare no possible pains to turn away from this our Savior the things and things that are common to them. "But it would be in vain if the bird's yarn were set before its eyes," as Solomon says [Proverbs 1:17]. The certain testimony of the Lord, which also makes the unwise wise, the imperishable bright word of God, will thus guide and direct, that such deceivers of their deceitfulness and false glittering shall not obtain a continuance with her. For who would there be whom God would not otherwise have cast down and blinded, who would not immediately see from the bright law of God that we are all sinners and condemned by our actions, when no human being anywhere can be condemned by the law of God?
*) The original edition appeared in quarto, without indication of place and time. . (Walch.) The text is after Walch.
who loves God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself; on which two pieces the whole Law and the Prophets hang, so that whoever lacks them has transgressed all of God's commandments. Since we are all transgressors of God's commandments and therefore condemned and maledicted, we will never be able to help ourselves or other people from such condemnation and malediction; as we are in disgrace, so all our deeds will be displeasing to God. The tree is of no use, 1) how could the fruit be of any use? If all God's Scripture directs us to the only begotten seed of Abraham, in whom all nations shall be given, our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone redeems his people from sin, and leads them to obtain from him forgiveness of sin and eternal blessing through true faith: Who then would be so foolish as to dare to obtain such things by himself or other creatures, by his own work or that of others, be it confession, imposed pardon, indulgences, the merit of monks, or whatever else has been devised for the comfort of some idle bellies, and for the great harm and damage of poor ignorant souls?
Christ says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest," Matth. 11, 28, and Joh. 14, 6: "No one comes to the Father except through me," and Joh. 15, 5: "Without me you can do nothing. Who would not want to leave everything and surrender to him completely with good faith? Truly, whoever trusts in our Lord Jesus Christ and thus surrenders to Him with true faith, as such a heart would mean and love in our Savior alone, would also have to be hostile to his sins and his entire previous life, and would have to be thoroughly repentant and displeased about them, and would also confess his sin before God and all men, where it would bring correction and give cause to turn to God's goodness, and would confess it from the bottom of his heart. Repentance would no longer consist in praying one Our Father or five times a day, giving one alms or two times a week, fasting one day or six times a year, but in spirit and in truth such a person would pray without ceasing at all times and call upon God for mercy for himself and all people in his heart, and also live his life soberly and with the breaking off of all bodily excess, to curb his flesh and make it obedient to the spirit.
1) "shall nothing" - is of no use.
2) and to devote his whole life, what he is and what he is able to do, to the service of his neighbor, to everyone who needs him, and to be ready to do to anyone, as Christ Jesus did to him, who also laid down his body and life for his enemies; and this is truly and Christianly praying, fasting, and almsgiving, yes, it is the one right penance that every Christian should practice throughout his life, ready to suffer and endure everything that God inflicts on him to suffer. Thus he dies to sins, and the baptism of Christ is completed in him, thus he considers and proves in himself the death of Christ, which memory he also keeps the Lord's Supper to promote and strengthen, 3) and knows that by merely attending Mass, or if he does so, nothing against sin can be accomplished or earned. This is what a true Christian is like, and such fruit is produced by faith where it exists, this is taught by all divine Scripture, this is what those who preach the Word of God and the Gospel preach; yes, G. H., this is the most unheard of, most harmful, most poisonous heresy, which cuts off all good statutes and order, breaks up and destroys obedience, peace and unity, against which our [so-called] ecclesiastical prelates are subjecting all princes and lords to move. Then one shall act against them with iron, water and fire, as against the Turks and the worst enemies of God that ever came on earth. But such nonsense is nothing new; Christ, our Lord, who preached just such things and led the most holy life, moreover, confirmed his deeds and teachings with such great and many miraculous signs, their forefathers, the Pharisees and scribes, also did so, as was also done before to all the prophets and afterward to all the apostles, and so ever from the beginning of the world taught the truth, by their equals. The world cannot do otherwise; it hates and persecutes Christ and anyone who wants to have anything to do with him.
4) E. F. G. has lived with so many [so-]called clergymen, prelates, cardinals, bishops, abbots and others and has had knowledge of them, 4) but I know that she asks God that he protect her from the clergy, so she has seen with the greater part of the same clerical fathers. For more splendor and opulence is not found in the most worldly princes than in those who are held closest to the highest holiness, to whom one must also kiss the feet. Now Christ has once spoken, and cannot be otherwise: "He that is not with me," saith he, "is
2) So put by us instead of: to bring.
3) So put by us instead of: hold.
4) So put by us instead of: had known.
Against me; he that gathereth not with me scattereth." So our [so-]called spiritual squires are with Christ as wolves are with sheep, and gather with him as the wind gathers the chaff, yea, they are like him 1) in all things, as water and fire, night and day, hell and heaven. In Christ there is nothing but humility and temporal contempt, in them there is splendor and pride; in Christ there is poverty, but a mind that is always ready to help anyone, in them riches and avarice, for whom the earth is too narrow; in Christ there is meekness and gentleness, in them war, murder, condemnation of unheard causes, driving out, burning and erasing; in Christ constant teaching and preaching, in them flowing 2) and hunting. In sum, Christ carries the cross everywhere, that he may help others, so they let themselves be led in litters and lay the cross on all whom they do not worship with will. Christ takes nothing and gives to everyone in vain, 3) so they take from everyone and give to no one in vain, unless it be pretty damsels and minstrels.
5 Therefore, G. H., Christ so earnestly says: "Either plant a good tree, and the fruit will be good, or plant a rotten tree, and the fruit will be rotten; for the tree is known by the fruit. You vipers, how can you speak good, because you are evil? When the heart is full, the mouth overflows. A good man brings forth good from his good treasure, and an evil man brings forth evil from his evil treasure," Matth. 12, 33-35.And if men see such fruits in our clergy and also in all their advocates, which befit Christian spiritual fathers, like pine cones 4) on a fig tree, they must be seen and confessed to be rotten trees, therefore their counsels, doctrines and statutes may not be Christian either; "When the heart is full, the mouth overflows. Therefore, where they are to advise how Christians are to be taught and governed in a Christian way, it is just as if one wanted to set faithful shepherds for the sheep and take counsel with the wolves. It is obvious and cannot be denied that they do not seek God, for otherwise they would live differently; they seek their splendor and pleasure, but what good do they want to advise or do?
6. such is also good to assume that they work so anxiously that the things
1) So put by us instead of: him.
2) This will probably mean the unclean rivers (xollutioues).
3) i. e. free of charge.
4) In the old edition: Dannzapfen.
Our faith and Christian doctrine are not to be publicly interrogated, but all who do not preach to their liking are to be condemned unheard. But Christ may not lie, who says, "He that doeth evil hateth not the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his works be punished. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest; for they are done in God," John 3:20. f. They have so many learned doctors, clothed in fine garments and scarlet, all the high schools are with them; is their thing so righteous, and that which we preach so unrighteous, why come they not to the light? The Scripture of God is written to all believers, so all believers have the Spirit of Christ, by which the Scripture is understood: so take the Scripture before your hand, show each part its doctrine and deeds, and all Christians will well see how according or according to the Scripture each part acts. From such interrogation and judgment, they may by no means reject F. F. G. and other princes and rulers, whom they call worldly, as impossible, and who do not understand trade; 5) for truly no one has less understanding of things than they, which is obvious and no one can deny; and all believers can and should recognize, discuss and judge all things concerning faith and worship. For God alone has given His Scriptures to His believers, and so also the spiritual judges all things, 1 Cor. 2, 15; for whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ is not His, Rom. 8, 9. Moreover, if a male is to be a believer in God, he must also know what the Word of God is, which alone is to be believed. Therefore (as contrary to nature as it is to condemn something unheard, and Christ Himself says that all His sheep know His voice, even the old very best councils, described by emperors and held in their and their rulers' presence), 6) the E. F. G. should never let himself be persuaded to stand by those who, unheard, want to condemn and exterminate all who do not preach according to the liking of the aforementioned clergymen, and allow them no judge but themselves. For it is against all natural equity not to let Christ preach otherwise, and to condemn unheard all who preach him otherwise, because they want to prove themselves with all their doings as renounced enemies of Christ. It may also not help them that they always reproach that our preaching and teaching was rejected by all at Costnitz in the common concilio.
5) Thus set by us instead of: understood.
6) These brackets are set by us.
If the people of the kingdom were condemned, one could not hold a concilium of one's own for each of them, then it would be a frivolous act to again enter into disputation, which was once so seriously decided by the concilium. For, concilium aside, the word of God is to be preached; if someone does not preach it and will not desist from it, he is to be put to death, but he is to be examined and questioned as to whether he has preached it or not. No concilium is allowed for this; every Christian authority will be able to recognize, if it has the Scriptures of God, whether an opinion is in accordance with it or not. The dispute is not about what is right, what one should preach or not. God has decreed that one should teach His word, and the law is His law; the dispute is whether the preachers or their opponents preach the word of God or that which is contrary to it, and which act according to or contrary to God's law. So that one should put to death a man who has killed is the right that remains, and is therefore not a question; nor, if one has killed, should he be brought before the law, hear his answer, and inquire whether he has acted contrary to the law or not; and should one who preaches the bright word of God, and has the courage to prove it, not come to any interrogation? and that the most holy and the most clerical should refuse? who, if they wanted to be Christians, are obliged to point out and report to every erring person with all meekness; is this not a perverse, impudent ferocity, which would be repugnant to the Turks?
7 To all this is well known how it happened at Costnitz in the Concilio. All the princes and estates of the empire, whom the papal household calls secular, were persuaded that they had no right to judge in matters of faith, so they ordered the prelates, who had been appointed, to do so. If the same should have recognized something abortive in their splendid, machiavellian, cowardly, wanton life, as is the entire divine Scripture, it would have been contrary to the order of nature, which always loves itself more than others and always puts the temporal before the eternal. The pious Emperor Siegmund would have liked to carry out a reformation of the clerical state and has worked himself up in the same, but he was thus superior through the [so-]called clergy, as still happens today, when one comes together that the clergy have three votes, so pious secular princes, who put their body, honor and goods to the empire, do not have one; that all things would have to proceed sooner than such a salutary reformation. For one sees and grasps that from the heel to the
There is nothing wholesome or whole in the entire aforementioned spiritual state. Therefore, it will not be easy to let the Word of God be the guideline for all teaching and preaching, regardless of what was decided in the Concilio at Costnitz; to interrogate anyone who dares to prove that his preaching and teaching is the Word of God; if one does not consider it frivolous that in many lesser matters it is examined what is or is not in accordance with the law, and what was decided by the ancients is not respected.
8. The divine Scripture lies so brightly in the light of day, that 1) what the aforementioned spiritual crowd teaches and does is contrary to Scripture; This is also recognized by a large part of the respectability, where there is only freedom to preach the word of God, that no one with understanding and no one who has not renounced the truth beforehand, may consider it useless or unnecessary to grant interrogation, speech and deliverance from matters of our faith and Christian life, which are now in obscurity. Yes, no one who loves Christ can refuse such things, much less condemn someone who is unheard. But of course, whoever thinks about the matter a little, will soon see that the clergymen mentioned have no reported pleas where they would be justified in their cause. They know [that] where they come before the common respectability and their trade is held against divine scripture, yes, only against natural equity, that they would not stand. Therefore, all their work and effort since the last Imperial Diet, held at Augsburg, has been directed solely to ensuring that no one is granted an interrogation, but that only men who do not want to give them victory are condemned unaccountable and unheard. E. F. G. may well recognize how not only unchristian, but [also] how unnatural such a thing is; as she has also recognized this and has long since noted that they, the supposed clergymen, desire to bring their cause out by force; therefore your soul will never consent to their counsel;
(9) Neither shall they be moved to lie without ceasing, that they would abolish all authority, and if reformation be obtained with them, they shall then be moved to all authority, and dissolve all obedience. For if one preaches the word of God, one teaches that every soul should be subject to and obey the authority and all authorities, as Rom. 13, 1. ff. Tit. 3, 1. and 1 Pet. 2, 13. is expressed. For of course, if one teaches God rightly, it may not be that His order, to whom all authority and rulership belongs, is not obeyed.
1) In the old edition: the.
anyone resists. But they, the [so-called] clergy, if they wanted to be spiritual and apostolic, should serve like Christ, our Lord, and not rule; as he did not let him serve, but served us and gave his soul for salvation for many, and said to his disciples: "The worldly princes rule, and the rulers rule by force: so it shall not be among you: but if any man be mighty among you, let him be your servant; and whosoever will be chief, let him be your servant."-Matt. 20, 25-27. But now they leave the divine service of the divine word, and go with violence over all authorities and rulers appointed by God, yes, as Peter [2 Ep. 2, 10.] prophesied of them, "walking after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness, despising the rulers, being thirsty, thinking highly of themselves, and not trembling to blaspheme the majesties". Therefore they are the same ones who dissolve divine order and obedience, and destroy all authorities according to all their will, when the word of God teaches masculine, corrupt and uncorrupt, to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey the authorities.
10. Now and all here in Strasbourg, if for the sake of peaceful attendance and Christian unity an honorable council, my gracious lords, has intended to the [so-]called clergy to enter into civil unity and duty, like other inhabitants, noble and ignoble, one finds among them those who may spend, Such would be a breach of their oath and honor, just as if their oath bound them and their honor were to be neither faithful nor loyal to those with whom they live, indeed, from whom they get their nourishment here 1) and are in part their relatives by blood, nor to obey Christian commandments and prohibitions that serve and are necessary for respectability. For civic duty and alliance, which is expected of them. Nothing else demands it. If many insist on their liberties given to them by kings and emperors, it is obvious that such liberties are only given to spiritual holy fathers, so that they may follow the service of the divine word all the more freely, and by no means be more needy of such loose servants, who would be subject to an authority, and only to a strict one, than not soon a people on earth, as one can obviously see. If one examines their letters of freedom, indeed, all their old donationes, one will find that many other people have been given such, to which our [so-]called spiritual crowd is like, as Abraham had the pharaohs.
1) After the word "here" we have deleted "are".
were like the sowers who crucified Jesus. But as it is shown above, that they make many pretexts, by which they think to show that it is not proper, in such matters of faith, to grant anyone a public interrogation and questioning, and yet is the fundamental cause, why they so much shrink from public interrogation, that they know their causes to be essentially rotten and of no use; so also in this case they accuse this and that, so that they pour out godly and cheap obedience from themselves, and is but the some right cause, that their life is thus formed, that they may suffer no Christian authority, which then is "instituted of God for the vengeance of evildoers and praise of benefactors," 1 Petr. 2,14., therefore also Paul speaks Rom. 13, 3.: "The mighty are not to be feared for good works, but for evil ones." Thus it is that they, the aforementioned clergy, find those who despise and reject all divine authority, as they may not suffer any because of their unrighteous life, and falsely attribute this to the preachers of 2) divine word, who teach and preach not only that all other proper authorities, but also that they, 3) (who should not rule worldly), are to be feared, 3) (who should not rule worldly, if they want to be descendants of the apostles, because God has sent them to be worldly rulers) should be obeyed by all who are under their authority, as long as they do not command anything that is against God and affects the soul, yes, out of the word of God they exhort what concerns only the temporal, as body, honor and property, even to suffer violence from them. But if all their business is to deceive and seduce the poor simple-minded layman, and if by their works, which they do so brazenly that they have long been an abomination to all respectability, and no one who loves discipline and shame likes to have anything to do with them, they prove that they are born not of God but of the devil (for John says: Whoever commits sin is of the devil): then it is no wonder, indeed, it cannot be otherwise than that all their feuding and saying is vain lies. The devil is a liar and the father of lies, John 8:44, so what else would he teach his sons?
They also show such a kind of superfluous here and everywhere. They alone have invented, testified and written out so many clumsy, unrhymed lies about me, the poor and inept servant of the word, that it is highly astonishing. There
2) So put by us instead of: the preacher.
3) The brackets are placed by us for easier understanding.
I must have led a disorderly life before 1) when I was at the same time at the court of E. F. G.; I must have run away from the court of E. F. G. with great shame, if she did not graciously give me special gifts and presents; my housewife ran away from me; I circumcised children; I did this and that. Some of my co-workers in the Word have preached that our dear wife, the mother of Christ, is a dog; another has said that he preached that if a man is away from his wife for a while, she should take the next one whom she likes: If we preach about marriage in this way, out of the law of God, if one were to comply with it, some of the clergy mentioned would have had to be evicted long ago; for one finds highly learned clergymen who have denied one's wife in their spiritual court and taken her immediately.
12 And therefore, G. H., since also by my co-workers and preachers of the Gospel here in Strasbourg, upon and through the certain word of God, some things have been changed and improved in the divine service, of which our said adversaries far and wide 3) lie abominably before princes and lords, as they have also done to us before, I have described such things to E. F. G. with reference to divine Scripture, on which everything has been done. with reference to divine Scripture, on which everything is based, in the shortest possible way, so that it, reported to the truth, would know the less to let itself be taken in by some hot tales, even though great bishops and prelates would bring them forward, because they believe too much in such things, even still, and truly to say, they are often invented too quickly. I also want to inform E. F. G. herewith, if there is something in my fortune that I could do for her service and favor, that I would be quite willing and ready for it, because I have her gracious good deeds, abundantly shown to me, her unfit servant, still in fresh memory and will always have them.
13. my humble and very diligent request to you is that you graciously accept my letter, which is based on Christian opinion, and not let anyone turn away from the eternal, certain, salvific Word of God; the anointed one, whom you, high and low stan-
1) "formerly" put by us instead of: "before Masver". Should it perhaps be "before M. G. H." i. r. before my gracious lord?
2) "him", namely the law. Thus put by us instead of "him"; likewise equally from it "their" put by us instead of: "their".
3) "wide" set by us instead of: "ready".
4) Prince of the kingdom, sayings and complaints are not to be challenged so highly and that nothing of unheard cause is condemned, nor the persons are regarded. Christ says: What is high among men is an abomination in the sight of God. He has chosen the despised and the lowly to proclaim His word to the world. Read 1 Cor. 1 and 2. But we are sure of our things, that we commit ourselves to death, where no one 6) can prove that our preaching and what we 7) do on it are not equal to and in accordance with the certain word of God, written in his holy Scriptures; it is also our greatest complaint that our adversary has so far everywhere prevented us from giving public reason and cause for our teaching and doing before all the world, as we know how to do. We seek the light and do not shun the light as our adversaries do. May the Almighty, through Christ our Lord, grant E. F. G. to grasp his word rightly, and thereby to remain and persevere steadfastly for the certain welfare and blessedness of you and your subjects. Amen. Given at Strasbourg, the 26th dee. 1524.
E. F. G.
servant Martin Butzer.
Christian reader! So that I do not offend anyone, I will take care not only to set down the opinion of divine Scripture, but also to use its words. Therefore, let no one be afraid whether he will read other words here than those in common use. If he examines the Scriptures, he will find that such words are written by the Holy Spirit and not only by me.
Of innovation at the Lord's Supper.
1 The Lord's Supper, as the Holy Spirit calls it through the mouth of Paul, has been called Mass for a long time, namely among the subjects of the Roman Church, and it has been said that when the priest says Mass, he offers the body and blood of Christ for the living and the dead; that no more useful and wholesome good work has been considered. And to signify this offering, the bread and the chalice of the Lord have not been taken care of, not even because-
4) some - any.
5) "ever world" - from the beginning, from time immemorial. 6) perhaps: someone?
7) In the old edition: me.
No one has ever partaken of the Lord's supper; more, such garments are used as the sacrificers, called sacerdotes in Latin, used to some extent among the Jews and pagans, 1) so that the mass of all things would be equal to a sacrifice and would be considered as such.
