June 1526.
1) Whereas Solomon, to whom God had given the highest knowledge before all 3) men before his time of divine wisdom, did not fall into the doctrine and worship of idols afterwards; also Judas fell to the worst traitor, who also before-
3) So set by us instead of: for all.
sent by Christ together with the other disciples to proclaim his future and to confirm it with miraculous signs performed in the name of Christ: so a devout Christian might be driven into error and despondency in many ways, as now some famous and highly learned preachers of the holy gospel have so greatly offended error.
*This writing appeared in 1526 in a single edition under the title: "Wider den unmilden Irrthum Meister Ulrich Zwinglens, so er verneinet die wahrhaftige Gegenwärtigkeit des allerheiligsten Leibes und Blutes Christi im Sacrament". It was completed, as Walch indicates, in June 1526. We give the text according to Walch's old edition.
The fact that many heartfelt, faithful disciples and lovers of God's Word are also grieved by the fact that they doubt not a little who should be believed, if each part uses evangelical doctrine and Word.
But let every devout Christian heart be comforted and rejoice in God, for in this sharp and most dangerous challenge to our true faith, we sense the truth in its own way, bright and clear; our thoughts and attention must be focused on it alone, and we must by no means cling to the ministers as if they would no longer want to fall away from the truth they have recognized and often preached, as is evident not only from the examples of Solomon and Judas that have just been given. But the light of the whole Gospel takes the heart of the faithful from all creatures, even from the ministers of the Word, and teaches to adhere to the Word in faith alone. That is why Christ warns us so highly and faithfully in the Gospel of Matthew 7 and 24 that we should pay constant attention to the false teachers with the utmost diligence, because they would also break out with their teachings so subtly and quickly that even the elect (where possible) would finally be deceived.
3) There is truly no more swift, healing 1) and harmful seduction to be expected, than that which, alas! Now, through those whom we have considered to be the most knowledgeable in evangelical preaching, many thousands of simple Christians are being led astray by these unholy seducers, who are giving us the pure body and blood of Christ in his delightful and joyful presence in the sacrament, 2) and are giving us only dry bread and sour wine; For if they would prosper in such a way that we would let fall the mighty words of Christ, opened in his supper, then it would soon be over for the whole of Christ and the outward word of God. How unfortunate! Some apparently now also deny Christ's innocent humanity, and ascribe sin to our faithful Redeemer according to his human nature 3); only that they do not have to confess the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament; that will also soon come to pass. Therefore, we are assured in the Word, as the true evangelical teaching is now being attacked by us everywhere (as Christ said), that our preaching flows from God and not from human speech 4).
1) In the old edition: "heler" i.e. more complete.
2) i.e. to snatch.
3) In the old edition: "feinde", which, however, Walch has already explained with "sin".
4) In the original: Derme Räthe.
4) It has not happened differently since the first proclamation of the true gospel; so the false prophets, besides the tyrannical persecution of the world, have always intruded with false doctrine and pretense of holiness, that 5) Paul complains the most almost in all epistles, especially to the Romans at the end, in both epistles to the Corinthians, also to the Galatians, to Timothy and everywhere. Also Lucas writes of him Apost, at 20. For this John [in] his first epistle at the other [Cap., v. 18. 19.] says: "There are now many unbelievers who have gone out from us, because they were not of us; for since they would have been of us, they should have remained with us." O! how is it already 6) in the day, in what spirit those have preached and written, who a year 7) ago recently so clearly preached and described the presence of the most holy body and blood of our Savior Christ in the Sacrament, also the abuses in this wonderful Sacrament so even as damnable blasphemy, therefore denounced, that the holy body and precious blood of Christ should be present, [not] 8) tract and used differently, than Christ himself has taught, acted, and prescribed. Also, the same preachers have understood themselves in writing and orally 9) before everyone, that they have used nothing in this true doctrine except what the pure unfailing eternal Word of God is able to do.
Now that the believers, by God's grace, have partly beaten back the old errors, and with great joy and devotion receive the body and blood of the Lord under both forms from such delicious preachers, oh! how unashamedly they now fall, the preachers, from such Christian doctrine, which in particular doubt has never been attractive to them from the heart! Therefore, without faith and God, their ministry must be recognized; for they boast that some years ago, even while they were preaching the gospel, they knew well that there was nothing in the sacrament but bread and wine.