(2) But we, informed by the graces of God of His Holy Word (to Him be eternal praise!), know that the most abominable, poisonous, and all-damaging dishonor and blasphemy of Christ our Lord and Savior is to think and say that the priest offers Him up in the mass. Therefore, since light has no fellowship with darkness, Christ does not agree with Belial, and the believer has no part with the unbeliever, 2 Cor. 6:15.We have completely put away and put to rest in our congregation everything that has been added to the Lord's Supper without Scriptural grounds, for the purpose of fortifying and defiling Christ and divine grace, so that we no longer use the name Mass, but the Lord's Supper, which we hold in remembrance of the death of our Lord, and by no means as an offering of his body and blood, without the raising of the bread and cup; nor, unless some have received with them the bread and the cup of the Lord. For this purpose, the priest and minister of the congregation do not use any special garment, except that which is called the surplice, and none of the sacrificial garments, such as alb, stol, casel, etc., nor any other vestments invented by men without the word of God.
3 Because it is not enough to do what is right and just in oneself, but a Christian must, as far as possible, see to it that what he does is also better for the elect (to those who are rejected, it must be a stench of death to do what is good), for true Christian love requires that we be ready to die for the salvation of our neighbor, as the Lord has done for us, I will not say, that we should strive to be better for others. To this end Paul exhorts the Romans Cap. 14, 19. Let each one of us, he says, set himself up to please his neighbor, for good, for correction. For even Christ had no pleasure in himself, but, as it is written, "The reproach of them that revile me is fallen upon me." And to the Corinthians he thus writes [1 Ep. Cap. 10, 31.-11, 1.]: "You eat or drink, or what you do: be indecent, both to the Greeks and to the
1) So put by us instead of: been.
2) So put by us instead of: to add.
3) The brackets are set by us.
Jews, and the congregation of God, even as I also please everyone in all things, seeking not what is profitable for me, but what is profitable for many, that they may be saved. Be ye followers of me, even as I of Christ."
(4) Therefore, as far as possible, we would like to make everything that we have changed and improved in this and other things on and through the word of God pleasing and better for everyone, so that, as everything is right and godly in itself, it would also be considered and accepted by men for the glory of God, whose words we have followed in this, and also for the good of all who have promised themselves to Christ. Piety and edification of all who have promised themselves to Christ, that they too have undertaken to follow the voice of their shepherd and the teaching of the one Master and Teacher whom the Father has given us, alone, putting aside what has been fabricated by men in such matters concerning faith and worship. Furthermore, it is incumbent upon us to be as diligent as possible to see to it that our treasure, the holy gospel and eternal word, and even our ministry, is not blasphemed, Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 6, so that what we do is not only pleasing and better to those who are willing, but also, as far as we are able, unpunishable and irreproachable to those who are wicked.
(5) We do not know how to obtain both of these better or sooner, if we only show the Scriptures and God's word, which we have followed and complied with in our actions: if the chosen ones of God hear how they recognize and love God the Lord as supreme, then they will also be completely pleased with him, since they find his command and order. With David the whole faithful crowd sings Ps. 19, 10. 11.: "The judgments of the Lord are righteous, all righteous. They are more precious than gold and much fine gold; they are sweeter than honey and honey germ." And in the 119th Psalm v. 103. f.: "How sweet are thy words to my throat, more than honey to my mouth. I am made understanding of that which thou hast commanded; therefore 4) I hate all false ways." Therefore, when the sheep hear their shepherd's desired and beloved voice, they will know it immediately and follow it with all eagerness; they will have pleasure and joy that we are given to follow such. No human authority, doctrine or custom will be respected anymore, we are bought at a high price, because we should be servants of men, 1 Cor. 7, 23. With body, honor and goods we want to be submissive and obey all human order and authority,
4) So from unS.put instead of "let", according to Ps. 119, 104.
But the spirit must be devoted to God; and as no man can know the counsel and will of God, so no one can teach us how and wherewith to please Him, but He Himself alone. Therefore David says in the 119th Psalm, v. 130: "When thy word, O Lord, goeth forth, it enlighteneth, and giveth understanding unto the simple." And soon after, v. 133: "Direct my ways by thy speech." Therefore God in the 5th book of Moses 12, 8. has quite seriously forbidden "to do that which is pleasing to any one" fund v. 32.:] "All that I command you, that you shall observe to do. Ye shall not do any thing thereto, neither shall ye do any thing thereof."
Thus we are certain and without any doubt: whoever is godly will read the clear, bright words of God, on which and according to which we have acted, but will not only have no complaint about 1) our innovations, or rather our return to what is rightly old and eternal. He will not only have no complaint, but will praise and bless God, who has led us back to His way and to His command from the canker of so many disorderly, harmful human commandments and customs, and will also subject himself and others, 2) to the same or even more perfect reformation, to the clear and pure word of God, which belongs to the worship of God.
7) We do not know any other way to frustrate the malicious ones more strongly, 3) to blaspheme the word of the Lord and our ministry. For if they do not want to take pleasure in our telling them that God, who is supreme, has commanded and ordered us to innovate or rather to reform, how can we do otherwise to them, since Christ says, Matth. 15, to let them go, the blind leaders of the blind? We could not show them any higher commandment and right than God's; whoever will not let us stay with it, we must not esteem highly. One must be more obedient to God than to men. Since God's command cannot be pleasing to such, it would be bad for us if our deeds were pleasing and blameless to them. We can do no more than to answer to everyone who demands the reason for the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear, as Peter teaches. Whoever does not want to receive such things, and turns the word of God to the wind, respects more the customs of men, and
1) but - again. - Instead of "our" we have put "ours".
2) So put by us instead of: "submit". The constructive" is: he will submit to bring himself and others to the word of God.
3) i.e. to remove the cause.
Statutes, for the command and order of God, we must submit to the judgment of God, and if such cry out to us as heretics and evildoers, we will not be challenged, for the servants have also called Christ, the father of the house, Beelzebub.
I therefore conclude that anyone who has not renounced natural respectability and fairness will not condemn us unheard and before he has heard our responsibility. If he then hears that it is based on the clear word and expressed command of God, he will not be able to push us any further. But whoever would not be satisfied by such a thing, or, as many foolish people do, would not hear our answer and condemn unrecognized actions, we do not respect or fear them, for they also do not respect or fear God, and even act contrary to all natural justice. To those whom God has not rejected and even blinded, we want to show and demonstrate the reason for our actions from divine Scripture, so that they may recognize us as their Christian brothers and common members, love us and also defend us against all men. This letter is also written to serve and please them.
From the name of the night meal of Christ.
First of all, our brethren have an abhorrence of the name Mass, and use to call it the Lord's Supper, which in the Roman way we have now long called Mass. Although we do not know how to quarrel with anyone over the words, with whom we can compare ourselves to the matter in hand, for such quarrels over words bring hatred, strife and other things, which destroy Christian faith and love, 1 Tim. 6, we must still confess that it is more Christian and more certain that we call that [which] Christ our Lord has instituted for us, by the name that the Scriptures give it, for with such a name, 5) of which we can know no quality anywhere. Some think that Missa, which we say in German, is a Hebrew word, derived from the word Mas, which means an obligatory gift, as tribute, and means a sacrifice, as such is read for it in the 5th Book of Moses, Cap. 16. And therefore, because the most abominable abomination is to consider the Lord's supper a sacrifice, they cannot sufficiently reject and condemn such a name. But since such a name does not exist among the Greeks, who then call the Lord's Supper a sacrifice, they cannot condemn it enough.
4) In the old edition: such.
5) In the old edition: such.
Liturgian, that is, to call office or service, and is also not healthy in the old Latin, as Cypriano, Hieronymo and others, it wants to be doubtful that such name comes from the Hebrew, because the Greeks, the first disciples of the Hebrews, as well as the old Latin otherwise would have had it in use.
(10) But let him come from whence he will, or be called what he will, which no one has yet been able to decide, so the divine Scripture does not have him; and this is enough that he should be rejected and reeled in by Christians 1). It also seems to have happened by God's special providence, because the world has been so blinded by the false and most seductive opinion that in the Lord's supper His body and blood are offered up by the priest, that it no longer even knew what the Lord's supper was, or what it was good for, that it was also given a name that no one knew, nor where it came from or what it meant. Since "there is no fellowship of light and darkness," 2 Corinthians 6:14, we who are children of the light should completely renounce darkness and its works, as well as its names. David, Psalm 16:4, says: "I will not offer their blood 2) drink offerings, nor take their name in my mouth." So also we, as we have an abomination to offer up the body and blood of Christ again, so also such sacrificers, sacrifices, works, names, and what they deal with, should be an abomination to us.
(11) We know that only the Spirit of God can understand what is divine, 1 Cor. 2:10; therefore no one else can call such things. Therefore, if he calls it the Lord's supper, we should not need any other name, nor should we first bring the Holy Spirit to school and give his things strange names, which we may not know where they come from, but only from the spirit of error and lies. Then where else, and where this name Mass in such an interpretation, as the mass goers have brought it into use, would be good for [something], it would not have remained unreported in any way in divine Scripture; for it teaches everything that may be useful and good abundantly. So we teach the Lord's Supper as the Spirit of God calls it, and we do not call it Mass, 3)
1) This expression "verspulgt", which is repeated at the end of the following paragraph, is synonymous with: abgethan, verworfen.
2) We have omitted the word "are" after "blood". Cf. the Hirschberg Bible "ä Ps. 16, 4., note 6.
3) So put by us instead of: "and not called Mass."
so that, as our actions, so also our words are in accordance with divine Scripture; but we admonish that no one start a quarrel about the name, or condemn the others, if only with the name the error is not also accepted, as if one gave and sacrificed something to God. This is our doctrine and its reason, the name "Mass", which we wanted to be already done and reeled off, and that only this name "the Lord's Supper" was used, as it is called in 1 Cor. 11.
That the Lord's Supper be kept in remembrance of the death of our Lord, and by no means for a sacrifice.
12) That 4) [it is] the most pernicious and abominable error to suppose that in the Lord's supper the body and blood of Christ are sacrificed, has now been proved by so many in writing, and is preached everywhere, since God's word is known, without ceasing, that it is not necessary to refer to many writings about it. The words of Christ are clear. When he had taken the bread, given thanks and broken it, he said: "Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is a new testament in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink, in remembrance of me." These are the words of the Lord, as Paul received them from the Lord, 1 Cor. 11, in which everyone sees that the Lord alone commands two things, namely, to eat the bread, to drink the cup, for the one; the other, to do this in remembrance of Him; which remembrance, if done righteously and in faith, immediately brings from it itself the proclamation of the death of Christ. For who could consider and believe this as his eternal salvation and not immediately be eager to sing and tell everyone about it? Therefore Paul says immediately upon the Lord's prefixed words, "For as often as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye shall proclaim the Lord's death until he come." Since we are not to add to or subtract from the words of the Lord, just as in such matters we may know nothing more of ourselves than he has revealed to us, it behooves us to keep strictly to the command of the Lord, namely, when we partake of the Lord's supper, to receive the bread and the cup of the Lord, remembering his death and proclaiming it, and to do nothing else.
4) In the old edition: the.
sacrifice ourselves presumptuously, which the Lord has not thought of in a word.
(13) Also Lucas, in [the] histories of the apostles, when he reports how the believers kept themselves, and also remembers this supper, as being wholly respected, and giving it the words, writes: "But they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer." See, he calls it badly the breaking of bread, does not speak: offering in bread, or something like that. He who does not want to be quarrelsome, because this breaking of bread is counted as part of the apostles' doctrine, fellowship and prayer, will 1) let it be spoken of as the Lord's supper; for to speak of taking common food, among such high spiritual things, would be inconsistent and not in keeping with the apostolic spirit. Nor is the communion of the cup, because it commemorates the breaking of bread alone, excluded, but rather understood. For it is entirely to be assumed that in such breaking of bread they kept themselves fully in accordance with Christ's institution, and thus the communion of the cup by no means abated.
14 But be it so, it is undeniable that Paul spoke of the Lord's supper in 1 Corinthians 10, saying, "The cup of dedication which we dedicate, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" He does not say, "The cup which we offer, but which we bless, that is, over which we praise and glorify God." He does not say, "The bread which we offer, but which we break, that is, to share in eating, as it is the custom of the country to break bread when one wants to enjoy it.
15. Now, if we could know nothing of such use 2) of Christ, for [what] his Spirit reveals to us in the Scriptures, it should be left us enough to reject the opinion of sacrifice as an undoubted finding of the devil, and most abominably to shrink from the fact that Christ our Lord did not think a word of sacrifice, but commanded [to] take alone, and to remember his doing so, and thus to follow the example of David, when he says: "I love thy commandment above gold and fine gold; therefore I keep straitly all that thou hast ever commanded. I hate every false way," Psalm 119:127. f. To add to this, if anyone does not want to be satisfied with what has been reported, let him read the whole of Scripture, and he will find that all the Scriptures point to the one sacrifice of Christ, when he offered up his body on the cross,
1) Before "it" we have deleted "he".
2) Deployment - Deployment.
by which enough is done for all the elect, and not a word that such a body should be offered by the priests so many thousands of times daily. But that we should offer our own bodies, a broken spirit and a bruised heart, and the sacrifice of praise to God daily, of this the Scriptures teach us everywhere.
16) In Hebrews 9:24-28 we read: "Christ did not enter into the holy place made with hands, which is the antitype of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God. Nor did he often sacrifice himself, just as the high priest enters the holy place every year with someone else's blood, otherwise he would have had to suffer often from the beginning of the world, but now, at the end of the world, he has appeared once to abolish sin through his own sacrifice. And as it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that to be judged, so Christ was once offered to take away many sins, but the second time he shall appear without sin unto them that wait for him unto salvation."
What could be said more clearly against the nonsensical sacrifice of the Mass? Where are the mass-goers, the poor belly people, who still want to sacrifice Christ daily? Listen, Christ does not sacrifice himself often, otherwise he would have to suffer often; from this it follows that if you want to sacrifice him daily, he must suffer daily and you must crucify him daily, as you also do daily, you poor murderers of Christ. After that you hear that he appeared once at the end of the world to cancel sin by his own sacrifice, why then do you say that he appears daily again [as] a sacrifice in your bloody, murderous hands so many thousands of times? [Much] more the. Apostle, he appeared by his own sacrifice; how then may ye say he is your sacrifice? Your own cowardly, wanton, harmful body, that, that shall be your sacrifice, you Baalite sacrificers.
(18) Last of all, you hear that he appeared to take away sin; did he then, with his one sacrifice, take away the sins of many, that is, the elect, and accept them; what then are you doing, deceiving so many poor souls with so many desperate blasphemous masses? Do you not hear, you sinners, not [sin]lifters: "As it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that to be judged, so Christ is offered once to take away many sins"? What do you think you are doing with your sacrifices? Christ has taken away sin with his one and only sacrifice, which is himself, what do you want with your sacrifices but sin?
Sowing and planting, and overflowing the world with disbelief and all vices, as you have done?
(19) You have turned people away from the faith in the one sacrifice of Christ on your sacrifices, you have pretended to be sacrificers consecrated for this purpose, so that you have almost taken all the world's goods to yourselves; and so that this would not come back to those who have to win it with their sweat, you have renounced marriage; besides this, you live in all dishonesty, so that the world does not have your equal. For this purpose you condemn and persecute the word of God, so that through it your most abominable seduction, deceit and shameful life will not come to light. This is what your sacrifice of the Mass must preserve and defend. Therefore it is undeniable that with your sacrifice of the Mass you have showered the world with sin. If it were not for this mass alone, when you live in such insolent excess, common respectability would not have tolerated you for a long time, let alone let you come to such good and power, by which you oppose everything that is divine and respectable.
Therefore, let him who has heart and mind, and does not despair of his salvation and all good, flee from this most blasphemous and pernicious error, as from hell and the most pernicious poison, by which all faith and godliness perish, keep to the holy apostolic words [Heb. 10, 12]: "Once Christ sacrificed Himself for sin, this is forever"; and "with this," as it is also written in Hebr. 10, 14, "He has perfected for eternity those who are sanctified," that is, the elect whom God has chosen for Him from the world.
21. And if someone wanted to say that the epistle to the Hebrews was not considered by the ancients to be equal to the more certain writings than the four Gospels and other epistles of Paul, as Eusebius and Origen report, I say that, as they both, together with elements of Alexandrino, who did not live long from the times of the apostles, well testify, that among the Latins, who never reported divine things highly, this epistle was not counted among the other epistles of Paul. And another scribe 1) is remembered by Eusebius, whose name was Gaius, who also reports only thirteen epistles of Paul; but the ancients, from the times of the apostles, have always undoubtedly considered them to be an epistle of Paul. But they confess unanimously that it was first written by Paul in Hebrew, and then, as some think, by Lucam Evangelistam, as others [think], by Clementem m Greek tongue.
1) "Schreibers" put by us instead: Schreibens.
Interpreted. Of it read in the 3rd book Eusebii Cap. 3. and in the 6th book Cap. 11. and 18:
(22) But let all this be as it may; which the epistle to the Hebrews sets forth is nothing else than the content of the whole divine Scripture, which shows that through the one death of Christ, when he once offered himself for us, all the elect are cleansed and made blessed. Is. 53, 6. f.: "We have all strayed like sheep, each one has gone astray in his own way, and the Lord has laid on him all our unrighteousness. He went, even willingly, and opened not his mouth; as a sheep he shall be led to the sacrifice of death 2)." And afterwards in the same chapter [v. 10. f.]: "If he shall set his soul for sin, he shall see a longsuffering seed, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Because his soul hath had trouble, he shall see [his pleasure], and have enough; by his knowledge he shall justify many of my servants, and their iniquity shall he bear."
23. In these words we see clearly that Christ accepted the sins of the elect by his death, being offered up like a sheep; but this happened only once, and no scripture says that he should often afterwards be offered up again, but the prophet says that the favor of the Lord in his hand, that is, by his power and spirit, because of his having once offered up his soul for sins, should succeed and go happily afterward; and in his knowledge, which he gives to the chosen servants of God, by which they recognize and believe that he thus once died for them, thereby he makes them righteous. Which is nothing else than if he gives us to remember his death and believe [that he suffered death] 3) for us, by which we are adopted as children of God, then we become righteous and blessed before God, and not by a re-sacrifice. This is not thought of in all Scripture with a single word, that ever, as reported above, where otherwise there would be no indication, should be exceedingly enough to flee the abomination of re-sacrifice as the worst find of the devil. For the Scripture has all good things, from which [it follows that] must certainly come from the devil and be vain poison of faith, which is brought in beside it. Which is also the case with the fruits of this abomination, which are described above a little.
2) In our German Bible correctly: "to the slaughter". We have put "to the death sacrifice" instead of "to the dead sacrifice".
3) In the old edition: "and faith suffered for us."
The reason for this is that the corrupt servants have become large, numerous and powerful, to the detriment of the faith and all respectability, and this is a good thing.
(24) It is therefore established and preserved by the bright divine word that in the Lord's supper his death and the sacrifice that he once offered himself to the Father on the cross for the sins of all the elect are to be remembered with faith and thanksgiving; this is to be preached and praised to God, and no one may dare to offer anything there, except only the children of condemnation. On the other hand, all the masses have nothing that would be valid. For even if they produce a lot of people, even their own poetry, what can that do against the word of God, on which our teaching and commerce is based? Man is vain and a liar, God alone is truthful and just,
(25) All Scripture has prophesied of these last times, which have come after the apostles departed, that abominable errors should break in, that even the elect, where possible, would be led into error. It can also be seen that nothing is too much for the aforementioned group, even though all their doings conflict with the doings of Christ, as water does with fire, nor do they want to sit in the place of Christ, to appropriate all his power and honor to themselves; therefore, whatever they do or protect should be suspect to everyone. They are evil, rotten, poisonous trees; how can anything good come from them?
26 Whether some pious holy fathers have also been in such error, it is no wonder, namely in the perilous time when one grasps how all deceit and unrighteousness has taken over, when the Lord Himself has terrifyingly prophesied Matth. 24. The saints are always surrounded with sins and error, so that the prize may remain God's mercy alone. Jacob, the high apostle, and the Christians at Jerusalem, after receiving the Spirit of God and preaching for many years, so grossly erred that they thought that those of the Jews who believed in Christ also knew how to keep the Law of Moses, as it is read in Acts 15, and Acts 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, and 15, respectively. 15; and Apost. 11. the believers of the circumcision quarreled with Petro, because he had preached Christ to the Gentiles, when Christ had commanded them to go into all the world to preach the gospel.
27 But the disciples will not find many saints who would have thought that in the night they would have been saints.
1) In the old edition: "in Christ's stead".
The first is to sacrifice something for the Lord's Supper, and the second is not to condemn their ungodly masses, which they sing and read only to maintain their bellies and their cowardly lives. Also, although both are often found in the ancients, 2) the little word sacrificium, sacrifice, and sacrificare vel offerre, that is, to offer, it still commonly refers to the fact that Christ's one sacrifice is kept in remembrance, which, if it is done in faith, brings the fruit of Christ's sacrifice, namely, forgiveness of sins and all grace. For truly then 3) the body of Christ is given for us, that is, then 3) we become partakers of it and receive the fruit of it, if we recognize and consider with true faith that Christ offered his body and blood for our sin once on the cross. On Christmas Day we sing: Today Christ is born, if one only remembers his birth; therefore it is not so strange to the readers of the Fathers. Therefore it should not be so strange to the readers of the Fathers, if they already read that their fathers write that Christ is offered up in the night meal, since the night meal is nothing but a remembrance of such a sacrifice, through which also, if it is done 4) out of right faith, the fruit of the sacrifice is obtained. -
(28) But it is also found that the ancient Latin scribes gave to Christian things, which had no name in their language, names which meant something among the pagans, which resembled such Christian things in part. Thus they gave names to the practice of faith and the acceptance of baptism that were in use among the Romans in the acceptance of knighthood; yes, they also drew some ways and signs to the Christian signs. Likewise, since there was something similar between the pagan sacrifices and the Lord's supper, they called it sacrificium, a sacrifice. For just as the pagans honored their gods in their sacrifices, ate with one another, and refreshed their friendship with joy, so, when Christ's supper is properly kept, it is remembered with praise and thanksgiving, and Christians renew their spiritual and eternal covenant and testament in the Lord with the sacred food and drink; that they might have said: The heathen have their sacrificia and sacrifices, where they come together in honor of their gods; our sacrificia shall be the supper of Christ, in which we offer nothing to God but ourselves. but ourselves, but we consider the sacrifice that was once offered for
2) In the old edition: both, from old".
3) In the old edition: "because".
4) In the old edition: "a memorial", but "which" and "they".
is sacrificed to us and is eternal. In this we are to proclaim the death of the Lord, to give him praise and glory, and to exhort one another to all love and goodness, that we may celebrate one bread and one body in Christ.
(29) He who does not want to be quarrelsome, and also reads the Old Testament, Tertullianum, Cyprianum, and others with an unadulterated heart, will confess that he has this opinion; but to him who wants to quarrel, we say that he brings forth are men whose speech shall ever be of no value, where God's word has another.
30) But that 1) some bring forth from the prophet Malachi 1:11.That when the name of the Lord becomes great among the Gentiles, a pure sacrifice should be offered in all places, is prophesied of the sacrifice of the body, which faith and the knowledge of the divine name offer in all places and among all people; This is not only proved by the words of the prophet himself, which prophesy of the rejection of the Jewish people and the acceptance of the Gentiles, but it is also proved by many other writings, of which Tertullianus libro primo adversus Judaeos lists many.
31. So it is now clearly and publicly proven and preserved by the bright Scriptures of God that no man nor angel can be able to oppose 2) the opinion and doctrine of offering his body and blood again in the night meal of Christ, is an abominable and most harmful discovery of Satan and of the true Antichrist, to kill and destroy the faith and all that is good in the most abominable way, and thereby also to preserve and strengthen the most harmful servants for the destruction of all respectability and persecution of the children of God. Since we have been graciously gifted by God with this knowledge, we must by no means tolerate such an abomination, preach against it, and tear it out of the hearts of our listeners with the powerful words of God, among whom no one is considered, for only in such an abomination should God be heard and feared. Therefore, we have no doubt that all those who have not been rejected by God will secretly be pleased with us, and that this will henceforth, when they have heard our reason, not be called an innovation, but a necessary salutary reformation and restoration to the old and eternal, and that they will praise and thank God the Father with us for such graces and knowledge, and that they will also instruct and admonish us manfully to do so. May the Lord grant this! Amen.
1) In the old edition: that.
2) "dawider" put by us instead of: "da weder".
Reason and cause why the lift is turned off.
(32) Since we are so certain and pleased by the bright word of God, to which all things must yield, and must finally be told that it is an abomination to think that the body and blood of Christ are offered up in the supper, we must of necessity also gain an abhorrence of everything that has served and strengthened such abomination and error. Among these, the setting aside of the bread and cup of Christ is not the least. For with the lifting up, it is as much as testified and indicated that the priest offers the body and blood of Christ to God the Father, as is also proven by the words that the mass servers have used in their canons before and after the lifting up.
Some think that such lifting came from the Law of Moses, in which it was commanded to lift some of the grain offering and the fat in the sin offering, which was then called Trumah, as is read in the 3rd book of Moses, in the 2nd and 4th chapters. I find, however, that the Romans in all their ceremonies, of which they have invented so innumerable, have imitated and followed more the pagan customs than those set for the Jews by God, as the divine Scriptures have never been held in high esteem by them. From which idolatrous customs they have also taken the burning of candles, light mass, so many processions and various festivals, the priests' plates, strange clothing, death pomp, and the things without number, which are not only not drawn from the law of Moses, but even contrary to it. It has been reserved for this people to obscure and reverse divine statutes before all the world, therefore it is rare that they have taken their actions from the Scriptures, but against the clear prohibition of God in the 5th book of Moses, in the 12th chapter, what they did before to their idols and idolaters, they have subsequently turned to the service of God, but that it has been profitable for them in every way. So, although I do not want to quarrel with anyone about this, there is no doubt in my mind that it also happened with this annulment.
(34) And because nothing like this can be done by salvation and correction, except by faith, so that it may be known and understood that it is right and pleasing to God, we have diligently preached the Word and the Scriptures before and before we put away such abrogation, along with other things that are done without the Word of God, but are external things, through which alone such knowledge and understanding must come.
In the meantime we have also taken up the bread and the cup, and have used garments and some other papal things, but we have always said and testified that we let these things remain for the benefit of the weak alone, and that we needed them until they were well reported by the Word, that it would be much better to refrain from such things and to put them away, And we exhorted them with all diligence, when we took up the bread and the cup of Christ, that they might then remember how Christ was taken up for us on the cross and offered up once to the Father, and by no means thought that by such taking up we should first offer up again the body and blood of the Lord.
(35) Such our waiting some have highly perverted us, and therefore have written us out as double papists, (1) who, however, never before, which would have occurred to us, have admonished better things. We know that we have been made free and free from the meager elements of the world, that is, statutes of outward things, through the death of Christ, as Paul proves superfluously to the Galatians and also Colossians, therefore all things are pure to the pure, as he writes to Titum, 2) may thus and ought freely to serve the neighbor with all things; some let the others practice, as we may realize, that it may shoot them to the better. Paul did not like to circumcise Timothy for himself out of any faith, because he knew that one was free from all such outward statutes, and that they were of no use for salvation; he also preached such freedom and knew that one had to attack it also with works, and set good examples to the weaker ones; While this freedom was still unknown among the Jews of Lystra and Iconium, he had Timothy circumcised for the sake of those Jews, no doubt to keep them well until he instructed them in all things by the word, and so won them, as he writes of himself, 1 Cor. 9:22: "I became all things to all men, that I might save some of all things." For the same reason he also took a vow of discipline, and therefore 3) circumcised himself in Kenchrea, Apost. 18, 18, and accepted the Jewish purification. Apost. 21, 24.
36 And whether our counterpart wanted to say that Paul would have given in to the weak in the reported pieces, but they would have been pieces.
1) From this we see that Bucer also takes the name "two-faced papists", which Carlstadt gives to those who retained the elevation.
2) In the old edition: may.
3) "accordingly" put by us instead of "nevertheless" according to § 41 of this writing.
which God commanded beforehand, so that the Jews had a reason to be attached to them; but the things which we pretend to tolerate for the sake of the weak were thought up and instigated by the Antichrist, in which no one had any reason to be attached. Answer: This speech would be well if the weak also knew that such things had arisen from the Antichrist. But if they can tell as little as those Jews that their bodily ordinances should be abolished, and think it no less contrary to God if such ceremonies should be discontinued than those where they had not kept their bodily ordinances, I do not see why we should not yield to our weak ones who cling to human ordinances, which they think have flowed from the Spirit of God, just as Paul did to his own.
It is also evident that after the beginning of the kingdom of Christ, that is, after the public preaching of the gospel, it was just as superstitious 4) to consider the bodily ordinances of Moses as necessary, as if they had been established by a man. Therefore Paul Col. 2, what was commanded in the law of Moses concerning circumcision, food, and such outward things, reproaches the commandment and doctrine of men, because now that we have died to Christ, they no longer wanted to keep God, but only men. For in both, the freedom delivered to us by the blood of Christ is denied and obscured, so that only one thing is necessary, namely to hear and accept the gospel of Christ. Our afflictions and theirs are one, namely, that they do not yet fully understand Christ, for if they knew that he alone does all things, they would keep all other things alike, even if they had been commanded by the pope or Moses; even in Paul's time, the commandments of Moses were to them as few of God's commandments as those given by the pope.
Therefore, it was no less a denial of Christ, who would have considered them necessary for salvation, than now one of the 'Pabst's statutes for it, although those had come from God, so these have sprung from the Antichrist, therefore Paul also Gal. 4. calls them weak meager statutes. In the origin is probably greater difference of the ceremonies of Moses and the pope, still so the weakness of faith is the same, because the weak in the times of Paul considered them necessary for salvation, which is not
4) So put by us instead of: "just as superstitious, which" etc.
The same is true of many a kind-hearted person who is now opposed to the papal statutes.
39. As Paul well knew that circumcision and other ceremonies of the law were of no use in himself, but rather harmful, so that people soon trusted in them too much and Christian freedom was accepted all the more slowly, and yet he had Timothy circumcised, a disciple highly praised in the faith, and he himself, who had of course now come far in the faith, held several ceremonies at times, so that he would not repel the weak from him until he had made Christ fully known to them: We believe completely that we have had cause for our waiting, with the holding of several ceremonies, which we have done for the benefit of the weak, and that we have not particularly sinned against it, even though we do not want to excuse ourselves. For though we are not conscious of anything ourselves, we are not justified in this. The measure is also hard to take in this, therefore we ask with David, Ps. 19, 13: "Who notices the faults? Make me clean from the secret ones." But we hope that we have not yet given cause for being called double papists. We would like to promote the honor of Christ alone. We cannot accomplish this in any other way than through the Word. In order that we might preach the same pleasantly, we have tolerated some ceremonies for the weak, which, although they have already arisen from papists of the worst opinion and have caused great harm and damage to the faith, are still external things, and therefore free in themselves, where they are not used out of unbelief or with annoyance.
40. In the house of idols and eating of things sacrificed to idols had arisen from the devil and was used for the destruction of all that is good, nor does Paul confess, regardless of the fact that this was forbidden in the law of Moses, that it is free for Christians and that they have its power, because the idol is nothing, so the sacrifice to idols is also nothing, only that this is done without having an evil fellowship with the idols, and that everyone should take care that he does not fall by it; But first of all the apostle teaches that it happens without offense to the weak, that is, to those who do not yet recognize such freedom, and yet eat with it, against their conscience, thereby sinning, so that they eat with it, with a corrupt conscience and no faith. From this it undoubtedly follows that if he had hoped that he would have eaten of the sacrifice to idols in an idol's house, that he would have had all the better place to worship the Gentile Christ.
He would have gone, of course, as he allows the others to go, as long as it is not a cause for the weak to eat against their conscience, and thus to sin, and [that he] also had Timothy circumcised, so that he would have all the more place to preach to the Jews. Thus, although the Antichrist has invented the abolition and used it to corrupt godliness, that he has thereby confirmed his blasphemous error of the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, still because we know that such sacrifice is nothing, as the idols and their sacrifices were nothing, and we Christians have all power, as this is beautifully demonstrated in 1 Cor. 8. and 10. by Paul: no one may condemn us for having tolerated such sacrifices for some time, along with other ceremonies, for the sake of the weak, to make a way for them to preach the word of God.
(41) Here I hear you say, "How? Are you afraid that the word of God will be a hindrance to him? The word enables all things to be done according to the word of God among Christians; if you do this and stop what is done without the word, are you afraid that you will make a hindrance to the word? the sheep will know their shepherd's voice well. Answer: This objection might also have been made to Paul when he had Timothy circumcised for the sake of the Jews, or when he made a vow of discipline, and accordingly circumcised himself in Cenchrea. Would it not have been possible to say, "How, Paul, you have no word that you should first have a Christian and such a famous brother circumcised, but the word only instructs you to depart from the weak, meager statutes; follow it, pay no attention to what the Jews say, the Lord knows His own well; there can be no hindrance to the word, act according to the word.
But Paul would have answered: Dear brethren, it is true that to act according to the word may bring no hindrance to the word, but we also observe what is acted according to the word; knowledge puffs up and love corrects. It is true that no one should do anything that he has not been taught by the word. Therefore, if the matter concerned only me and my dear son Timothy, who understands Christian liberty, I would not for a long time have him circumcised, nor would I also circumcise myself; but the word also teaches me that I should love my neighbor as Christ loved me, and be ready to love and serve him, to do and to leave all things; more I have a word that the earth is the Lord's, and what is in it; therefore all outward things are for us Christians also.
The pure have all things pure, therefore circumcision, making vows and shaving off hair are also free to me.
43. far be it from me that I should undertake such things, that I should count them expedient unto salvation in themselves; but because they were made free unto me by the death of Christ, I know myself guilty that I may use them where I hope it will be profitable. I know that the Lord knows his sheep, and they know him and his voice, and that he himself must preach his word to them, and that he will do as I do; and if I am to be his servant in this, and a faithful and wise servant, whom he has set over his servants, to give them meat in due season, I must also keep myself as a fellow worker, servant, faithful and wise servant, and keeper of the divine secrets; And like my Master Christ, not crushing the broken reed, nor quenching the burning wick, but kindly receiving and bearing [the] weak in faith, loving and serving him, and leaving that which is not contrary to God's law in himself, that which is not contrary to faith or love; such as pruning and shearing, and what is like them.
44 My Master and Lord Christ would convert whom he would even without my preaching, nor will he use my ministry for this purpose, but rather with works than with words. Therefore I do not act without a word; the word makes outward things free to me and makes me use them for the betterment of my neighbor, and therefore, though I am free from everyone, I have made myself a servant to everyone, so that I may gain many: to the Jews I have become a Jew, to the weak a weakling, and to everyone all things, so that I may gain and save some, 1 Corinthians 9.
45 Who would condemn Paul after such an answer? Therefore, it is our hope, that we also do not have mischief, although we have already become papal with the papists in some respects, and have for a time tolerated the abolition, together with some other things, which are well used evil by the wicked, but are free in themselves, for the service and favor of such, as has been said, rather than used it, until we made Christ better known to them and thus won them over. One must always act with the word before those whom one wants to win; it does not say: faith comes from the deed, but "from the preaching of the word", Rom. 10, 17. Josiah was a king and had full power, nor did he do anything else.
He did not stop the abominations and idolatries until he had read the book of the covenant in the ears of all the people, and had restored the covenant with the Lord, and all the people had entered into the covenant. Read in the other book of Kings, 23. If one is to begin with the words, one must indeed keep oneself as much as possible with God, so that one may have listeners. Although God must draw them all, yet we must serve Him in this; He must also teach them all, yet we must preach and be wise, that we may rightly divide the word of truth 1) and distribute it, giving milk to the milksop and strong meat to the strong.
46 And that which is read in Moses is to be understood and directed according to what Christ says: "I give you a new commandment, as I have loved you, that you also love one another"; in the little word: love your neighbor as yourself, all the law is fulfilled, Galatians 5. In the law of Moses it was commanded that they should tear down the altars of the Gentiles, overthrow their pillars, burn their idols with fire. Read in the 5th book of Moses Cap. 7. Even Paul, when he came to Athens and saw that the city was so idolatrous, his spirit was enraged within him, but he never pulled down an altar or burned an idol, but he preached to them and pointed out that they were far too superstitious in all things. For one must also take heed [to] all the commandments circumstances, distinguishing the temporal from the eternal. Those people were given into the hands of the Israelites to exterminate them, but the apostles were commanded to convert the Gentiles to Christ; therefore, as they did with their hands, so they should do by word. So also we; where there is superstition, let the name be what it will, one is called Jew, Gentile or Christian (it is not that we are called Christians, but that we are), 2) one must begin with the word and do this until one learns Christ in such a way that the putting away of human sin promotes trust in Christ and does not deter from the word, for only the stumbling blocks and harnesses of divine wrath never come near.
47 In this, although the right measure is poorly taken, yet he who trusts in God, practices and drives the word with all seriousness, and takes care of Christ's army, the Lord will show him not to deviate too far from the right measure. For those who are the children of God are led by the Spirit, Romans 8, and He will teach them to do all things with the Lord.
1) In the old edition: cut.
2) These brackets are set by us.
Works, which they teach by words. First, they will teach that one should trust in the one Christ; they will immediately repay this with works and place their trust in no other thing. Secondly, they will teach that one should not do anything to serve God that he has not taught himself, which they will do; they will not practice any ceremonies to prove something pleasing to God. But because they also teach that the Christian is the Lord of the Sabbath and of all outward things, they will also prove this with their works and never allow themselves to be bound, but will show that all things are pure to the pure. And more, if they also teach that one should do all things for the love and service of one's neighbor, that one may please him for good, this must then also be repaid with the works, that one may do what is external and in himself neither unbelief nor displeasure of his neighbor, for a time to please and build up his neighbor, having no complaint.
If God would have all those who reproach us by default, as by such works and ceremonies, and who want to attack all things immediately with deeds, to first of all bravely take hold of their old Adam's hood, to show the crucifying of their flesh and the exercise of brotherly love with deeds and a little more diligent good works, then, if God wills, there should be more peace and unity and the word should be blasphemed less. 1) O Lord! How hardly do we come to the point where we do not please ourselves, but, like Christ, desire only to please others for the good. So answer them that think we have tarried too long in abjuring the abrogation and other papal ceremonies. I have shown the reason for our faith in this, hoping that the godly will be satisfied with us. I have also made it more extensive because there are not a few who do not want to understand that love is the fulfillment of the law, Romans 13, and that all things are pure to the pure, who insist firmly on the words of the law where it concerns other people and outward ceremonies, to which a Jew and Turk can just as well be hostile; but where it concerns their old Adam, there they are somewhat milder interpreters of the law. May the Lord teach them and us to keep the right measure in all things.
(49) Now I will explain the reason and cause of our faith, that we have put away the suspension of the bread and cup of Christ. First, because we, having known Christ, have hitherto had such a
1) An excellent rebuke of Carlstadt!
If we have tolerated the abolition of the law for the sake of the weak alone, so that they would not be deterred by the word about innovations that they could not yet approve of, it must follow that now, after the word has been preached to them sufficiently, we must also prove by deed that one should serve God in spirit, with true faith alone, and with no outward ceremonies, but practice what is ours, for the service and piety of the neighbor, also testify outwardly by deed what we believe in our hearts. More, to beware not only of evil, but also of all evil appearances. If lifting up has been considered necessary as a ceremony for the service of God and as a sign that one is offering up Christ, the most pernicious error, it must be an abominable thing to all the godly, even though it is in itself an outward thing and in itself neither evil nor good, which they would much rather avoid than tolerate. Just as they tolerate it for a time, until the people are told of the word and also gain an abhorrence of such things, so, as soon as the same are told of the word, so that they somewhat confirm the faith of the words with the example and increase the abhorrence of all ungodly things in them, they immediately discontinue what such a thing is.