Alas! the harmful preachers! Woe, woe to the perilous times! they must ever confess that they have deceived so many thousands of souls with doctrine which they themselves did not believe nor believe to be righteous.
5) Set by us instead of: that.
6) Maybe: beautiful.
7) This probably refers to the Swabian preachers and the Sungramma Suevicum, No. 14 in this volume.
8) The context seems to us to require a "not".
9) Perhaps: "versähen" d. i. known.
10) i.e. harmful. Zwingli makes fun of this expression "harmful" in his answer § 6.
have. Oh God! How do you find such thoughtless Christians, who listen to or believe in such windpipes! Indeed, if it were a matter of a little temporal good, such a two-year-old would be rejected after his divided speech. But such preachers are high, seeming, and sweet words; misuse for this purpose the precious languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, which, as the noble gifts of God, should be used only to honor and praise God, and serve truth, not error. Read of such prudence the prophet Isaiah 33 and St. Paul 1 Cor. 1, also Christ in Evangelio Matthäi 11. Thus 1) they open the mouths of the simple, and especially of the forward, and turn white into black; and what was yes with them today is no tomorrow.
(7) Because their words, which tickle the ears, seem so adorned, and because they are respected as spiritual people, and because the gospel of Jesus and the cross sound in their mouths for and for, they have a special holy spirit, which must also confirm quite repugnant things to them. They also create new, unknown names for themselves, as if they were not of common German birth; they also give one another the high titles that belong to Christ alone according to his divine nature. From this it is easy to determine whether they truly preach or write from the faith of the simple, humble Lord Christ; for he says to the like of them on the 5th of John: "How can you believe, who receive praise from one another, and do not seek the true praise, which is from God alone? Namely, they have set themselves apart from the number of those who, unwavering, according to the calling of God to evangelical preaching, persevere in God's word, and with the eternal truth, the Son of God; [to whom] in their preaching Yes is Yes, and not Yes is No, therefore they cheerfully agree with St. Paulo, 2 Cor. 1, may give thanks to the faithful God, that their preaching, [God's] word, has been Yes, and not No, with all the hearers; for Paul also says from God to Galatians on 1: "If we also, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you otherwise than we have preached unto you; let it be accursed."
(8) Therefore, the pious, steadfast Christians should not be frightened, for we easily find that with such strange preachers the angel Satanas has disguised himself as if he were an angel of light; and let us all praise God that we now know that we have attained the right word of God, true understanding, even without ceasing.
1) In the old edition: spreissen.
Ask God to protect and keep His little new army from such sharp-witted preachers, according to His divine promise Luc. 12.
For the devout, simple Christians who are eager to learn and do the will of the Father in evangelical doctrine alone are assured that they can know which doctrine is from God or from men, John 7.
The living Word of God must therefore be attacked on both sides in the most severe way, according to its inevitable nature: by tyrants with the sword; by false preachers with a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures and fraudulent pretenses of fabricated holiness.
(11) And if the much-thought-of apostate brethren want to say that they have so long behaved the truth concerning the sacrament to the weak for good, they may not at all embellish it. For God does not want His children to be brought up with lies, but with unconfessed truth. The holy apostles also by no means falsified the truth for the sake of the weak, but only allowed some of the old holy ceremonies, and 2) taught that they were not necessary for salvation. For in such a hurry at the beginning of Christianity, it could not be understood by everyone that the ceremonies were all only figures of the future Savior; therefore, the weak should be allowed for a time, out of love, to make use of such old divine ordinances.
(12) It does not follow, however, that one merely gives bread and wine to the faithful for the blood and body of Christ, and teaches and preaches the same out of a false heart and a deceived mouth, as if Christ's body and blood were truly present; and then runs back with a thousandfold indignation, and opens the false deceptive mind, and excuses themselves with it, that they have lied for the sake of the weak, and deceived so many thousands of people.
(13) Indeed, more wicked preachers have never come into the world; but hereafter, in a short time, their foolishness shall come to light more clearly, through me and many others, with the help of God.
14. half a year ago I took up the pen to warn the pious believers against this miserable error; thus have
2) Here we have deleted the word "not" because it does not fit into the context. However, this word was undoubtedly in the original edition, which Zwingli makes good use of in his answer (No. 26, § 35 s.). It is obviously either a typographical error or a printing error.