(50) And how can a Christian not be disgusted and abhorred by that which has certainly arisen from the devil and has caused so much harm to poor souls, whatever it may be in himself? An ox that kills a man God commanded to be stoned and not to eat its carcass, in the other book of Moses Cap. 21, although an ox, as without reason, is considered blameless in such. So, even though the sacrifice itself is an external thing and not evil, nor is great murder of the soul caused by the fact that it was thought that the priest was sacrificing Christ, and therefore there was no better work that could take away sin and make us blessed, just as if Christ had not done enough with his one sacrifice on the cross: it is ever right and just that such an abolition, which has been so shameful, though it did no more harm, should be discarded and rejected, where it may be tolerated without deterrence from the word. We are to avoid the blasphemers, if they have been warned once and again, and have nothing in common with them, for why would we use the same ceremonies with them, which, as we have found out, have been annoying in so many ways? So even though Paul confesses that the sacrifice to idols, like the idol, was nothing, and that he, as a Christian, had power over all things, yet, lest we should give the devils
1) If the Gentiles would like to be respected, or even become, he kindly draws them away from the sacrifice to idols. "I do not want you to be in the company of devils," he says. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the devil at the same time. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and the devils' table at the same time. Or shall we defy the Lord? Are we stronger than he? I have it all power, but it is not all useful. I have it all power, but it does not improve everything. Let no man seek that which is his, but let every man seek that which is another's," 1 Cor. 10:20-24. Behold, he saith, I have all power, even as he permitted them afterward to go unto the sacrifice made to idols: but if it were hurtful, he would much rather that they should abstain from it: how then should not we also abstain from the sacrifice made to idols, and make ourselves strange?
51. who hath not said, when they have taken up the bread and the cup of the Lord, they lift up our Lord God, I have seen our Lord God; to the immeasurable offence of the Jews and the Turks? The Scripture is clear, and John testifies: "No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared it to us. One must hear about God, one may and should believe in God, but seeing is reserved for this world. That is why God said to Moses: "No man shall live who sees Me", in the 2nd Book of Moses in the 33rd Cap. V. 20. Why else does Paul call him the invisible God? Had it been said, "The bread, the cup of the Lord," as the Spirit of God calls it in Paul, saying, "As often as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup," etc., 1 Cor. 11. nor does he call it otherwise in this or Cap. 10. where he also reports it, as in [the] histories of the apostles and John 13.And if one had received and eaten such, as the Lord is called, in remembrance of Him, and had refrained from lifting up and worshipping, much error and superstition would have been avoided, so that many a poor soul is now perishingly imprisoned. How could Christians tolerate such abolition, when it could otherwise be stopped without great harm?
52. of Thoma Apostolo, when he put his hand in the Lord's side and said "my Lord and God", the ancients write: the men-
1) In the old edition: "meaner". "Meaner" - what community have.
He saw them and he believed in God; and here the disciples and teachers of the pope themselves write that one sees only the form and the color, and they have tolerated that men have said against all Scripture, against all old teachers, yes, against their own teachers: One lifts up our Lord God, I want to see our Lord God, and the like. Hence also such luxuriant theidings and words have been practiced by themselves, the masses, together with other loose people of their kind, that there have been priests who have taken the bread and said, "Come on, boy, you must become the Lord," and such blasphemies not a little. But the error has been profitable to them, they have then pretended to be God-makers, and have placed themselves far above the holy Virgin Mary, that she gave birth to God only once, but they make him daily, yes, blaspheme and revile him, more than anyone on earth.
53) Further, when this bread and the cup were taken up, the people worshipped it as their God and Christ, present in the flesh, with some strange prayers, which must have been much stronger than at other times, since the true healing presence of God and Christ, through true faith, is invisible. Otherwise God is around and around and fills heaven and earth. Thus the Pharisees, who crucified Jesus, also saw and touched him in the flesh, but it did little for them. Therefore Paul writes: "Even if we have known Christ after the flesh, we know Him no more", 2 Cor. 5, 16. For truly, as Christ Himself says Joh. 6, 63: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no use. The words that I speak are spirit and life: So in the Lord's supper we should have taken the words into account and believed that the body and blood of Christ was offered for our sins on the cross once, which is eternal and completes all who are sanctified, and for the confession of this faith we should have eaten the bread and drunk the cup in remembrance and thanksgiving of this redemption, as Christ said, and should have refrained from lifting it up and showing it, which he did not say.
54 If the people, the masses, had been as concerned about the poor souls and the integrity of faith as they were about their bellies, as they read in their fathers about St. Thomas, that he had seen another and believed and worshipped another, seen man and worshipped God, they could well have said here: Another one sees, another one believes, another one
Other things are worshipped; the bread and the cup are seen, so it is called by the Holy Spirit, who knows best how to call it. That the body and blood of Christ were sacrificed once on the cross for our salvation is believed, but God alone is to be worshipped. For this reason Christ also pointed all the way to the Father, even though he is one with the Father, so that no one would remain attached to humanity. Therefore he also called himself a way and said: "No one comes to the Father, but through me"; therefore Paul also calls him a mediator between God and man, but according to mankind, because he says: "There is One God, and One mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus", 1 Tim. 2, 5. So, if they had been true servants of Christ, they would also have pointed from the carnal outward things to the spirit and to God.
55. The Lord has called this bread to be eaten and the cup to be drunk, and immediately led from the bodily to the spiritual and commanded to remember it, so they, the popes, by their lifting up of the concern of the death of Christ, therefore this supper alone is appointed and should be kept, 1) they have also been drawn from enjoyment to bodily seeing and worshiping, thereby spoiling 2) the people, if they had once seen and worshipped the bread and cup of the Lord during the day, they would have happiness and salvation during the day, as they also lived; But I am silent about many superstitions, which have been torn down with some little prayers, which, spoken at the time of the lifting up, are said to have miraculous power, as is reported; also those who thought, if they offered a penny between the lifting up of the bread and the cup, that this would be good in one place for the fever, in another for the toothache, and much more unbelief and idolatry has grown up here; as then found by all men: Where the root is useless 3) and idolatrous, what good would come from it?
Therefore, to conclude this article, since in the Christian community all things are to be done for the better, and we know that the abrogation of it cannot itself be better, since it does not teach the Scriptures of God, but has hitherto, when used by the papists, also brought untold harm and ruin to souls, and from us, from the time that the Lord enlightened and sent us to preach His holy gospel, only the original gospel is to be preached.
1) In the old edition: je.
2) spoiled - brought to the delusion. Should not perhaps "spoiled" be read? Cf. § 119 of this writing.
3) So put by us instead of: shall.
The reason for this is that the weak crowd, before they are informed by the word, may not be deterred from the word by rejecting it as an innovation that they could not yet recognize as useful and divine; But now every one that may have a good hope otherwise has so much report by the daily preaching of good, that in Christian fellowship one may and ought to put away all man's deeds, especially when such are found to have been used by the antichrists to so great and marked an annoyance, as has been done with this abrogation: We, with God and by faith, did not know how to tolerate this abolition any longer, so that we would not be considered as if we wanted to have fellowship with the Antichrist, and at the same time drink the cup of the Lord, and at the same time be partakers of the Lord's table and of the Antichrist, which cannot be possible, 1 Cor. 10, 21.
(57) It behooves us also, who are ministers of the Spirit, always to teach that the Spirit quickeneth, and the flesh is of no profit, to lead men from all things corporeal unto the right faith and love of the Spirit. Therefore, if the Lord has not instituted in his supper anything corporeal, but only eating and drinking, and that for the sake of the spiritual, namely his remembrance, and we have yet seen that many have not wanted to pay attention to either the bodily sensation or the spiritual remembrance, but, as before, have allowed themselves to be satisfied by sight and bodily worship, which two things have also hitherto been much more esteemed than the word of God: It is to the advantage of such weak and indolent Christians, who always need examples of works and deeds in addition to words, that we want to remove from their eyes the physical things that have not arisen from God and have therefore been used in such a harmful way, in order to lead them to the spiritual. As we have seen with idols and images, many people's minds have fallen away from them after they have been removed.
(58) Therefore let the reason and cause of our faith be given, for which we have laid down and set aside the setting aside of the bread and the cup in the supper of the Lord. Whoever lets God be the Lord and His word the best, will heartily please Him; but whoever wants to please Him more than the words and statutes of God through a human finding and superstitious abuse, we must let him go as a blind man. One must obey God more than man; indeed, for the sake of God, one must hand over, deny and hate father, mother, wife, child and everything.
Cause, why the papal clothes are abgethan.
In the past, during a mortal sin, the saint had to wear a strange garment. First of all, a linen cloth on the head, which must have a placket like a delicious robe, and two long ribbons to gird it around him, a humeral they called it. Then a wide linen dress, which must be much too long for the person to be measured, so that he then would like to skirt it up, also with a linen belt, and has the same dress at the end, below, behind and in front, but of delicious garment, silk or other good cloth must have two square shields, also similarly on the sleeves on the hands of the same cloth a covering, and this dress was called the alb. Over all of this, a long, narrow strap of delicious garment must be placed around the neck by the masseur, and the ends must be crossed at the front over the chest, and attached on each side under the belt, so that the alb 1) is girded, so that it stands at the chest like a Burgundian cross, and this is called the stole. A similar strap, but shorter, the ends of which should be stitched together, he had to hang on the left arm, and was called the maniple, or the hand fan. 2) On top of all this, he must hang an outer garment of exquisite cloth on his neck, without sleeves, with a main hole at the top, and open at the sides, wide at the back and front, cut partly pointed at the bottom, partly round, and must be somewhat shorter than the alb, and have a cross in the middle at the bottom, and a placket at the front, both usually of exquisite embroidered work and pictures.
(60) This is the glorious armor of the rulers, which I have thus described, that I have no doubt it shall be brought to pass in a short time by the word of God, that an understanding Christian shall not soon be persuaded that there ever was such foolishness among Christians, if he shall hear it. However, I did not want to report the bishops' armor, which is more foolish, also the Levites, as they call them, and other such things, so that the reader would not be stopped from doing better by such foolishness.
(61) Now this armor we have used for the supper of Christ also hitherto, for the cause reported, that we kept the people good-willed until they took the word, and then such with
1) In the old edition: "to gird".
2) d. i. Hand flag or Handfähnlein.
other papal ceremonies with benefit and improvement. For before the word of God is heard and believed, such things cannot be of any use. All things are unclean to unbelievers, as all things are clean to believers. So we hope, since we never considered such clothing necessary from the time the Lord made his word known to us, nor did we think we were showing God any favor by it, but only for the sake of the inexperienced, so that we would not frighten them away from the word with an unmeaning innovation, and thus in such outward appearances and for ourselves we served the means, we shall be excused from it by the godly.
(62) But if, for the sake of the inexperienced alone, until they had learned and known the divine will through the word, we tolerated such clothing, and now, after so much preaching, all the sheep of Christ have heard and recognized the voice of their shepherd, we had to set an example for them to follow and obey it alone. For this reason we have laid aside all the above-mentioned clothing and do not need any special clothing for the Lord's Supper, but only a choir robe, as well as for the preaching of the Word, with which, since no special care has ever been taken, nor have we been consecrated, we want to serve the foreigners and also those who ever think that there is something proper with us, in the hope that no one will be harmed by such bright and diligent preaching of the divine Word.
But that mummery, which they considered highly necessary for the mass, we do not have to tolerate any longer after such diligent and now long practiced proclamation of the holy gospel, as we have not known anyone to prove more useful services with it. Since we may not doubt that such clothing has come from pagan, idolatrous use and human imagination, for divine Scripture does not teach it. Since we are not to use anything in worship to serve the idols or to be invented by ourselves, in the 5th book of Moses, chapter 12, it follows that we are not to have anything to do with such clothing. Further, as it has not had a good origin, so it has been used to manifold harm by the sacrificers. By such consecrated clothing, they considered themselves holier and better than others; for if one forgot a little piece at mass, it was considered a sin; 4) therefore, it was something gross.
3) Means - adiaphoron, which in itself is neither good nor evil.
4) Cf. Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. XVIII, 1490.
It must have been a great sign of respect for God, who with washed hands, his proper prayers, with the removal of his rifle, combing of the hair, along with other spiritual attentiveness and reverence, adorned himself with such clothes. Therefore also, if a Christian might be baptized and ordained by a common priest, only a bishop might bless the chasubles, so they were held high. And, the most abortive to the faith, such clothes indicated that the maker of the mass offered up Christ, that God acted and walked; whom all Scripture praises unchangeably. That is why it must have been so delicious and such a good work, who made it or gave something to make it; therefore it also made the mass-goer, 1) even if he had already been a public fornicator, miser, blasphemer and a basic soup of all vices, so holy that whoever would not have bowed down before him and fallen on his knees, would not have had to be a Christian.
64 All these are detestable and abominable superstitions; no holiness may ever be in things that wear out under hands through custom, about which no one should make a conscience. Col. 2: The Lord rejects outward cleanliness and adornment; the faith of the heart alone is valid before Him, Matt. 23. But that it has been pretended that the mass servers sacrifice Christ in their mass is a pernicious error, just as it is indicated that a Christian should certainly have an abomination in everything that has served for it or is used for it in some way. For he that loveth Christ aright, and hath pleasure in his law, may not suffer nor tolerate those things which are the enemies of antichrist, used for the destruction of the faith, further than the love and concern of the weak constrain him. Therefore, where things can be stopped without the detrimental displeasure of others, it is the highest desire of every Christian to stop them; just as no one who is faithful and loyal to his Lord can tolerate or suffer what is done and used by his enemy to his Lord's displeasure, no matter what it may be in himself. Therefore every true Christian is like David, who says: "I hate lies and abhor them, but I love your law. But lies and vain imaginations are everything that does not flow from the word of God, for if all men are liars and vain, as the Scriptures show in all places, what else can be devised by them but lies and vanity?
65 Now Weiler but the measuring clothes are not
1) In the old edition: dem Meßlinge.
For after people had been persuaded that a high church service was to maintain such mass ornaments, everyone wanted something of such service, as we are by nature of the law of the Lord on falsehood and error, and thus highly harmful and detrimental to the purity of faith, but also prevented brotherly love and handouts to the poor, and at the same time promoted splendor and hope. For after people have been persuaded that it is a high service of God to maintain and increase such mass ornaments, everyone has also wanted something of such service, as we are by nature inclined to deviate from the law of the Lord on lies, that is, people, from the beginning of the world. Hereby it has happened that many little think that the Lord will say to the goats on the left side in that day: "Depart from me, ye that are bruised, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. I have been hungry and you have not fed me, I have been thirsty and you have not watered me, I have been a guest and you have not sheltered me, I have been naked and you have not clothed me, I have been sick and imprisoned and you have not visited me." And if they say they have not seen the Lord suffer things, he will answer them, "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, ye have not done it unto me." Yes, this terrible judgment of Christ is little considered: what is to be given to the least is regarded as if it were lost, which alone is given and pleasing to the Lord; and in the meantime golden pieces, velvet, damask, and other silk, with all kinds of precious cloth, are given, that the worshippers may disguise themselves with them, so that boys may be taken for saints, and the superstition, avarice, and wantonness of the Antichrist may be entertained and strengthened.
(66) Yes, it has come to this, when great courtliness, splendor and debauchery are practiced by lords and children of the world, when they make chasubles out of such tools of the devil, that is, when they serve for spiritual wickedness and blasphemy, then it is already thought that all things are paid for and worn out by God. Then a shield is hung on it, so that one can see from whom it was given; these are then decoys, as Adam's children are greedy for glory, so that every fool follows after, also gives something; if he can no longer, then he gives something to a chasuble for the tax, that one only lets him put his shield on it; so that the generations have their anniversaries, one must hold the office in their chasubles. And who could explain all the follies, superstitions and aversions?
that sprang from such mummery and were thus preserved? The planting is not from the Father, how could it have brought forth good fruit?
67. If then all things are to be better among us, that is, to faith in the one Christ, that we should expect all good things from him alone, and to love, that we should love and care for our neighbor as ourselves, and it cannot be denied that the chasuble clothing is harmful to both faith and love and is annoying in many ways, we have stopped it, since now the divine word is only known to those of us who are not otherwise so blinded by God that they do not even want to hear it, so that whoever is now deterred by such a stopping of the word must of course be of the goats and not of the sheep of Christ; therefore on his account nothing of this kind is to be tolerated or abated.
68. no one may here oppose the clothing of the high priest in the law, of which one reads in Exodus 28. "For we are no longer to handle shadows, if we have the right body of Christ," Col. 2. so we are no longer to adhere to the bodily statutes, Gal. 4. col. 2. who are to serve God in spirit and truth, Jn. 4. Christ is our high priest, signified by Aaron, and as he did not enter into the holy things made with hands, which are an antitype of the true [things], but into heaven itself, to appear before the face of God, Heb. 9:24.So his priestly garments, and all of us who are one with him through a right faith, and therefore also priests, will also not be made with hands, but spiritual garments, as truth, judgment, and righteousness, and all things that are in Christ; for all who have been baptized have put on Christ, Gal. 3:27.
But there is also a great difference; the Jews had priestly garments as well as priests, or more sacrificers, and that by the command of God, and in addition only Aaron with his sons and then their descendants among all the people: so with us so many unrighteous people have pretended to be sacerdotes, that is, sacrificers, and have devised strange garments for themselves, of which God knows nothing. About this the Scriptures teach us everywhere that with us shall be spiritual and eternal what the Jews have had bodily and temporal. Therefore, as they had Aaron, a bodily temporal sacrificer, who sacrificed with bodily adornment and also bodily, entered into the bodily holy etc., so now we have a spiritual eternal high sacrificer, adorned with the garments of salvation, righteousness, and glory, who is
sacrificed himself once, and this is for ever, to complete all that are sanctified; with whom therefore, if we be in the faith, we are also sacrificers, because we are one with him, and through one another. "In Christ JEsu there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, but all at once One," Gal. 3:28. But that, as He once offered Himself, we also offer our bodies for sacrifice with the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. For this one must not have any bodily adornment.
70, Of such sacrificers, that is, of all true Christians who are a beloved sponsor of Christ, David sings Ps. 45:14. thus: "The king's daughter is all glorious within, her garment is wrought gold; they shall be brought to the king in embroidered garments," for if the inward man is rightly adorned by true faith and love, the gold of divine wisdom shines forth from without, together with all manner of graces and virtues; and this is the wedding garment which all who come to Christ's wedding must have, or be cast into utter darkness. We should all aspire to this adornment in the same way, as we are all one in Christ and God's sacerdotes, that is, sacrificers, and leave the outward appearance to the children of the world. What was used in the Old Testament was only an image and shadow of the true things, of which read Heb. 7 and 8.
Finally, what one does in the Christian community should be done in such a way that one is taught to despise physical splendor and adornment. Now, everything must be adorned with gold, silver, precious stones and silk, so that such vanity was the more respected. The pagans have recognized that such adornment is more of a disgrace to God than we indicate, as if God, like us, had an addiction to gold and the like folly, which is a spiritual eternal good, and also endows His own with heavenly eternal treasures and adorns them with spiritual ornaments.
In sum, to conclude this article, the Lord's Supper is nothing less than a sacrifice, as sufficiently indicated above, and a ceremony of the New Testament, where all things are to be directed to the Spirit. Therefore the ornamentation and adornment of Aaroni does not rhyme with it at all. They have all been only images and shadows of spiritual things, which we are now to deal with. Christ held his supper in common garments, and so did his dear apostles; why then should we need much adornment and ornamental clothing! So, let us hope, it will please all the elect of God that we have put an end to the papal mummery, which has brought no benefit and much harm.
Why the prayer and offerings, so the mass makers need to find turned off and changed, even the table they call altar, crazy.
73. The missals have many prayers and words, especially that they are called the minor and major canon, which often speak of sacrifice, as if Christ were being offered up by the maker of the mass, which is such a terrible, pernicious error; In addition, such seductive and poisonous words have been kept far above the holy Gospels and what was read from divine Scripture in the Mass, that it was a great sin if one had omitted something or had not told the words properly one after the other; for the sake of the Gospel and what should have been read from Scripture, there was no need, as it was not read, but was superimposed. Therefore, since such prayers and words are in themselves false and seductive, and have only led to superstition and contempt of divine words and truths, as is evident and no one can deny it, and since we are not to speak anything in the Christian community that is not better, we have not used the same canon before, and what prayers are not according to divine Scripture. How ungodly, seductive, that is, words that are not in accordance with the holy scripture, the canon of mass along with other mass prayers contain, may well be recognized by anyone who knows Christ, if he only reads them himself. However, the highly graced Ulrich Zwingli, the Zurich apostle, has also done this superfluously in a booklet, which has recently gone out in print from this canon. 1) Therefore, I will not say more about it.
Many strange gestures, including bending down, making the cross, kissing, beating the breast, raising and lowering hands, turning away from and toward the people, and the like, have had to be used at mass until now, so that it has not been considered a small sin if someone had omitted or not formally practiced such gestures, which they themselves call umbrella gestures. Therefore, the young altar boys had to learn them with not little work; the one who knew them well 2) was considered a devout spiritual priest before others, to whom the old mothers gladly sacrificed and assigned to say mass. In whom, however, both the faith and the
1) Luther, too, had a writing Against the Canon go out: "Vom Greuel der Stillmesse, so man den Canon nennt." (On the Abomination of the Still Mass, So Called the Canon). Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX,
2) In the old edition: gekennt.
of love, that is, of the whole Christian life: of faith, that one has meant, against all Scripture, to prove service to God with such jugglery, for where it should not have been service to Him to hold such, it should not have been sin to omit such, or not to hold it so properly.
This is contrary to what Christ says in John 4: "The Father is a spirit, and wants those who serve him in spirit and truth. For if Christ says that one should worship and serve God in spirit, these say that one must serve and worship him with bodily gestures, and if he wants those who worship in truth, they teach them to mock God with mockery and assumed manner. For who does not consider it a mockery if someone assumes great love toward him with sweet words, laughter, embracing and the like, and yet knows that such a one is hostile to him in his heart? Who does not ridicule it as a mockery when women take upon themselves great lamentations, weeping, wailing, wringing their hands together over their heads, acting as if they wanted to faint with sorrow, and yet they are not sorry for their hearts? So, what is it but a loud mockery and jiggery-pokery that the mass-makers make over the altar: there they fall on their knees, look up to heaven, clasp their hands together, beat their breasts, let out a roar as if they were all full of remorse and pain over their sin; and in the same lamenting, weeping and bending, they may look after frivolous women, give them signs, [since] the others have all their mind and thoughts on the sacrifice; and what need is there of words? By all their life and conduct, words and deeds, which they do before and after mass, men can see how serious they are. A miserable lump of money alone can bring such devotion and repentance to them. Now what man would tolerate one who made such a jiggery-pokery before him, from whom his heart would be so far; how should not such ghosts rather be a disgrace and high annoyance to God, who is the eternal truth, who cries out against glittering everywhere!
This is true, where the heart is full of devotion, love of God or repentance, it will also show itself with outward gestures, 3) but as that of each devotion, love or repentance itself will give. As little as I may prescribe to another how he should laugh and leap for joy, who has no joy in his heart, so I may not teach anyone how he should rejoice for joy.
3) So put by us instead of: eignen. Probably "eugen" will be found in the original.
The most part of them have no godly love or repentance. Therefore, the statutes and teachings of such practices, which all should practice in the same way, but not in the same way; indeed, the majority have neither godly love nor repentance, may do nothing but nothing but mockery, jiggery-pokery, and mockery of God; therefore, where Christians want to be, they should completely abstain, and leave the spirit of each one free to confess and stand, after his heart is kindled in devotion and repentance, and it may be better for God's community. Otherwise, what else should God say to such mocking showmanship of the wicked, but that he said to the same mockery of the Jews: "If you lift up your hands, I will turn away my eyes, and if you increase your prayers, I will not hear"? Is. 1. So he also says through Joel that they should rend their hearts, not their garments, which was also a vow of the penitent, but practiced with false hearts by many. God is truth, therefore He wills that nothing but truth be done, and that we be in earnest in all things. So David says: "I will go into your house, to your great goodness, and worship in your holy temple, in your fear", Ps. 5, 8. Where God's fear is, who kills liars and hates all glorifiers, no one will dare to make such a mockery of God, but will speak with David, and that in truth: "I will thank you with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the congregation", Ps. 111, 1.
So it is found that the celebration of Mass, the bending down and squatting, looking over and under one another, striking hands from one another and together, and other gestures, is detrimental to the faith in three ways: [First, that so many poor mass-makers are persuaded that they are doing a special favor with such a gesture, when it requires only the spirit. Secondly, their consciences are bound with such meager elements, that is, outward statutes, that they confess them and fear sin. Thirdly, if they do such things without all heart and with vain pretense, and thus hardly revile and mock God, they do not fear sin, but think they are doing God a service.
It is also more detrimental to love that the simple are deceived by such apologetics, and are led to believe that, to the detriment of the poor, some loose bellies not only live in a cowardly life, to the annoyance of a whole community of God, but also reign and splendor. So such gestures are harmful and of no use,
Indeed, they are not possible to keep without a mockery of God by males, as males may not have the same devotion, love and repentance, they cannot and may not be kept by Christians as before. Since we have been redeemed from such outward statutes by the blood of Christ, that no one should be conscience-stricken about them, even those whom God Himself commanded, how can we tolerate such poisonous, false, unchaste little fetters, not only without the Word, but also completely contrary to the Word of God? And therefore we have to stop them, and also set an example to serve God in the only thing He has commanded, and that in spirit and in truth.
79 And if anyone thinks that the making of the cross is such an old custom that Tertullianus wrote 1300 years ago, that Christians used to mark their foreheads with the cross, which they did or began to do, read about it in the book of the same teacher, de corona militis; and therefore one should not stop doing this. Answer: The death of Christ, suffered on the cross, is our redemption, therefore such a remembrance and sign to remind us of it, so that we may stand firm in faith toward God. Therefore, such remembrance and signs, which remind us of it, so that we may stand firm in faith toward God and become all the more hearty in carrying our cross, are by no means to be rejected. But what signs are, let them be signs, and do not attribute to the signs that which alone belongs to that which is signified. So if anyone, as in the times of Tertulliani, made a cross on his forehead or otherwise to all things he began or attacked, remembering the death of Christ, that he did or left all things in free faith to God, thinking all the way how dearly he was bought of sins; that he might be able to put sin to death in all things, even so to put himself under the cross, that he said with Paul: Far be it from me to boast, but only of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world, Galatians 6:14. 6:14: for indeed he would not be punished at all, as the ancients, no doubt, in order to remember the cross of Christ and to make it pleasant for themselves, marked themselves with the cross, so that they would not be ashamed of it, but would freely take up their cross and bravely follow the Lord, for which they were required daily.
80 Now the sign has been given special power: [It is supposed to drive away devils, to bless all things, to give a happy beginning to all things, all of which the death of Christ alone accomplishes for believers. Therefore
It has come about that one worships the wood, which is spent for the cross of Christ, puts it in silver and gold, lets the people kiss it, to earn great indulgences. After that, many other crosses have appeared, that one bled, that one came from heaven, that one from purgatory, in which all kinds of superstition and trouble are caused and maintained; I am silent about so many superstitious blessings and sorceries that are performed with the holy sign. All this is due to the fact that too much importance has been attached to the sign, and because of this, the sign we have used, that is, the death of Christ, has been left out of our hearts, so that we would have increased in faith and would have desired to become like him.
But since we did not know what Christ's cross or ours was or was capable of, God, for our great ingratitude, decreed that we should fall on the sign, and let go of the right one, which signifies the sign to us, and accepted the shadow for the body, and used both Christ's cross and ours to expel it. For if we are redeemed, sanctified, consecrated and blessed by the cross of Christ, that is, by his death alone, the sign of the cross, made with hands, has had to do all this; especially where it has been made by priests or great legates; so that the knowledge and power of the cross of Christ has been completely destroyed. Likewise, if God has laid a cross upon us, sickness or otherwise, or if one has otherwise stood in blessing, but one has made the sign of the cross to drive away such a cross of the Lord, one should have admonished oneself at such a sign to courageously bear the cross that the Lord has laid upon us or wanted to lay upon us. Now to such abuse and superstition 1) of this sign, of which there are so many that it is not possible for anyone to tell half of them, it has helped considerably that one has made a ceremony out of it, and thus actually prescribed where and how many signs of the cross are to be made; hence it immediately arose that one was afraid of sin where one did not make the signs of the cross most diligently. This then gave rise to the further error, as if the sign had a strange power, namely because it should have been used so seriously for the mass and all blessings, and thus one superstition grew out of the other, until no one knew any more what the cross of Christ or ours, or for what such a sign was first used and should still be used, who wanted to use it differently.
1) In the old edition, probably a printing error: Aberben.
Because such ceremonies are performed without words, and have given rise to so much superstition, we have also dropped them, but if someone wanted to use such a sign, as an external thing, it must be left free; but that one needs such freedom only for the betterment of God's community, we have taught how he should use it Christianly; of which a little is now also reported above. We hope, therefore, that since Christian freedom as well as other good things must be exemplified - for many often think that they have no attachment to such things, and yet cannot leave them without scrupling their consciences when it comes to the meeting - all the godly will have us to their credit that we have also made a change in the way we say masses and make crosses, which the mass-makers themselves, as they are nothing but mockers, call pranks. For if we were all so full of faith that we had no need of such an example, if we knew how to use all things freely; nor, if such showiness is ever a mocking devilish thing, coming from no good origin, having strengthened so much unspeakable error: how could it not be an abominable thing to Christians who seek in all things the sincerity of faith and what may promote it?
83 In addition, in some of our churches, when the occasion required it, we had tables set up so that when the Lord's supper was being served, the minister would turn his face toward the people. This was done for this reason, that in a Christian congregation all things should be done in an orderly and proper manner, and that what is prayed for and given thanks for in the congregation is best done in such a way that everyone may say Amen to it, 1 Cor. 14.For this reason we have ordained that all things be sung and read in the church in the German language, of which the following is said; Therefore, since the occasion required it, that all words of prayer and thanksgiving might be heard only by men, we have used Christian liberty in such things, and the more gladly, that the superstition of consecrated altars, which the bishops alone have had to consecrate at great cost, might be the more powerfully dispelled, when we have but one altar, and but one sacrifice, and one offerer, all of which is Christ, and Paul reports one table of the Lord, and no altar, 1 Cor. 10. 10 Because the altars have also served to the detriment of both faith and love, because the more useless costs have been applied to them, which should have been given to the poor, then they have been consecrated with
Of course, every Christian will gladly help and advise to do so. It has also been said [among the papists] that it is necessary to pray toward the sun's exit: if, however, one prays in spirit and truth, since no place or time is considered, then one should respect it and know that it is the same wherever one's face is turned, if only one's heart is turned toward God; therefore, we believe, it could not be useless to prove such freedom by deed.
Why the night meal is held only on Sunday and together with some of the congregation.
84. Lastly, it was customary to measure many times a day, 1) especially when money was involved, if no one wanted to share with the measurer of the Lord's table; But since we know that the Lord's supper is like a covenant of Christian fellowship, through which, like Christ, we have all things in common, in and for His sake, we have it only on Sundays, on which the whole congregation of God is accustomed to come together, and also so that some of the congregation receive it with the minister. Christ ever kept such things in his church, and commanded them all the bread and the cup, to which he also said, "Drink ye all of it." So Paul also taught his Corinthians to keep the Lord's supper when the church came together. In 1 Cor. 11 and Cap. 10 he says: "The cup of dedication which we celebrate, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ? For we many are One Bread and One Body, inasmuch as we are all partakers of One Bread."
In which words it is clearly seen that the Lord's supper is not to be kept for one, but is to be kept by all the disciples of Christ in the church. In which they consider that they are all equal sinners and condemned for their own sins, but are redeemed by the giving of Christ's body and the shedding of his blood on the cross; that they therefore confess nothing of their own, but all have Christ in common; by which they also have true fellowship of the body and blood of Christ, are one body and one bread; from which it is ever evident that, as all Christians believe in common, they are redeemed by the giving of the body and the shedding of the blood of Christ.
1) i.e. to hold mass.
and therefore spiritual and secular eat and drink the flesh and blood of Christ, of which John 6 says that they should also be partakers of the table of Christ, which is a memorial and thanksgiving of such redemption, so that faith in God is strengthened and love toward all people, and especially toward the household of faith, is kindled and refreshed.
Since by the word of God we do away with all feasts except Sunday, 2) the reason for which I will give hereafter, and thus the whole congregation comes together only on Sunday, we then also keep the Lord's supper alone, so that some of the congregation together with the priest may receive the bread and the cup of the Lord. For it is not a good work nor a sacrifice for the congregation that one should perform, as the papists have lied, but, as Paul calls it, a fellowship. Which name has remained with the Greek and Latin, the last collections also commonly all sounded on it, nor has the deception of the Antichrist been able to do so much that it has nowhere been considered less. Yes, if one has already had brothers and sisters who wanted to be partakers of Christ's table, they have made their mass completely over, as if the laity should have no part in it, and have then given them only the bread of the Lord, and not the cup; so that they, as much as in them, have also deprived them of the communion of the blood. For, as Paul says, "the cup which we bless is a communion of the blood of Christ."
Now there are some men who are well versed in the Scriptures and truly godly, who would much rather that the Lord's supper were kept all the more seldom, and that then the whole congregation of Christ would keep it with one another. These have good reason for their opinion from the places indicated in Scripture. For the Lord himself kept it this way; he made them all drink from the cup, and so, no doubt, he also made them all eat the bread. And if in such a supper the death of the Lord is to be considered and thanks are to be given to him, why would not all Christians keep it in common, since they commonly confess to be redeemed by it?
(88) For the reason that people are afraid to be partakers of the Lord's Table, it is because they are afraid, out of old insanity, that they think they are not skillful and worthy enough, but they are not skillful and worthy enough.
2) In the old edition with wrong punctuation: "Sintemal wir denn durch das Wort GOttes, alle Feiertage ausgenommen, den Sonntag abtreiben" etc.
3)' "nowhere for less" put by us instead of: "nienen for less".
The only purpose of this supper is that a person believes that he has been redeemed by the death of Christ and desires to be strengthened by God in such faith and love toward his neighbor. Every Christian has this mind and opinion, which is why he is sent to the Lord's supper as often as it is held. If one does not have this mind and opinion, he is not a true Christian, and if he nevertheless joins the congregation of Christ and wants to be considered a Christian, he nevertheless despises the body of the Lord, of which he wrongly presents himself as a member, or at the least, as he has far more Christian spirit than he has, so that he nevertheless becomes guilty of the body and blood of Christ, since he is with other Christians in such remembrance, and wants to be considered as such, who also believes that the body and blood of Christ was given for him. Furthermore, they think that it would be good for the whole community to have the Lord's supper in common, so that the Christian ban might be lifted up again, so that those who prove themselves unchristian in their deeds would be kept from the supper, and thus from all Christian fellowship, until the Lord would give them repentance and grace to live unrighteously.
So we confess that it would be much more in keeping with the Christian institution and the use of the first church, and would also be useful in other ways, how all of us who want to be considered Christians should be One Bread and One Body, so that we would not be afraid to share One Bread with one another; and as we all consider ourselves to be those for whom the Lord has given His Body and Blood, so that we also commonly make an effort to do this through the fellowship of the Last Supper. But still, 1) since keeping the supper is an external thing that is not necessary in itself, we have not known how to urge people to do it in a more serious way, lest the former superstitions be strengthened or new ones be planted, as if such a supper made one pious or blessed. Again, if there have ever been some who have desired to keep such a supper with us, we have never been able to turn them away from it (whether the fault is ours or their weakness in faith, God knows); but we have taught them the proper use of it most diligently.
90 Since the time of the apostles, when the congregation of Christ was gathered together, the night meal was also held, we also have it every Sunday, but with some instead of the
1) "nevertheless" put by us instead of: "dennest", which may be a provincial secondary form for the "dennocht" also found in Luther.
We have undertaken to keep the church for this time, until the Lord brings us further by his word and reforms us completely. For if it is an outward thing, without which one may be saved, we have not known how to refuse those who desire it, nor to drive others away, but as the ancients tolerated and taught for and for those who had not yet come into the fellowship of baptism. 2) So we praise God that He has given our multitude a heart to hear His word, which is the best and most necessary, and which will undoubtedly tell them all things right and well.
91 But that in the beginning of the church the supper was kept by the whole congregation, had three occasions for it more than we have had. The first, no one was baptized and received into their church, except those who had completely surrendered to the word of Christ, as many in our church hear us preach, but have not yet completely and truly surrendered to the word, but are only just born to Christ. Secondly, they had the ban, so that they excluded from them those who lived or taught in an obnoxious way, so that we would still have to let them go in confusion. Thirdly, the Christians at that time were not deceived by any error against the supper of Christ, so that now many of them have been poured out by the papal servants, so that the most salutary thing would be to start preaching the gospel and to turn people away from it for a while, if it would be justified, until they learned the right use of it through the Word.
(92) So I have now also shown the reason why we never keep the Lord's supper alone, and therefore on Sundays. Whoever desires further of us, namely that we should not keep it but with the whole congregation, and at the same time practice the Christian ban against those who live angrily, let him pray to God that he help us in this and in that and make us perfect, and let us take credit for the fact that we nevertheless, until the whole congregation, of which the brethren want to be respected, come to such a common attitude of the Christian supper, serve those who desire it now and keep it with them instead of the whole congregation. It is not strange that not everyone receives a clear report of the external things and can be brought to the correct use of them, since the apostolic church sometimes stumbles very badly in such matters.
2) The meaning of this sentence is: We have acted with the Lord's Supper as the ancients did with baptism. They also tolerated those who had not yet come to the fellowship of baptism, and so they taught for and for.
93. But the reason for our doing this is that we do not want to violate Christian freedom in the Lord's Supper, as in all outward things, nor give anyone cause for false gleaming, for doing what is not for his heart, and so we wait and do not force anyone until God will give all a heart and soul to be constant and loud in the apostles' teaching, and in fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer; in the meantime we practice this with those who desire it; For to force them to wait for others would ever be contrary to Christian freedom. But to keep it for ourselves would be contrary to its institution, manner, use, and name. As such abuse has arisen from the Antichrist out of devilish error, as if the same supper were a good work and sacrifice in itself.
Which evening meal is now held.
So far I have indicated and explained the causes of what we have changed and stopped at the Lord's Supper, such as: the name of the Mass, the suspension, the vestments, the strange offerings, and the making of many crosses, the use of the consecrated altars and those turned by the people, and that we do not keep it alone, but always with some, and that in the gathered congregation of God, and therefore on Sundays alone. Now I will also briefly indicate what we still use, and also explain our reason for it; for not a few people lie about it.
When the congregation comes together on Sundays, the minister exhorts them to confess their sins and ask for mercy, and confesses to God instead of the whole congregation, asks for mercy, and proclaims the remission of sins to the faithful; upon this, the whole congregation sings a few short psalms or a hymn. After that the servant does a short prayer, and reads to the congregation something from the apostles' writings, and explains the same in the shortest possible way. Then the congregation sings the Ten Commandments again, or something else; then the priest preaches the Gospel and does the right sermon; after that the congregation sings the articles of our faith; after that the priest does a prayer for the authorities and all people, and especially for the present congregation, in which he asks for increase of faith and grace to keep the memory of Christ's death with fruit. He then exhorts those who want to keep Christ's supper with him to keep it in remembrance of Christ, to die to their sins, to bear their cross willingly, to help their neighbor, and to be faithful to Christ.