Some pious Christian brothers turned me away, thinking (as I fully respect) whether perhaps these unstable teachers would quickly recognize their error themselves and come to the truth.
(15) I also thought myself that they would easily reintroduce the antagonism with flowery words. For some of the same new prophets, with their own handwriting, have eagerly urged me not to write anything against them, as the spirit of such people is unsecured and not comforted in themselves. But, alas, while we have been silent, they have spread their poison with Latin and German books everywhere.
16 For this reason, I, nor any pious servant of the Word, have the right to remain silent any longer; we want, then, along with the ingratitude of God's grace, also to make ourselves suspect of error. Now that [1] the Serene Principality, the Margraviate of Baden, out of God's great mercy, is still preserved from such damned error; [2] and I in Baden, a poor and industrious drener, am required to teach God's word in a Christian and peaceful manner (as I also trust God) according to God's action; [3] I also oppose and resist the said error without ceasing.I am also eager and happy to oppose and resist the said error without ceasing, and to fight it with the holy Gospel, as long as the Spirit of God sustains my life, and to revenge the wolf (1) (before he wounds and destroys the beloved sheep, bought with the body and blood that Christ has given us); (4) and to prevent, with all possible diligence, the authorities in our country from selling the books of error, but to keep them out of the margraviate: Three days ago I saw a new booklet at the market in Baden, in which at the end there is a final speech, which reads: The true Corpus Christi of Christ and his blood is present in the sacrament of the altar.
But who he is, or from what spirit he has prescribed this final speech, or what he subsequently introduces, I will leave that alone, for I have no regard for man in divine teaching; so God's truth is just, even if the stones stop to speak. There is also no doubt that God's word is unchanging in Himself, even if the devil himself were forced to speak it; for the denial of God in the speech of Balaam, Numbers 23, is just as unfailingly true as in the mouth of Samuel. Also Caiphas has just from God's
1) d. i. reprimand.
2) d. i. sweeps away
Sent 3) truly pronounced by Christ, John 11, ohn faith, as Paul with faith.
(18) Forasmuch then as we teach and preach without ceasing here at Baden, out of an ohu-contradictory understanding of the words of Christ, that the true body and the precious blood of Christ are present in the Lord's supper, I cannot deny this truth, whether it be spoken by a believer or an unbeliever. Since the presentation of divine truth in the above-mentioned booklet, thus poisoned and seductive, has been read by many people, and nothing against it is contained in the booklet for a true reason, I have not been able to avoid stimulating the wrong mind with short words, thus:
(19) Zwingli of Zurich unashamedly points out the truth that the true body and blood of Christ are present in the sacrament in the much-thought-of booklet, and says: "This article is unchristian, for it openly disputes God's word and the articles of our true old Christian faith. Also, he dares to prove his impudent pretence with the Scriptures, and says, first of all:
The flesh of Christ is not at all useful to eat, John 6. The flesh is not useful, so Christ did not give it to us to eat. Mark well, thou devout Christian, in the first word thou shalt hear how freely this man wants to force the eternal Word of God upon a dead, false, and seductive mind. It is also revealed here that there is no understanding of the doctrine of the true faith among the wretched people, and so on:
Zwingli wants to force us to hear the word of God in the sacramental eating of the body of Christ, as if one eats beef and veal. And so he denies that we cannot eat Christ's flesh. Every devout Christian knows this well, and there is no one of such a coarse mind who would make of Christ's supper a fleshly filling of the belly and eating; for only these subtle masters, who introduce such coarse fleshly, even beastly doctrine with beautifully polished words. Therefore, Christian reader, "take to heart" that Christ teaches and pronounces differently about the eating and drinking of his flesh and blood, in two places of the holy Gospel, truly and clearly. For there are two kinds of eating here, and no such gross eating of flesh (as the new prophets arrogantly impose their own urge 4) on the word of God) is made or understood of any of them.
3) d. i. Fitting.
4) d. i. Compulsion.
The first way to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is entirely spiritual and inward, for which the eater and drinker have no need of any outward sign or being, whether of heavenly or earthly creatures. For it is accomplished only according to the eternal Word of God in faith inwardly without sense or voice, and thus the flesh of Christ is eaten.