To love in truth, to be strengthened in faith, which must happen when we consider with a believing heart what unmeasured grace and good deed Christ has shown us by offering up his body and blood on the cross for us to the Father. After the exhortation, he proclaims the Gospel of the Last Supper of Christ, as described by the three evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Lucas, together with Paul, 1 Cor. 11. Then the priest distributes the bread and the cup of the Lord. The priest then divides the bread and the cup of the Lord among them and partakes of it himself. The congregation then sings another hymn of praise, after which the minister blesses the supper with a short prayer, blesses the people, and lets them go in the peace of the Lord. This is the manner and use in which we now keep Christ's supper on Sundays alone.
Our reason and cause from Scripture is this. The beginning of Christian life is to confess that all our doings are sins. That is why John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles began their sermons by saying, "Correct yourselves"; and in the assemblies of God, confession of sins has always been the first thing, which among the ancients also preceded baptism, for it was the intelligent, not children, who were commonly baptized. That is why we begin our service with a common confession of our sins and prayers for mercy. "For this," says David in Psalm 32, "all the saints will pray before you in due time.
97 Paul says more in 1 Corinthians 14: "When ye come together, every one hath a psalm, every one hath a doctrine, every one hath a tongue, every one hath a revelation, every one hath an interpretation of this and of that. [In the] which this apostle ascribes to the Corinthians in the reported chapter, we are told that when the congregation of God comes together, there is teaching, praise, and prayer. And therefore we ordain that in our assemblies doctrine, that is, law and gospel, both be taught and urged with exhortations; and at the same time psalms and hymns, to the praise of God and strengthening of faith, be sung; and thirdly, prayer for the authorities and all men, according to the teaching of the same apostle, 1 Tim. 2:1 f.
Lastly, we keep the breaking of bread and the fellowship of Christ's table according to the teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, which we conclude with thanksgiving, since the Lord Himself has decreed His supper in this way, Matt. 26. In all this we would gladly follow those of whom it is written in Acts 2: "But they continued in the apostles' teaching, and in the breaking of bread, and in fellowship, and in prayer. 2: "But they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer."
99 Here I think it is good, since through D. Carlstadt and others the question: whether in the supper of Christ there is only bread and wine, or also the body and the blood of Christ bodily? has come back on the track, the reader will also wait for something definite from us here. Although our brother and co-worker, Wolfgang Capito, has given it in a booklet with the title: "What one should think and answer about the division between Martin Luther and Andreas Carlstadt", 1) I want to talk a little bit about it, because some are too afraid about such a question, others want to fall too much on such a question.
Therefore all lovers of Christ know that we would like to make an effort to lead people from the flesh, from bodily elements, to the spirit and spiritual exercises, so that faith is strengthened and becomes active through love and good works. For as God is a spirit, so he wants those who worship him, that is, to serve him in spirit and truth. Thus Paul says 2 Cor. 3, 6: "God has made us competent to be ministers of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit." So we admonish people who have died to all bodily ordinances through the death of Christ, and have received from the Lord only two bodily ceremonies and signs, baptism and the supper of Christ, that they should pay more attention to why he has instituted them for us than to what they are in themselves.
101) Did not the Lord say in the Lord's Supper (we will speak of baptism later), when he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to the disciples: "Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me"? The same also when he gave them the cup: "This cup is a new testament in my blood; do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of me"? Shall we then eat the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Him; why then should we quarrel much over the bread and wine, and not rather, to signify the death of our Savior, enjoy it with simple faith? Paul writes: "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you shall proclaim the death of the Lord," and we want to start a quarrelsome dispute about the bread and the cup?
102) As if a father had left a golden head 2) to his sons at the end, and commanded that they should drink from it as often as they drank, that they should remember him, and what good he had taught them,
1) The preceding paper, No. 9 in this volume.
2) head - drinking vessel, cup; English and Low German: eup.
that they lived one at a time and honorably, and they began to quarrel about the head, of what kind of matter it was, or how delicious, until they fell into each other's hair: would not these be ungrateful and wicked children, who would be better off if they had never received the head? Or, that I may give another similitude, it is just a thing to raise a quarrel of the bread and wine of the Lord, which is to be used for the strengthening of faith and the greatest unity, as if a great lord had given his servants some special garments and ornaments, and commanded them to wear the same in honor and remembrance of him, by which they might obtain high reward from him, and keep them good friends one with another: And they left these things, and began a quarrel about the gift, that they might provoke the Lord to anger, and separate themselves: 3) Were not such men foolish?
(103) Now it is the same with those who seriously quarrel about the bread and cup of the Lord. The bread and the cup, whatever they may be, may be of no use to them, except that they may consider the death of Christ with faith, and thereby faith and love be strengthened, and they may spiritually enjoy the flesh and blood of Christ, and thus have eternal life; and they leave all this, and let it be to them a matter of disunity, which is to be an alliance of the greatest unity; thus they become truly guilty of the body and blood of Christ, and make it fatal to them, which is to promote eternal life.
104 Christ says John 6, when he said many things about his flesh being food and his blood being drink: "It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no use. Why then do we quarrel about the presence of the flesh? The words of the Lord, when he says, "Take, eat, this is my body; take, drink, this is my blood," or, as described by Luke and Paul, "This cup is the new testament in my blood," let them be true, as they must be true, and only consider that he says to both, "Do this," that is, eat and drink, "in remembrance of me." If one will do this, and if there is . If this is done, and if there is faith, no other physical thing is done, except to eat the bread and drink the cup, and immediately come to the spiritual, to signify the death of Christ. Which memory will be so great in every believing heart, without any doubt, that there will not be a moment's delay.
3) Walch explains this word by "schadeten". Whether this explanation is (formally) possible, we do not know. If not, it will have to be understood by Anrichten of a divorce.
The whole heart and all the powers will be inclined to proclaim, praise and extol such death as His redemption, and also to become like Him with mortification of sin and manly bearing of the cross, and also heartfelt love toward all men.
(105) This is what the Lord willed, and not that we should remain in the flesh. For that the Lord said, "Do this in remembrance of me," Paul explains by writing, "As often as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye shall proclaim the death of the Lord, until he come"; that it has not the opinion, as some say, "Do this in remembrance of me," that is, turn 1) thus bread into my body, or the like. He had commanded to eat the bread and drink the cup, and the same was that they should do in remembrance of him; as the words of the Lord themselves clearly enough testify to every one that will not be contentious.
If D. Carlstadt had wanted to take such words of Christ into account, he would not have started such a quarrel, and in several parts a dispute over words, about these external things, but would have been more diligent in pointing from the physical to the spiritual. For this purpose, as he is well read in the Scriptures, he would have had enough reason left over, and would not have been allowed to force and torture the words of the Lord with unfounded causes; 2) as if the Lord, when he said, "Take and eat, this is my body," had indeed commanded the disciples to eat the bread, but had pointed to his natural body with the little word "this," because the bread was not crucified for us.
107. in the words which the Lord spoke concerning the cup, when Lucas and Paul described them, it may not be denied that "this," in Greek xxxxx, signifies the cup, and not the bodily blood of the Lord. For he says, the drinking vessel, or cup, in Greek ôïýôï τό πο- τήριον,, is a new testament in my blood, and yet neither is the same cup or cup shed for us. It is well known that the one true body of Christ is given and crucified for us, and the one true bodily blood is shed once for us, and not bread nor wine. But therefore it is not permitted to do violence to the words of Christ, but to teach,
1) In the old edition: transform.
2) Note with how apt a judgment Bucer dismisses Carlstadt's method of explanation, and yet accepts Carlstadt's result. How he justifies it, we see in § 109 ff.
That the bread may be eaten and the wine drunk, that the offering of the body and blood, once made, may be righteously remembered, so that the flesh may be eaten and the blood drunk spiritually and truly.
(108) The words themselves give this, when he is called to remember him and his death. And is also to be taken from the words he spoke to the cup, which Matthew and Marcus describe thus: "This is my blood of the new testament"; Lucas and Paul: "This cup is the new testament in my blood. Now these two speeches must have one meaning each. Since there is no doubt that when he says, "This is the new testament in my blood," he is speaking of his natural blood, once shed for us on the cross, through which the gracious new eternal covenant was established between God and us, of which all Scripture, and especially Jeremiah Cap. 31, that He is our Father and we are His children, of which Paul writes much in Romans 8, Hebrews 8, 9, and 10, along with many other places: so the same blood must also be meant in the words that Matthew and Marcus have, namely, badly: "This is My blood"; likewise, when He says, "This is My body."
And as when he says, "This cup is a new testament," it must be understood that it is a sign or figure of the new testament, which is spiritual; why then, when he says of the bread, "This is my body," and in Matthew and Mark of the cup, "This is my blood," should not the same bread and the same cup also be made a figure, a memorial, and a sign of the true one body and blood of Christ, which are no longer to be with us in bodily form? "I tell you the truth," says Christ, "it is better for you that I go away"; and Paul also no longer wants to know Jesus after the flesh, 2 Cor. 3. We have the same speech in the first book of Moses, Cap. 17, where God calls the circumcision "His covenant" between Him and Abraham, and such a "covenant sign".
(110) And if any man would say, I would well understand, because the Lord himself saith, Do this in remembrance of me; and Paul, As often as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye shall proclaim the death of the Lord; that this bread and this cup are the figure and sign of Christ's sacrifice once for us. Bread and this cup are a figure and sign of Christ's sacrifice, once offered up for us; but the dispute is not about this, but whether this bread and cup are a figure and memorial of Christ's death, whether it be his bodily body and blood, or only bad bread and wine.
Answer: You hear that Christ says: "The flesh is of no use"; why do you ask about the flesh? If you could recognize this as a figure and sign, with righteous faith, considering how he once gave and sacrificed his body and blood on the cross for your redemption, you would truly enjoy the true body and blood of Christ and have eternal life. But if you do not receive and need the bread and the cup for this purpose, you will be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, whose glorious memory you thus dishonor. That which is bodily may not help thee; but if thou couldst lay hold on that which is spiritual, it would bring thee eternal life.
Therefore let questions remain; the words are true: "This is my body, this is my blood. So also the Spirit of God speaks rightly in Paul, saying, "This bread, this cup." Let both of these be true and right; but see what you eat, that you eat it in remembrance of the Lord, so that through faith you may spiritually eat the flesh and blood of Christ, that is, believe completely that through such a sacrifice you have been redeemed from all evil and have become a child of God. God will reveal to us what further knowledge may be of use to us.
Summa Summarum is: Keep the words of the Lord and do them no violence; only remember that the flesh is of no use, and that everything corporeal here refers to the spiritual. The Lord calls you to eat and drink, that is, bodily, but only because you remember him who gave his body and blood for you, believe him, give thanks and obey him. Whereof Ps. 22:27: "Let the poor eat, that they may be filled; and let them praise the Lord that ask after him: let your heart live for ever." This is where everything must come from; this is what all the divine Scriptures refer to; Martin Luther also directed everything he ever wrote about the spirit and faith; therefore Carlstadt would have spared his pointed, envious and light words against him.
But God grant that there are not also in this part those who please themselves too well and think that it is shameful for them to deviate somewhat from an opinion once preached, thereby subjecting themselves to act violently, and entangling the poor consciences more than they entangle them from error. Praise be to God! The reputation of the person has fallen greatly: one no longer wants to believe immediately that my doctor, preacher or pastor has said it. If you do not have clear writing, go ahead, it will no longer be believed.
persuasion. And if God wanted that, as D. Martin Luther admonished us in Strasbourg, 1) everyone would be careful to fast the main things, then we would easily become and remain one in such external things.
(115) For some to come from the law and the prophets to explain something in the New Testament in the words and works of Christ, that is, to learn by the shadow how the body sees, and to recognize from the hidden face of Moses the brightly revealed face of Christ, and to make the present truth known by the figures, is ever perverse. Moses and the prophets testify of Christ; but Christ who discovers the face of Moses and the prophets and transfigures them. Therefore, if some will let the words of Christ in the evangelists pass away, and will overbear the ceremonies of the law, that is, will set fire to the sun, they do no more than to drive men away from them, and to strengthen them in their opinion.
(116) So, if you will come here: In the law they did eat of the sacrifice that offered, and were of the altar; so must we also eat of our sacrifice, which is the body and blood of Christ; and therefore the bread of the Lord must be bodily his body, and the cup bodily his blood; would not Carlstadt then say, We shall eat of our sacrifice; yea, "whoso eateth not the flesh, and drinketh the blood of the man child, may not have life in him," John 6. 6 Now these words of the Lord are spirit and life; this must be done spiritually, by faith; the flesh is of no use; and it will not follow for a long time that I must partake of these things bodily in bread and wine; for the law is spiritual, and is fulfilled in spiritual things, not in bodily things. Read the epistle to the Hebrews; one figure does not fulfill the other, but the spiritual truth is the fulfillment of the figures. That we still have these two ceremonies, baptism and the evening meal, is something legal; just as we are still partly under the law, insofar as we are clothed with the sinful body. What actually belongs to the New Testament, attested in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, is a spiritual thing; as there is the baptism of Christ by the Spirit and fire, and the spiritual partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ.
(117) Therefore I exhort in Christ all who think it necessary for them to write or preach in this matter, that they may remember,
1) In his letter "To the Christians of Strasbourg" of December 15, 1524. Walch, old edition, Vol. XV, 2444.
that they should be servants of the spirit, and that they should not want to please them themselves, but should present the reason for their faith with gentleness and fear in the most sober and certain way, and that through the bright words of Christ. Otherwise, they will only confuse the consciences of the simple, who now also read the Scriptures.
Our faith is to let the words remain in their natural order, but at the same time to turn our and our hearers' minds from the corporal, which the Spirit of God in Paul calls the bread and the cup of the Lord, which is to be freely followed, to the spiritual and eternal, namely, the one sacrifice of Christ, so that those who are sanctified may be perfected forever; and to exhort manfully, since the Lord himself says that the flesh is of no use, so that they may not cling to the flesh and externals, much less quarrel with anyone because of them. Do not cling to the flesh and outward appearance, much less quarrel with anyone because of it. And we also know how to stand before the gates of hell, which neither Carlstadt with his multitude nor some of his abominable ones are able to do. But undaunted, "there must be divisions, so that those who have stood the test may be revealed," the gospel must be contested and tested, as it always is, on both sides, by enemies and supposed friends. Each one prays to God with David: "Turn away mine eyes, that they see not the vain; make me alive in thy way."
From baptism.
(119) The Antichrist also obscured baptism with his feet, although not as much as the evening meal. The most serious thing is that people are under the illusion 1) that mere baptism makes the child blessed, and that if it dies without baptism, it will never see God's face. In addition, he brought chrism, oil, salt, bread, candles and consecrated water into such esteem that the baptism would not have been perfectly respected if the pieces had remained a little. All this was enough to disgrace and diminish the death of Christ, by which we are sanctified at once, as all Scripture teaches.
(120) Therefore, as Christ's witnesses, we must preach "that through His name all who believe in Him should receive forgiveness of sins," and have taught of baptism, according to the Scriptures, that there are two kinds of baptism, a baptism of water and a baptism of the Spirit. With this baptism Christ alone baptizes, with the baptism of water John baptized.
1) "verwähnt" i.e. brought to delusion. In the old edition: verwehnt.
the apostles and all others who baptize. The baptism of Christ, who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire, cancels sin and makes children of God; water baptism is an outward sign of the same. So John says: "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me is stronger than I etc., he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire", Matth. 3, 11. and the Lord Himself, Apost. 1, 5. "John baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost."
(121) Let no one be disconcerted that I regard the baptism of John the apostle and ours as the same, for we baptize with water, as did John and the apostles. The other baptism, of the Spirit, Christ reserved for him. And as John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people that "they should believe in him who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus, that he is the Christ," Acts 19:4. 19, 4. So it is also with the apostolic and our baptism. For Peter, Apost. 2:38, says to the Jews, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," that is, confess that ye are in need of repentance, and be baptized in the name of Christ, that is, with one faith to obtain remission of sins through the name of Christ, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Behold, this then is the baptism of Christ, wherewith he baptizeth.
And if any man would say: Did Paul baptize again those who were baptized with John's baptism in Ephesus in the name of the Lord Jesus, Apost. 19. how could John's baptism and the apostles be one? Answer: These were not baptized with John's baptism, but were baptized into John's baptism, or into John's baptism. For in the Greek it says: åéò τδ Ιωάννου βάπτισμα; otherwise they would have had more knowledge of Christ and his baptism, which is by the Spirit. But now Lucas writes there that they said, "We know not whether there be also a Holy Ghost." But John had told everyone how "after him would come one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire."
In the 18th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles it is reported about Apollo, who alone knew about the baptism of John. Lucas writes that Aquila and Priscilla interpreted the way of God to him even more diligently, but it is not reported that they baptized him again, as we also do not read about the apostles; yes, Christ, who wanted to fulfill all righteousness and receive the baptism of the New Testament, had enough of baptism.
John's death. With this he testified to his suffering, by which the sins of the world, which he took upon himself, even though he was without sin for himself, had to be washed away. So that he did not only confirm the outward baptism, but rather indicated what it was for and what would follow if we accepted him with faith and the fulfillment of all righteousness. For the Holy Spirit certainly comes upon us; the Father recognizes us as his beloved children. But in a moment we will have to go through trials, trials and sufferings, until the sinful body is completely accepted. It is not read of the apostles that they were baptized with another outward baptism. Thus it is known that the twelve men at Ephesus, because they knew nothing of the Holy Spirit, that is, of the true baptism of Christ, were not baptized with the baptism of John, but only, as the text says, with the baptism of John, as if the baptism of water itself were to help them. Therefore the apostle had to point them to Christ, and that is why he had them baptized into him.
Therefore we know only two kinds of baptism. One is with water, with which John, the beginner of the New Testament, baptized the apostles and all Christians. The other is that with which Christ baptizes by the Holy Spirit and fire, which is the very Holy Spirit that burns out sin and cleanses and purifies the inner man like gold. And the outward water baptism is nothing but a sign of the inward and spiritual. Therefore it is given in the name of Christ, or in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that it may point to the faith and hope of inward baptism, which Christ, even the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, perform as long as this life endureth; for so long are we in sins.
For this reason Paul also says in Romans 6, "that all who have been baptized into Christ JEsum have been baptized into his death, even buried with him through baptism. For he that is baptized aright confesseth that he is a child of wrath, wholly unclean, -but believeth that Christ shall make him clean from all sin. This is done through the death of Christ, whom we must become like by the daily death of our old Adam, that is, of our whole nature. The baptized person has surrendered to this; therefore the death of sins will also have to be completed in him; and because of the certainty of faith he is already counted as dead and buried with Christ, so that he now only waits for the new and eternal life. Because of this certainty and assurance the apostle also says
Gal. 3: "As many of you as were baptized have put on Christ." Now we are still clinging to much filthy rags and tatters of the old Adam, as long as we live here, and are still far from Christ being our garment: yet, if we believe this, it will come to us, if we are baptized into his name, it will certainly come to pass. Therefore it is by faith that we now have it, as the Scripture says.
It is clear from all this that outward water baptism is nothing but a sign of inward spiritual baptism, that is, of the cleansing from all sins that we must believe, which the Spirit of God works in us as long as this life lasts, and is the right repentance and correction, which faith those of understanding perform through baptism. 1) And therefore the forgiveness of sins cannot be added to external baptism as anything more than a sign. For the forgiveness of sins is the baptism of Christ, which he works in the elect by his Holy Spirit.
Therefore, when Peter said, "the water in baptism makes us blessed," he immediately explains himself and says, "not the putting away of filthiness from the flesh, but the covenant of a good conscience with God through the resurrection," 1 Petr. 3, 21. 3, 21. So also Paul Eph. 5, 26, when he says, "Christ has cleansed His church through the water bath", he adds: "in the word"; thereby faith, the effect of the Spirit, is indicated, that is, the inward baptism. Likewise he writes Tit. 3, 5: "He made us blessed by the bath of regeneration and renewing of the spirit", since he indicates water baptism by "the bath". But the fact that he adds "the regeneration and renewing of the spirit" indicates the baptism of the spirit, without which water is water and baptism is a miracle. The flesh, and that which is bodily, is of no use in itself.
Therefore, what is read of grace or forgiveness of sins to be given to baptism, is to be given to the baptism of Christ. Thus, when Ananias said to Paul, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, and call upon the name of the Lord," he did not direct him to water baptism alone, but rather, through it, to the baptism of the Spirit, which washes away sins and gives joy in calling upon the name of the Lord. Therefore, a disgrace to Christ and a corrupting obscuration of His true
1) We suspect that there is an error in the text, but we are not able to resolve the difficulty. It seems to us, according to what Bucer teaches about baptism, that it should be read: which [inward] baptism those of understanding perform by faith.
spiritual baptism, say or think that outward water baptism makes one blessed, or, if this does not happen, that therefore a child cannot be blessed. The Lord says, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned," but he does not say, "He who is not baptized will be condemned. God does not bind His grace to water.
He intended water baptism to be a sign, confession, practice, and admonition of his internal baptism. Therefore no one should despise it. But one should not rely on it, but only on the baptism of Christ, through which we are watered and baptized with the waters of salvation, that is, His Spirit, John 7. Therefore it is superstitious folly to want to baptize children before they come out of their mother's womb, or otherwise to hurry clumsily with baptism, as if 1) our salvation were in mere water, as is often done by women in dangerous births. It is even more nonsensical that they have been taught to despair of the salvation of unbaptized children.
130. So our chief reformation in baptism is to teach by the Word that we hold outward baptism to be a sign of Christ's true baptism, that is, of inward cleansing, regeneration, and renewal; by which they are to be esteemed and held by themselves and others as devoted to Christ, and to obtain such inward new birth; and that the washing away of sin and renewing of the mind are all imputed to Christ alone, who by his Spirit cleanseth, believeth, and sanctifieth the elect. Which is called his baptism because he earned and acquired such a Holy Spirit for us through his suffering.
131/ The other reformation or innovation in baptism is that we do not respect nor need to teach chrism, oil, salt, bread and candles. The cause is that they are little feet of men, made without word, which have served to much superstition. Hence came that such chrism and oil may be blessed only by a bishop, and only on the Green Thursday. For this reason, many children were not allowed to bathe, because the priest would have first de-esterified them for a penny or kreuzer, that is, washed off the chrism and oil. Such trickery is unacceptable to prudent, understanding Christians who only respect and follow their Lord's word.
1) "stände" put by us instead of: "sonder", and immediately afterwards "im" instead of "am". Bucer had a terribly bad handwriting, as we can see from the facsimile from the last sheet of the second part of Neudecker's "Merkwürdige Actenstücke".
They do not have a word about it, and it is not better to do so, as has appeared to be the case so far.
Therefore, after a brief explanation of what baptism is and means, we also pray in common that Christ will baptize the child by His Spirit and cleanse it from all sins, baptizing the children without such ostentation, and commanding them to the fathers and other brethren to love them as their members in Christ and, as soon as possible, to lead them to Christ through sound doctrine. We have reason for this in the Scriptures, and nothing more. Since the Scriptures teach all that is good, we know not to burden ourselves or our brethren with further ceremonies, which would not bring any improvement to our fellows, but might well be an offence.
Now those who think it quite necessary should also make the third reformation and change here, namely, not to baptize infants; think that we have neither word nor example in Scripture to do so. For Christ commanded his disciples first to teach the nations, and then to baptize them; so also the apostles baptized only those who had 2) repented of the faith.
(134) We do not agree with these, nor does it follow that they claim that the apostles were sent by Christ to bring people to faith, which had to begin with teaching and preaching. For who else would have baptized himself or his children? No doubt every apostle would have said, as Paul did, "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel." Therefore, they must have dealt primarily with those of understanding; therefore, what they did with those of understanding is described primarily, as the fruit of their preaching may be seen in them.
135 Nevertheless, as often as we read that the apostles baptized whole houses, as Paul baptized the household of Stephana in Corinth, the household of the purple maid and the jailer in Philippi, Acts 16, and the household of Cornelius in Peter, not all of them will have had the right knowledge of the faith. 16; Peter, the household of Cornelius: of course, not all of them would have had the right knowledge of the faith, namely the jailer's household in Philippi, who had only heard preaching for half a night. Thus it is proved above that John's baptism and the apostle's baptism is one. Now John baptized many who had not yet had much knowledge of Christ, but the apostles, who had other baptisms, had baptized many who had not yet had any knowledge of Christ.
2) "to rejuvenate" - to say yes to something, to confess.
John 4, even had a childish faith. Yes, he and the apostles baptized many who never had no faith, as Simon the Sorcerer, Apost. 8, with many others.
We are to pray for all men, 1 Timothy 2: and since God does not look at the person, and we do not immediately know who are chosen or rejected by God, we are to provide better for everyone; and if baptism is an outward thing, not to deny it to anyone whose ungodly life is not well known to us, so that we can no longer consider him a sheep. So, since we do not know of children whom he has rejected, but know that the children of the faithful are holy, 1 Cor. 7, that is, now numbered among the household of God; more, that our Lord Jesus says that such is the kingdom of heaven, he also wanted them to come to him, he welcomed them, laid his hands on them and blessed them, Marc. 10: Why then would we not give them baptism, as among the ancients they were circumcised? for baptism is to us the same as circumcision was to the Jews.
137 And if thou wilt say, But the Lord did not baptize the little children. Answer: You will not show me an old man whom he baptized, for he did not baptize for himself, Jn. 4. And if you would seek a remedy in the fact that the Lord says "such a one" and not "this one" is the kingdom of heaven, as if he meant that the kingdom of heaven is for those who humble themselves as children, it will nevertheless be enough for me that he has blessed them and blessed them, and Marc. 9. said that whoever receives a child in his name receives him, and whoever reproaches one, it would be better for him to die in the sea; and their angels see the face of the Father. All this shows that the children are so precious to God that they are baptized; the water is already lost in some, it was also lost in Simon the Sorcerer, and in many others.
In sum, you can go wherever you want, so you must leave baptism, as an external thing, free to me, which God has not bound to any time. For as the Scripture does not refer to any time, so it also does not refer to any time. So then it cannot be denied that it is a comfort to parents that the church of Christ accepts their children and intercedes for them, and that baptism given to children is also a cause for parents and others to teach the children, as soon as they are able, Christ, as they are devoted to Him in baptism: so it follows that baptizing children is also better, I am silent that one should forbid such a thing.
(139) And though you give many examples that those who believed were baptized, I say that those who did not believe were also baptized, as proved above. There was no need to write much about infants, since they wanted to report what fruit the apostle's preaching had brought, which could not have happened to unbelieving infants. Yes, even if you wait a long time to baptize, you will still baptize many unbelievers, and by such waiting you will make the young people of Christian life negligent. They will say, "I am not yet a Christian; now when I become a Christian, I will become devout.
So let us trust God more for our children, to command them. The Scriptures so often report that he cares for his own from the womb, even [before] they are born: why then should we esteem them unholy? What do we care for so much water? Shall we ask God for all men: why then shall we not also command him our little children, to whom Christ himself has been so kind? If we already baptize some goats, which Christ does not want to baptize by His Spirit, so much water and prayer is needed. The apostles also failed, because they did not baptize all believers.
It seems to me, however, that the devil would like to divide us over outward things, which he does not know how to divide in the main. Therefore, brethren who have the commandment of the word, think that the devil does not celebrate. Consider always that the sum of the law is love of a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith, and do not let such outward things be so hard for you. Paul says that Christ did not send him to baptize, but to preach the gospel; That ye also wait, and seek more that the baptism of Christ by the Holy Ghost may be well known, than that ye should much quarrel about water baptism, trusting that if we baptize them out of the opinion of how the holy fathers circumcised their children, confident that they shall be holy and children of God, thereby giving us cause to teach them Christ the more diligently, and also, as soon as they come to their understanding, to follow such doctrine the more earnestly: do not want to condemn us so much. Do not condemn us in this way, for you will not prove us wrong by any scripture, just as we do not act contrary to faith or love with such baptism. For we testify with all diligence that water baptism does not make
1) In the old edition: but.
blessed, but only the spiritual baptism of Christ, which this signifies, and for which one should pray.
And if God would have you admonish us and yourselves in other matters, which are far more important than this baptism, with such seriousness not to do anything of which we do not have a word from God or a written example, then more patience, discipline and love should certainly appear among us. Read the Histories and the Old Scriptures, and you will find how, from the beginning of the Christian community, the enemy of unity has caused all divisions and separations, most of them from unnecessary wars of words, or external things without which one might be saved. He watches and walks around like a roaring lion. Let us also be valiant and take good care that he never falls in. Let us diligently study the teaching of Christ and the apostles. How little you find there of the supper, how little of outward baptism, but how much of the spiritual eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ, and of spiritual baptism, that is, of faith, mortification of sin, and a new spiritual life! So, if we are to die to worldly outward things, let us also set all things on the spiritual, that is, right faith and true love; and always have in our hearts: "The Spirit gives life, the flesh is of no use"; and never let this be out of our minds: "Knowledge is a stimulant, and love is a corrective; but if anyone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know how to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him." 1 Cor. 8, 1-3.
143. But if anyone would ever persevere with baptism, and would keep those with whom he dwells without destroying love and unity, let us not therefore be divided with him, nor condemn him. Let each one be sure of his own mind. "The kingdom of God is not like food and drink, nor water baptism, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ in this," says Paul Rom. 14:17-19, "is pleasing to God and worthy of men." 1) Therefore I conclude with the apostle in this place: "Let us pursue that which is for peace, and that which is for the betterment of one another." So much for baptism.
Why we abort the holidays.
144. besides the Sunday, one has noticeably many days, to the glory of God, His angels and dead saints, at the ban and Christian
1) In the old edition: bewerth.
Obedience, commanded to celebrate, that is, to go idle on it, and where someone would have worked bodily, out of necessity, something on such days, such has been severely punished, so eating, whoring, gambling, and everything what the devil teaches, has not interrupted the celebration. Thus the simple-minded people were persuaded that the celebration of bodily labor on the aforementioned days was a great service, but on such days no one but the devil was served, partly by many superstitious works, such as masses, unintelligent chants, strange prayers, indulgences, and the like; partly by all kinds of riotous and carnal works, with which the rude people never angered God more severely than on the feast days.
145 Paul writes Gal. 4, 9-11: "Therefore, if you have known God, or rather are known by God, how do you turn back to the weak, meager statutes that you want to serve anew? You keep days and months, and feasts and anniversaries: I am afraid of you, lest perhaps I have labored with you in vain." Behold, the apostle regards keeping days as much as turning away from God and apostasy from the faith, because he fears that he has worked on them in vain, that is, [that] his preaching to them has been in vain. How many thousands then are those who keep the feast days as a necessary and meritorious service, which is a certain apostasy from the faith! For Christ has freed us from all such outward ordinances: all time, place, food, and whatsoever is of the thing, made all things free, for love and the betterment of our neighbor, to serve in and with such; as Paul proves very closely in all his epistles.
(146) Therefore, just as Paul seriously rejects such superstition of days, by which one day is thought to be kept before another, as we see in the place now mentioned, as also Colossians 2, we are not to do this with less, because in our times people hang on to days much more vexatiously. They thought that because God commanded some days to be celebrated through Moses, it would be fair to keep them, and erred only in that they did not recognize that Christ had redeemed them from such ordinances and that he was working their salvation, not they through such outward ceremonies, for they were not yet fully informed of Christian freedom; But ours have fallen into days which only men have commanded, and have drawn much of theirs from heathen customs, contrary to the bright commandments of God; by which, they think, they are doing God a great service, when they are only doing some church ceremonies, and after that they are not doing God a great service.
Much more than in other days, they defile themselves in all evil carnal works; and not only do they want to serve God with such, but rather the Mother of Christ and the saints, but there is much innumerable error mixed in. And because of this error they hold harder than to so many divine necessary commandments, regardless of the fact that Christ and the apostles have so diligently warned us against such human doctrines and commandments, and we also see and grasp that the holidays give cause and room for all evil. How then should a Christian, who should always be inclined and ready to promote the destruction of sins and the end of righteousness, even with the loss of his life, not have an abhorrence of holidays and use all possible diligence to drive them away?
147 And if someone wanted to say that the superstitions should be driven away, that the Christians keep one day as another, do not think to earn anything with celebrations for God, nor to honor the saints in a Christian way, that they also stop all idleness and carnal works on such days, and hear the word of God instead, with practicing the works of brotherly love. Answer: If we 1) already want to bring about everything through the one word, without examples, so that the abuses of the holidays would cease (which may not be possible, if one already bears witness to the words with examples and breaks the Sabbath with Christ, since those who let themselves be led by the word are the lesser part), what cause should there be to change the days, to make useless celebrations, without one word of God? If you want to reproach people to whom you can prove a favor by doing so, know that you must please people only for the good, Romans 15, so that it may bring them improvement. He who would otherwise please people would not be a servant of Christ, as Paul writes, even as he speaks of holding such outward ceremonies, which many people have often held to their own detriment.
Therefore, if one first begins to preach the gospel in a place, and until such a time as it is preached, tolerates the holidays, so that they will not be deterred from the word by their untimely departure before they have heard it, this would serve the people well and do them a favor. Of which much has been said above. But where people have heard the gospel long and much, and may well understand that one day is to be kept like another; whoever there would tolerate 2) holidays for the sake of the people, would please them unjustly,
1) In the old edition: me.
2) "there" put by us instead of: there itself.
because he strengthens them in the superstition of the time, or to great respect of the enemies of God, whose one may then enjoy, and thus shuns them more than God the Lord.
For how would one who has no special food, and yet would gladly feed his wife and child, keep so many holidays, if he were sure that such is not pleasing to God, nor to all the godly, and that some wicked people, to whom Christian liberty is irksome, do not shun it for the sake of benefit? Whichever of these two is the cause, it shall be of no account, and such weak ones shall also be strengthened with examples of Christian liberty.
(150) Others are those who want to adorn such evil deceit of the unbelieving heart by saying: All external things are free, why do I not want to celebrate or work for my pleasure? If indeed either superstition or unchristian timidity of wicked people keeps them at the holidays. These should consider that Paul says: "I have it all power, but it is not all useful; I have it all power, but it does not improve everything. Let no one seek what is his, but let each seek what is another's," 1 Cor. 10:23 ff. So for your own sake you are free to celebrate or not; but if you are not to live for yourself, but for your neighbor, and do nothing that is not better for another: how then will you keep the holidays, which have arisen contrary to the word of God, and so may not be better? For what may be good and better, the Scripture has everything clear and abundant.
But what may it say? It is understood that the holidays have been among the most harmful of all the ordinances of man; for they do harm to faith and love not only for themselves, but that many foolish people think that they want to earn much from God and His saints by their idleness, and that they often want to do good to their neighbor on such days, and should do so, as the Lord has taught by words and deeds. For the Sabbath, which God has commanded for the sake of man, is a day on which one should do good to one's neighbor; I am silent about our holidays, which God has not commanded and for which no one has to judge us, Col. 2. Thus, in their opinion, they may not do it in the case of mortal sin, but they have also promoted and strengthened all other error, superstition, blasphemy, along with all kinds of carnal sins and vices. When have false prophets deceived people more than on feast days? When have the mass-goers been more free from their blasphemous masses and made them more delicious than on the holidays?
Holidays? When have indulgences, howling and crying been more valid than on holidays? When was the worship of saints, together with all superstitions, more practiced than on holidays? And, coming to the outward vices, when is there more courtliness, splendor, gluttony, drunkenness, unchastity, murder of souls, than on holidays? It is obvious and cannot be denied that on holidays all good is destroyed and all evil is planted; by which evil poisonous fruits manly good may see that this planting is not from the Father, but from the enemy of all good, the devil.
If God has set us to establish such things, we have used all diligence, and still Christians keep one day as another; but to celebrate God every day is to let him work and make them, and to give them themselves serenely into his will. And although some have long said that the abuses should be abolished by this word, and that the holidays should be left, experience has shown that the Scriptures also demand that one bear witness to the doctrine with examples. Paul ever says, just as he speaks of holidays, "Be like me, for I am like you," that is, I am with you who are without law, as having become without law, yet now you also be like me, free Christians, who set their cause on the one Christ, and on no outward things. Therefore, if we are to preach that one day is like another, why would we ourselves do otherwise? We should teach that birth, circumcision, death, suffering, and resurrection should be considered every day and that we should thank God for them, and we should select special days for this purpose? so that we would give cause for gloating to many who did not want to be the most wicked, and their hearts would be shaped as before; thus God would be more angered and reviled, and respect and difference of days would be caused and maintained.
If we do not have the word of God everywhere, how can we be wise? Wise is he who becomes wise from other people's harm: and we do not want to become wise through our own harm. We cannot deny how bad it was for the ancients, who set aside a few holidays for the sake of those who were too attached to the world, so that they might also hear the word of God. And we experience daily how frightfully the devil destroys all piety and respectability on the holidays: and we still please ourselves well, and may pretend to keep some holidays for the benefit of the servants, or I do not know whom, may bring benefit.
But whether anyone would say, "So do away with Sundays. Answer: It does not follow. In the Ten Commandments, we commanded that the seventh day be observed, so that the servants and servants might also have their rest, as is read in the other book of Moses, Cap. 20 and in the fifth [book] Cap. 5. Now, love does not like to be deprived of such rest, therefore one should work six days, as the commandment of the Lord says, and rest the seventh. Since a Christian prefers to keep all ordinances that are not against God rather than to make ordinances, and since he is always more willing to serve than to be served, there is no reason why Sunday, which common Christianity has celebrated for the seventh day for so many years, should be discontinued. If one is to celebrate one day out of seven, as love requires, then Sunday is as good as another; and if one rests physically on it, then it is also wise to have Christian fellowship on it, to practice the word of God, prayer and the Lord's supper. For this purpose, no special feast or superstitious service was held on Sunday, as on other holidays. But since the celebration of Sunday has also been abused, it must be stopped by the word of God among the elect, and by the good order of Christian authorities among the rest of the people; this will be easier to do on the one Sunday than on so many holidays.
Thus it is that brotherly love requires the celebration of Sunday, but not of the other holidays at all; but, because they are as harmful to the neighbor as they should be, it cannot tolerate them at all. Therefore we have reason to put an end to these, but to keep the celebration of Sunday, and to put an end with all diligence to the abuses that have arisen there. But that love, which then requires the Sunday celebration, may be the master of directing and keeping it, as it may be useful to the neighbor; That it be always proved that the Sabbath is for man's sake, and not man for the Sabbath's sake, who then with Christ is Lord of the Sabbath, and if he may profit any man, he ought to know how to use Christian liberty, and not, as the Jews and their descendants, the Papists, think, if it should happen to do anything useful to one's neighbor on Sunday, to break the observance thereby. -
(156) Wherefore, if any man said, In the law were more feasts than, First of Easter, the first and last of seven days, in the which unleavened bread must be eaten; the day of firstfruits;
the first and tenth days of the seventh month, and seven whole days of the feast of tabernacles, in which they shall rest and give thanks for the good deeds of God: might not the free love of God and of one's neighbor keep, besides Sunday, the celebration of Christmas, the circumcision of the Lord, Epiphany, and Ascension Day?
(157) Answer: Christians should daily remember the divine good deeds that are supposed to be commemorated on such days, and never, without all Scripture, give such commemorations a time of their own; otherwise the simple-minded crowd will immediately be led back to the shadows, images and meager statutes of external things, and will be accustomed to think more of one day than another; which love, which does nothing, cannot tolerate, unless it brings improvement. But nothing can bring improvement that is done without a word from God. Thus the law does not report that the holidays declared by Moses were set aside in addition to the seventh day, for the rest of cattle, servants, and servants, so that love must set the same holidays for us Christians 1).