23. Whoever firmly and without doubt believes that the Father has given His only beloved Son to us, that He in His innocent humanity (taken for our sake) suffered torture and death in His pure most holy body, also shed His precious blood, and thus paid for the sin and guilt of all men born of Adam, and put an end to God's wrath and vengeance, and after such faith thus recognizes God's unfathomable gentleness that he places all his trust in this sufficient redemption with the highest pleasure: he eats and drinks the body and blood of Christ without ceasing. For such eating and drinking inwardly is nothing else than believing in Christ, which is necessary at all times. Thus the believer eats and drinks the body and blood of Christ every hour at the true supper of the Lord, which is followed by eternal rest; thus he abides in Christ, and Christ in him, as the text openly expresses, John 6, that Christ says: "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him." Of eating and drinking, then, Christ says and teaches throughout the whole chapter; and nothing carnal or bodily is to be understood there, as Christ himself explains; for the parables, here indicated, of the flesh, blood, and bread, are thus understood from the words of Christ alone; as the bodily food inwardly 2) keeps a man alive according to his bodily powers and healthy for a time; so through faith Christ, inwardly in the mind, becomes present to the believer with blessed fruit and effect of his innocent suffering and death, even the shedding of his blood.
(24) But since Christ our Saviour indicated such a way of eating His body and drinking His blood, it was all heard by the Jews as if the Lord had spoken of eating flesh in the flesh; therefore they said, "This is a hard saying, and who can hear it? And Zwingli wants to charge us with this coarse understanding, as if there were no one who could understand this chapter on spiritual and inward eating without his teaching.
1) "Also" here stands for "and".
2) Instead of "internal," it should probably read "external" or "bodily."
(25) But consider, every one, how formally he censures the Scripture here, when he says in his first probation, The flesh of Christ is no use at all to eat; and forces the Scripture, without all Christian understanding, that Christ said, John 6: "The flesh is no use. Dear reader! Hear here a subtle artificial master of the Gospel; for Zwingli would have it that this is the understanding that Christ said: "His flesh is not useful"; although Christ speaks of no particular flesh here, but alone points to the gross carnal understanding of the Jews; therefore Christ sets "spirit" and "flesh" against each other in the Gospel manner. And as Paul commonly calls the whole man "flesh," because he, according to his mind and desires, does not hear and love otherwise than according to his own use, lust, and pleasure. In the same way, all Scripture is heard by the carnal man and is not accepted otherwise.
26. The Spirit, however, draws the whole man in faith from himself, and leads penetratingly all knowledge and desires into God with the highest delight and confidence, from which then is raised the godly life that abides eternally in the believer: Thus Christ says here to the Jews: "The Spirit makes life"; that is, he brings the mind of living faith with my words; "but the flesh is not useful"; that is, the carnal mind, comprehended by senses and human reason, without the Spirit in faith, is of no use at all, nor can it produce fruit in the Word. Thus it is found how masterfully the new prophets interpret the Scriptures.
27 Furthermore, if Zwingli wants to force the word of Christ upon his most holy flesh, how can it be that, according to such a mind, God's supreme mercy in the sweetest work of redemption is not condemned? For if the flesh of Christ is not useful, wherewith are we then redeemed from eternal death? If the body of Christ is not useful, then the suffering and death in the body is not useful either. Thus the simple are forced, under high spiritual words, into the highest contempt of God; and nothing else is to be expected, but that such holy prophets will preach a whole spiritual Christ. For Christ's body and flesh are of no use to them.
(28) But it is evident from these miracle-workers how he produces such precious arguments from his rhetoric; for the text of Christ's much-reported words is thus, "The flesh is not useful," and is drawn from no circumstance to no particular flesh. Thus penetrates my good
Zwingli based the words on Christ's most holy flesh. With God's help, however, it shall be further revealed what such people have taught, so that I will subsequently, with better leisure, discover Ber subtle Meister Fundament. Enough is said herewith in haste about the inward way of eating Christ's body and drinking His blood, and how skillfully and Christianly Zwingli brings out the Scriptures in the first word.
The other way of eating the body and blood of Christ is not included in the sixth chapter of John. But the holy evangelists, Matthew on the 26th, Marcus on the 14th, Lucas on the 22nd, and Paul on 1 Cor. 11, describe the supper of our Lord with whole public and bare words: "that Christ took the bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and said: Take and eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Likewise also he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave unto them, saying, Drink ye all of it: this is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for you for remission of sins: as often as ye do it, ye shall do it in remembrance of me."
(30) So Christ gives his body and blood, above inward eating, in outward, visible, and sensible signs, which are also bodily eaten and drunk; and yet his most holy body, even his precious blood, remain invisible, and incomprehensible to all the senses and reason of man, but truly present by the power and almighty effect of his eternal word.
(31) Neither can the eating of flesh and the drinking of blood be heard here, as the crude prophets attribute to us: for the true body [and] blood of Christ has no bodily effect or sensibility here in the sacrament, but only for the consolation and spreading of faith among the pious children of God, who without doubt believe the simple revealed words of Christ. Therefore it is a sign only for fruitfulness to the believers and not to the unbelievers. So that the first inward partaking in faith (as indicated above) must also precede this outward eating; for without faith there is no profit even in this joyful supper of Christ.
(32) From this it is recently evident how impure, carnal, and animalistic the wretched people teach, to inestimable annoyance, about the pure and wonderful supper of Christ.
(33) Nothing here is changed in the body of the believer, or bodily sensibility exercised in partaking of the body and blood of Christ;
But the unwavering faith of the words of Christ is confirmed in the certain presence of the body and blood of our Lord. Therefore, man does not eat the flesh of Christ in a carnal way, but according to the nature and content of the almighty and mighty words of Christ: "This is my body", "This is my blood".
34 Now we want to continue in the shortest possible way the prescribed foundations of Zwinglin in the much reported seductive booklet.
In the beginning, there is no need at all for the true discerners of God's Word to seem to hear of the first appearance, as no reason at all is found behind the new prophets in the interpretation of the Scriptures, in all that they pretend against the presence of the holy body and blood of Christ. For they have taken away the key of true understanding, and thus have accepted the kingdom of God, that is, the right inherent understanding of the true holy Scriptures, and thus have barred the pious Christians from the unified meaning of God's word: that as they no longer recognize Christ in his word because of great art, they also no longer want to let anyone come to the truth, and thus understand this:
It is impossible that a letter, even the smallest detail of it, in the holy scriptures can be understood thoroughly and for salvation without the true faith, before which all human reason and wisdom perish and must disappear. Now these masters of the new heresy take away everything that is taught in faith about the wonderful presence of the true body and blood of Christ in the sacrament, according to the nature of God's eternal word, and insist on this according to human (deceived and seduced reason) knowledge; and teach that one should not accept or admit anything further than what human reason can well comprehend. Therefore, according to such human doctrine, one must not have faith at the supper of Christ; the sensible masters can do it all well without faith and God with their pagan cleverness and art; and though they speak sweetly of faith with their mouths, they mean nothing else than that one should believe their fictitious understanding; And whoever does not surrender to the mighty gods in a hurry, they will exploit him and call him a priest, a preacher of the flesh, and other disgraceful speeches (as such people's new spirit is able to do).
(37) Therefore, if all Christian doctrine is consistent only in the faith that God gives, 1) and here in the
1) d. i. consists.
Night meal the reasoners from the faith of the words of God lead the simple-minded into the deceived human reason.
(38) Whoever wants to be a Christian and true believer should beware of this new perverse preaching, as of the most pernicious teaching of men, never heard on earth.
But lest anyone think I am doing too much for him, I refer to the wretched book of the supreme master of this new art, which he sent to the pious preachers in Swabia some months ago, where his resolution is: One should not accept anything more at Christ's supper than what reason can comprehend.
40 Therefore, where we have a spark of true faith, we are not easily frightened by Zwinglin's compulsion here.
4l. [This is in the other ground of his probation, how he compels the innocent Scripture, John on the third, when Christ said to Nicodemo, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." If now (says Zwingli) the bodily flesh of Christ is eaten; nothing but flesh comes of it. Fie 1) and shame on him who says this! I have never read nor heard such an explanation of the pure Word of God, only from Zwingli, who himself also fritters from his artificial glosses; yes, without doubt fie, shame and vice above all vices, to drag the living Word of God to such a carnal and animalistic 2) mind!
(42) There may be nothing in the innocent words of Christ that Zwingli puts forward, for no one has ever taught that the body of Christ is eaten sensibly like other food, since he is invisible and present in the sign, incomprehensible to all the senses; likewise his holy blood. Therefore, as said before, nothing corporeal belongs to the eater, nor is it changed in him by the body of Christ.