But if it is preached daily that the masters should do likewise to their servants, and think that they also have a Lord, there will be no lack of it; the servants will have as much to celebrate as those under the law. Many trades have half a holiday every week: if the servants are generally free with us, they may well impose as many holidays as they want on their rulers, so that love really does not require any more holidays; and they may not tolerate such holidays as are called Christmas, New Year's Day and the like. For by such celebrations the error would still be preserved as if one day were more valid than the other; in addition, their festivals are none, they have special superstitions and obscenities attached to them.
When, at Christmas, one rings the bell, there must be water wine, eats and drinks after the three measured meads, and drives the holidays out of all splendor and opulence. On the circumcision one gives, in pagan way, the good year with many superstitions. On Epiphany they make kings and hold Saturnalia. On the Ascension Day they cut up the hammers. And who would tell all the superstitions and pagan abuses, of which every place has its own? Therefore, love requires a reason to put an end to them.
160 Do you then say: Let the abuses be driven away by the word. Answer: They do not all accept the word, but it is to the greater good.
1) In the old edition: see.
It is necessary to stop the abuses of the reported days among them, so that the days are indeed stopped. For this purpose, among those who accept it, there are many weak ones who also need examples, so that they may be torn away from the superstition of such days. If then the godly do not need set days to consider divine good deeds, and we cannot deny that such days are harmful to the great multitude, which must be governed by statute and order, and which knows how to use the freedom from bodily labor only for lavish idleness: Why do we not want to do away with such holidays one by one, which have been set without a word, and have brought much hindrance to the word, and great damage to all respectability, which cannot be resisted even by the word, which the smaller crowd accepts? We preach here every day zwiret [twice], often dreistet [three times; would God that the seriousness were so great that we would have cause to preach more, the work should not weigh us down. For this purpose, the rulers are exhorted to keep their servants friendly and to demand divine things, which can be better obtained through the word, because the servants, 2) the young and large crowd, make good use of the holidays.
Since there is no reason at all why one festival should remain and the other go away; nor can it be denied that they have all done harm, and the greatest the most, we will be content to celebrate the one Sunday that brotherly love alone requires. And God grant us grace that we may drive away the abuses by the word, on which the fewest have reigned. And so, that we may put aside all other holidays, we have no doubt that we are doing what our ministry requires, which will be pleasing to God and highly useful and beneficial to God's community. There shall be no lack of preaching, which some accuse of quarreling, and yet do not otherwise esteem. And to whom no contentiousness or superstitious regard for the days vexes, he will also recognize and receive it. Let every man look to himself; our hearts are not just, though they seem to us to be quite just: all their wickedness is known to God.
Cause, therefore the images should be turned off.
We have also preached against idols and images. Among them, an examination has been made by an honorable council, and in the noblest temples all the images that are in use have been removed.
2) In the old edition: Gesinge.
but had been held in honor. The congregation of Christ, which I served, has removed all idols and images from their temple, because they were unanimous about it, and have not been hindered by any congregation or other obnoxious authority, as some other parishes have been. That this is Christian and well done, and that it would be even more Christian if the idols and images were all removed from all temples with justification and silence, has been abundantly shown by the leaders of the congregation of God at Zurich in clear writing, so there is no need to mention much about it here.
The first commandment of God among the ten is clear enough, for he says: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods beside me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness, either of them that are in heaven above, or of them that are in the earth beneath, or of them that are in the waters under the earth: worship them not, neither serve them." From these words, which are the reason for everything else that is read back and forth in the Law and the Prophets about idols and images, everyone who seeks the truth may well understand that God has also forbidden making idols and images; but that is so that no one would give them honor, 1) hold anything against them and serve them, so that the one true God would be despised and handed over.
Otherwise, the idol in itself is nothing but a mere work of human hands, like other things that are made by the skill that God gives. Therefore, where there is right faith, they may also be had; as Solomon had lion idols made on the steps of his king's throne, cattle idols on which the poured sea stood, and other things more, roses and the like.
Therefore, in all places where idols and images are forbidden, it is found that they are forbidden because they are not honored, because one does not want to serve God by them, so that the heart falls from true faith to outward appearance. This is an abomination in the sight of God, which is why idols and graven images are commanded and preached against everywhere in Scripture. Now no one can deny that our churches make idols and images as things pleasing to God; they are worshipped, that is, one bows before them, discovers the head, falls on one's knees before them; which is the name of the Hebrew word that is interpreted here as "to worship. One
1) In the old edition: "verbiete", which may well be set for "erbiete".
2) goes to them, one sacrifices to them, one decorates and adorns them, builds them houses and cages. And what may it say? what has ever happened to idolatrous images, happens also to these. Therefore, they are no longer idols to many, but abominable idols, in which the people corrupt themselves and take an abominable offense at faith and love.
For this reason, all Christians should spare no possible effort to be converted, especially by the word out of the heart, and then also out of the eyes, for the sake of the weak and simple, who, let it be said and preached as strongly as one may, still have a superstitious regard for idols. We have preached here with all diligence for a long time that one should serve God in the spirit and not in idols; not in the dumb images of men, but in the living images of God, our neighbors, turn to expenses and prove good deeds. Even when, by the order of an honorable council, the most annoying idols, to which the foolish people had burned and served the most candles, were discarded, there were not a few of them who thought that they had nevertheless grasped the word, who had a heartfelt complaint about such image-devotion, but who now, through such a deed, along with the word, have fallen away from idols and images altogether. So deeply has this superstition and respect for images taken root, and in many people it also wants to have active examples of the word.
167 Which, unless there is good permission in the church, is due to the authorities as a remedy for external grievances, and not to any particular man, as we do not read of any prophet or apostle how much they preached and wrote against idolatry, that any of them ever actually removed an idol. In the days of Jeshua, Jeremiah and all the prophets, there were many idols in Jerusalem, against which they preached fiercely, but they never removed any with their own hands.
168 For he that is not set over other men ought to teach only by words, and to confirm them by his own example; nothing else may be due, but to them that are set over others. Therefore, as John preached freely to Herod, that he should not have Herodiadem, his brother Philippi's wife, yet he did not go to her with his appetite, and took her from him, and stoned her, as the law commandeth to punish adulterers. Why? He had no command and did not carry the sword. So, do you see one in front of an image
2) "Promises" - makes vows; "goes" - goes on pilgrimage.
kneel and offer him honor: according to the law he should die; but as little as you dare to do the same, because you do not bear the sword, are not set in authority, so little is it your duty to overthrow or take away his idol.
And if you would reproach me with Moses, who without special command slew the Egyptian, who did violence to the Hebrew; or Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, who stabbed Zimri, a captain of the Simeonites, when he whored with the harlot; or Eliam also, who strangled the sacrificers of Baal, I say, Behold the Scripture of all three of them, none of them did this without special command. Moses had already been appointed by God as judge and avenger of the Israelites, as Stephen testifies in Acts 7. 7. Likewise, before Phinehas performed his deed, God commanded that everyone should slay his captains for the sake of the harlots, Deut. 25. Likewise, Elijah had the consent of all the people, who also attacked the sacrificer of Baal himself, 1 Kings 18.
(170) But truly, the authorities who want to be Christians, as is their due with the pious Jofia, must first make the law of God known to the people and re-establish the divine covenant with them. They are to be ministers of God and rule in such a way that the people gather to God and he is the right ruler, as David ruled, Ps. 7. So then one cannot deny that idols harm faith and love; faith, that one hopes to obtain grace and help from one image more than from another, and also thinks* it is a pleasing thing to God to make, adorn and honor idols; of love, that so much expense is expended on them, which should be laid to the poor, also that the idols are used as decoys, so that the more is given to the useless shorn multitude; I am silent about many great superstitions, sorceries and false miracles, which go on to and fro, especially where pilgrimages are made, which are not to be counted: Truly it follows that Christian authorities should put a stop to such aversions and hindrances to the kingdom of God, for they are to be feared in evil works.
And even if this is not to everyone's liking, they should think that other things, which they set Christian and honorable, are not pleasing even to the greater multitude, which should not 1). The authorities are the servants of the law, from which the unrighteous are not,
1) i.e., which is no good.
The disobedient, the unholy etc. are not exempt; but to the righteous there is no law, 1 Tim. 1, 9. Wherever there are Christian communities, they should plead with their authorities for the abolition of idols and other things that are contrary to sound doctrine, because there are many weak people who really need active examples to speak. For although everyone would know that the idol is nothing, and no one would be offended by it, which, alas, is not, and appears daily: nor, if we have only One God, who is invisible, and whom no man has ever seen, also only One Christ, who is indeed a man, but has put his human and bodily presence out of sight, as useless to us: then we should serve God in spirit and in truth, turning all expenses and good deeds to the poor, as the Lord says: "Sell everything you have and give it to the poor"; how should it not be an abomination to us to tolerate so many idols and images, which come from many idolatrous fables, contrary to the word of God, in our churches, where the one word of God is to be taught and kept?
It is true that idols must first be torn from the heart, and that by the word, then they do no harm. But of course, to whom they are out of the heart, he will not like to see them around him, because he knows that divine honor has been proven to them, and is still being proven by many. And if they do so little harm, why then has God, who is ever the wisest, and has commanded or forbidden nothing in vain, forbidden them so horribly everywhere in the Scriptures? Do you say: We are free from the law. Answer: Yes, the small group of the elect; the other, the great group, must be governed today, as well as in the times of Moses, by law and sword; and the commandments concerning faith and love, such as the Ten Commandments, in the first of which idols are forbidden, must be practiced and kept by men everywhere.
And what else would the images bring, than they have ever brought, great trouble and harm, as all things do, contrary to the word of God? Therefore, whoever is a Christian and knows that he should judge all things for the better, and do away with what is annoying, will recognize that it would be highly beneficial and salutary if the idols and images were removed everywhere. May God grant that it be done. With the word of God one should teach the layman, not with dumb blocks, stones and paintings, as with the ancients the idolatrous work did not stand for long. It is a carnal, flying devotion, which does not arise except by looking at the images. If you are a Christian, listen; this
434I- Luther's writings against Carlstadt. W. xx, sei-sss. 435
Word will be left enough to move you to all good.
I have to answer for one more thing: In the parish church, in which I serve in word, to St. Aurelian one calls it, we still had an idol, a coffin and grave, in which St. Aurelia, a virgin of the so-called 1) 11,000 maidens, who is said to have died of fever, when the same bunch passed by Strasbourg, and to have been buried in the reported grave, of whose sanctity one reads two miracles. One: that at one time some soldiers wanted to seek good in her grave, and were therefore made insane by St. Aurelia, that they themselves ate off their fingers and hands, and thus died. The other: Some have dug glues on their day, and because they have not celebrated their day, 2) the vengeful virgin has fallen prey to them. 3) Eleven hundred years she is said to have lain in the grave; but in a hundred years her grave was raised only when it was hoped that she would gain. The journey and the running to the grave are even more recent. A lot of trips were made to the grave, usually for fever. People ate the ground from it; an idol stood on the altar, which was decorated and adorned, and shirts were hung around the grave as decoys.
All of which is contrary to faith and love. And that is why, after a sufficient report of the divine word, the parish church 4) removed the same grave; the legs that were found, very large and unequal, so that they could not have been of one body, that is, of a virgin, were removed from the eyes of the people. God is to be invoked with faith in all places, and not the dead saints; for there is no word of God, so no one is more merciful and more inclined to help us than our God and Father. Now, by polluting this tomb, many a man has sought his help and God at the tomb from afar, and has given his gifts, which he was supposed to give to the poor, to the wooden idol and legs.
First, the shirts and other decoys were taken away, then the idol. The tomb in which the grave stood was no longer opened to keep people away from such annoyance. All this did not help:
1) In the old edition: "called by the 11,000 maids".
2) "have" put by us instead of: have.
3) "verfellet" in the old edition is probably as much as "gefällt" i.e. killed. 2 Kings 19:7.
4) So put by us instead of: the parish common.
They have pushed in their shirts and jiggery-pokery through the grave, which they did not want to grant to the naked Christ in so many poor children and others. Then the congregation of Christ, so that no foreign God would be sought among them, removed the tomb altogether and hid the tomb; just as they, as Christians, could not have suffered such a fabulous work, which had become so annoying.
177 No one may reproach that the legs of the saints were also kept large among the ancients, or that great miracles took place at their tombs. The ancients could also have erred, just as in the times of the apostles many errors occurred, according to the apostolic writings. Thus the ancients held the tombs of the martyrs in high esteem only so that others would be exhorted to the same masculine confession of faith, and not so that one should seek special help there. But soon the devil got involved with the false miraculous signs, of which it is read in Matth. 24, that many foolish people sought their help and comfort at the graves of the dead 6), which must come from the one true God; they then gave much to such places, which one will get on 7); as one knows, whores and boys bring the best booty from it, except what is laid and hanged on stone, iron and wood, or burned in oil and wax.
Of course, he who loves Christ will help and advise that such idolatries, superstitions and pernicious abuses, which have arisen and been practiced against the Word of God, come to an end. The true miraculous signs occur for the confirmation of God's word and the establishment of God's unified glory, as is evident from Marc. 6 and from many other places in Scripture, and not to confirm such idolatrous superstitions of seeking more grace and God's help in one place than another, for the sake of a basket full of 8) legs; legs are legs, and not God.
Why chants and prayers in church changed.
179. there has been much orderly chanting and prayer in the masses and sevens for the sake of money, and still is, the Chri-
5) This word is not found in Luther. Perhaps: framing, latticework.
6) So put by us instead of: "by the dead graves".
7) In the old edition of Walch: "that one becomes on", "become on" - get rid of. The meaning will probably be: one gets rid of this giving to whores and boys by putting away the false sanctities.
8) In the old edition: full legs.
The people do not yet know the stumbling block, which in many places is drawn from the Scriptures and from fables: Collects and prayers of St. Barbarians, St. Catherine, St. Christopher, St. Margaret, St. Gorges and many others; in addition, they sing and read such in Latin, which the common man does not understand at all, and they themselves often understand little. They are also bound to time, place, and number, as opposed to the kind of prayer and divine praise that is supposed to be voluntary.
Now, since we know that only the Spirit of God can know divine things, 1 Corinthians 2, and that the Scriptures of God contain all good things, 2 Timothy 3:16 ff, we do not use any song or prayer in the church of God that is not drawn from divine Scripture. And because what is done in the church of God should be generally better for everyone, we do not pray or sing anything except in the common German language, so that the layman may commonly say Amen, as the Spirit of God teaches, 1 Cor. 14, 16.
181. The Latin language, which everywhere contains nothing good or useful that is not written more artfully and better in Hebrew and Greek, be it divine or natural; and [which] like the ancient Romans, so much more the new papists, has served highly to blind other nations and to bring them into servitude, and to keep them in it, we do not know how to do the honor that with such the church of God is stopped, and only from it to interpret what is better for the layman to know.
Furthermore, because it is a reproach to God not to pray and sing with the heart, we in the church do not allow this to be bound to any time, "nor written with any statutes, but voluntarily on Sunday, when one keeps the supper of Christ, something is prayed and sung with brevity, all drawn from Scripture, which is indicated with its cause above. Likewise, at the time of vespers, since the bodily celebration is to be used for the betterment of the soul, one sings a psalm, two or three with a prophecy, that is, an explanation of a chapter from divine Scripture; thus also, daily before and after the sermon, a psalm is sung by the whole congregation.
183) In the assembled congregation, nothing is done without the sermons, but each one's spirit and devotion is set apart to pray and praise God in his heart without ceasing, so that we do not, contrary to Christ's teaching, give cause to make many words in prayer, Matt. 6, or with pretense.
and glorification of God more than praise, where such would be done without heart.
184 And in this we know that we are following the teaching of the Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 14 and elsewhere. Col. 3, 16. Paul also writes: "Let the word of God dwell in you richly, in all wisdom; teach and admonish yourselves with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," in grace, "and sing to the Lord in your hearts." Likewise he also said to Ephesians 6, with all our strength we should love God, why should we not also sing to Him, as all the saints of the Old and New Testament have done? only that such singing should be done in the heart, not with the mouth alone, but that it should spring and come from the heart; which the apostle means when he says, "and sing to the Lord in your heart." For his opinion is not to sing without voice, otherwise how could the others be admonished and corrected, or we talk with one another, which he writes to the Ephesians ?
Therefore, those who reject the singing in the church of God know little, neither about the content of the Scriptures, nor about the use of the first apostolic churches and congregations, which always praised God with singing. For this purpose, the Psalms are especially used; we read of this not only in the writings of Paul and our Histories, but also in the writings of the Gentiles, especially Pliny secundi. In the same way, Christ himself concluded his supper and last sermon with a hymn of praise, Matt. 26. But there are some who have such a love that nothing is very pleasing to them, so they approach it. So we have now also shown reason and cause for the change with prayer and song, in which, of course, the godly may not bear any displeasure. God help the others, that he himself may please them and his word, so they will also get along well with us.
Other things, such as not burning a candle in God's church during the day, not needing salt and water for consecration, and leaving the dead in God's hands after burial, have been changed, as the spirits of all believers are in his hands. Such and such reformation is the cause, which is now often indicated. Scripture does not teach such things, which all good teaches; they have been used to the detriment of faith and love, therefore Christians should be idle.
187 Therefore, we ask all lovers of the Gospel to consider our stated causes of the things that have changed among us, along with other writings of God, with faithful, simple eyes.
and in outward things of Christian liberty to use themselves in such a way that in every way what may be better and useful may be pursued; also to take to heart that, although idols are nothing, all outward ceremonies are free in themselves, that nevertheless there are very few who recognize such things as nothing and free in the truth, even if they have long said so. For of course, if such things were recognized as nothing, since they have done much harm and are still today a stumbling block to many weak people, one would not worry about nothing for long, yes, one would want to prove such knowledge by deed, to strengthen others.
Some also think that they do such things for the sake of Christian freedom, since carnal freedom, which shuns the cross, prevents them from laying themselves against the wicked and meeting the weaklings seriously. How often does it happen that we pretend to the weakness of the people, since we really drag them behind us out of our own weakness? Nothing is to be done rebelliously and with rumor; therefore, whoever wants to rush into something without previous diligent preaching, before the elect have approved it, we would not recognize him as one of us; just as not those who do not direct their preaching to faith and love in the first place. On the other hand, we cannot praise those who pay so little attention to outward things, that they do not only shun idols and ceremonies, which they say are blind, are not nothing to many simple-minded people, but are highly harmful, but may also let splendor of dress, cowardly, wanton revelry, and often grosser things creep up on them. May the Lord grant that his word be preached loudly everywhere, which is then powerful enough to drive away everything that has not arisen from him, and therefore is not good, in a salutary way, and without any rumor.
free it may always be in himself, unless also better. For we shall ever live to others, and not to ourselves. Also that we, who are guided by. One Spirit should be guided in all things, both external and internal, to be of one mind, mouth and use, according to the word of God, so that Christian freedom is not violated, no human statute is established, but the divine law is lived by, to the praise of God and to the blessed improvement of our neighbor. May God grant this. Amen.
189. The content of this booklet is our common faith, which we find in the service and command to preach the Gospel publicly here in Strasbourg, who, according to all divine Scripture, direct all our preaching so that faith in God and love for our neighbor, which then give birth to true discipline and constant patience, be planted, increased and strengthened in our listeners at all times, and that everyone make use of the outward ceremonies, such as the Lord's Supper, baptism and others, for the promotion of faith and love, as described in this booklet. And therefore, what of these and other things described herein may be taught or printed improperly or contrary to what has come forth from us, let no one impute to us; for it will have been done without our knowledge and understanding 1) and therefore we will not answer for it. But what is taught in this and other books, which have come from us, we offer to give its manly sufficient reason and cause from divine Scripture, whoever desires it; and our names are: Wolfgangus Capito. Caspar Hedio. Matheus. Cell. Symphorian Pollio. Theobaldus Niger. Joh. Latomus. Antonius Firn. Martinus Hag. Martinus Users.
1) i.e. without our being unanimous about it,