But, dear reader, see how Zwingli actually forces the holy words of Christ to prove that the true body of Christ is not present in the sacrament. Christ says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Therefore, says this Master, the Body of Christ cannot be present. That is to say, wisely to fiddle around in the Scriptures, if perhaps no one could notice on what blessed ground Christ pronounced the words; for here it is not thought of what flesh-eating gives birth to in man. 3)
44. the lord says here about the fleshly spirit.
1) Original: Pfuch.
2) In the old edition: ficheschen.
3) "gives birth" put by us instead of: gebühret.
birth of all the children of Adam, who are all conceived and born in sins. Therefore, they all come from the tribe and remain according to their nature nothing but flesh, that is, nothing of the Spirit of God is in them; for all their mind, desire and inclination flee from God and penetrate into themselves to love and esteem themselves great above all things. Therefore, this birth is prevented from everything that requires God's glory in us. Therefore Christ says, "If ye be not born again, neither shall ye enter into the kingdom of heaven." Which birth is not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit in faith. Now this scripture points Zwingli to the sacrament of the true body and blood of Christ; therefore one may well notice that he has hit it very well. Yes, if he were a Zwingli and not a Zwingli of the Scriptures, that God's word would have to agree with his teaching!
45 Thus it may be easily obtained that this scripture, "that which is born of flesh is flesh," may not be understood to imply that the true body of Christ is not present in the sacrament.
Thirdly, Zwingli presses on to confirm his error with the innocent two sayings of Matthew 26: "You will not have me forever"; Matthew 28: "I will remain with you until the end of the world. Zwingli says: "The first word must be understood in terms of human nature alone, for according to divine nature and grace he is with us all the way, as the following word indicates. And Zwingli insinuates that all those who preach the flesh also falsify God's word, if they say that Christ will be with us in the flesh, but he has said that we will not have him with us in every way. Truly, anyone who does not know what it is to write poetry and to recite the Scriptures contrary to their nature would be frightened by such an artificial person. But, dear reader, it is Zwingli who writes such delicious things here.
We know well that Christ says to his disciples just before his suffering: "You will not have me forever," and that this can by no means deny the presence of his body in the sacrament, invisible and without all sensibility. For Christ says of his presence in this text, in a mortal and visible way, that afterwards he would often be shown the honor and devotion that the damsel did when she poured the precious ointment on his head at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as Matthew puts it, and also Marcus in the 14th verse. Therefore, we confess that Christ is such
He died once and rose again, and can no longer be mortal; all this remains unharmed if we do not preach the presence of the body and blood of Christ in a carnal way (as Zwingli did), as the almighty word of Christ expresses it, since the Lord says: "This is my body", "this is my blood". So also this marvelous presence of the body is nothing contrary to the common presence of a divine kind; for God, who is present, works mightily at the Lord's supper in the Word, as the text reads.
48] Fourthly, one of Zwingli's innocent scriptures is used to protect his dry bread and sour wine. John 16: "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father." This must be understood (Zwingli speaks) only of the leaving of human nature; for according to divine he may not depart from us; so he is ever not in the Sacrament.
So, dear Zwingli, take the whole Bible and say 1) about the visible and sensible presence of Christ: so we say without constraint and with sure faith, in virtue of the words of Christ, about a bodily, real, but nevertheless invisible and insensible presence of Christ's body and blood.
But the pious Christian people must suffer the misery of the new prophets, who want to confirm the bright and obvious error (under the appearance of the eternal word of God, presented with many writings according to their invented mind) against the true spirit of God.
Fifthly, Zwingli cites the evangelical word Marci 13: "If any man shall say unto you: Behold! here is Christ; behold! there; believe it not." Therefore one should not believe those (says Zwingli) who preach that the body and blood of Christ is present.
(52) It is truly disconcerting to answer such puerile diligence. For who has ever taught that Christ is to be believed here or there according to sensual sight? Nor does Christ himself say this to warn us against such teaching, but about special places and sects, about false clergymen, as if a special and certain Christ of his good pleasure were invented in religions and places of his own devising. Therefore, no faith should be placed in such things, for Christ, our Savior, has his certain pleasure and our following in faith alone.
1) In the original: vsag.
The Lord, who decided under the cross to keep his commandments, cannot be found in monasticism or nunnery, nor can he be blessedly heard in prayer in one church or city more than another, even though miraculous signs may be seen. But it does not follow from all this that the true body of Christ and the most holy blood are not visibly present in the Lord's supper.
The sixth is the scripture Apost. 1: "Two angelic men say, Why stand ye looking into heaven? This same Jesus, which is received from you into heaven, shall so come again, even as ye have seen him go into heaven." "Here must break all those (says Zwingli) who say, Christ took from us only the face 2) of his body, not the body."
Dear Master, have a little mercy on us, so that we do not have to break away from your art right away. For we will not be turned away from Christ with grief. We know and confess that Christ has ascended bodily, truly and visibly into heaven, and has taken not only the bodily face but also the whole human substance from the disciples and ascended into heaven. But it does not at all imply that the same body is not invisibly present in the power of the almighty words when the supper is held, as Christ instituted it.
55 Therefore, if Zwingli thinks that he even forced it, I think that it is 3) yet undone. There is a great difference between the Ascension, as Lucas writes in the place of the preconceived, Apost. 1, and the true presence hidden in the bread, as Lucas described in the Gospel on 22. We have also never taught that Christ visibly enters the bread when he ascended to heaven; for if he were to be seen entering the bread in this way, there would also have to be an almost large bread, even if we were to see all of it, we could not believe it, but we could see it; for Zwingli teaches here that nothing is to be believed except what is evidently understood. How thoroughly this is spoken of faith, any simple-minded Christian can well judge; for Scripture, indeed, the nature of faith, requires invisible things in the exercise of faith. And this we have not learned from the pope, but from the divine eternal word, that we know, beyond all our reason and sensibility, to adhere to the eternal word without all doubt.
For the seventh, Zwingli, after having read the Scriptures many times without all understanding, now takes
2) i.e. seeing.
3) In the old edition: seyn.
He now wants to frighten them out of their natural 1) and own understanding, so that he may imagine his subtle and swift writing to the simple, 2) whom he misled before with many writings, so that they also now have to let themselves be referred to a foreign understanding, invented by Zwingli and his followers, in the revealed words of Christ "this is my body, this is my blood". Therefore he, Zwingli, speaks on the word of Christ: "This is my body, which is given for you": "If then the bread is the body, which was given for us, then the bread is crucified for us; therefore it is invented that it is a different speech.
Here, dear Christian reader, open your Christian eyes, and consider how sophistically the delicious masters introduce the unpleasant error under the evangelical name. For it is evident that the body of Christ is not bread, or the bread the body of Christ; but bread remains bread, and the body of Christ also remains unchanged.
(58) Therefore the Lord Christ said of that which was hidden under the bread, that the bread is an outward sign. And so the body of Christ is truly present with the bread through the almighty word of God. Zwingli, however, uses a simile of St. John's blessing; 3) where he read it in the Gospel, I do not know; but I do know that the faithful are all blessed in faith. However, Zwingli leaves the Scriptures and proceeds with histories, as is the way of the spirit, turning from one to the other, so that the listeners are well heard.
(59) But if we are to teach in the same way here, we do not have to model fairy tales, but proven Gospel Scripture, because it shows and compares quite artfully and well the composition of the visible bread and the insensible invisible body of Christ, as we say and believe of the outward Word of God, in which something sensual and quite sensible is present, and not at least something that cannot be seen.
60 For the word of God spoken, as much as it can be understood outwardly, is only a human voice, formed by men. But that which is signified by the utterance is the eternal word of God, which also [in the] in the
1) "artlich" - which they have according to their nature.
2) "einbilde" put by us instead of: einbilden.
3) Under the papacy, people tried to prevent thunderstorms from striking by reading St. John's Gospel; this was called St. John's Blessing.
The word that is preached is called the eternal living word of God by Christ, the prophets and the apostles. And so the word that is preached is called the eternal living word of God by Christ, the prophets and the apostles, often and in many places in the Scriptures, and it is also honored and had for eyes.
(61) Therefore, according to the content of the word, it is to be believed here without all error that Christ truly presented bread and wine to His own in the sacrament. But the true invisible body, hidden under the bread, and the true blood of Christ under the natural wine, is that of which the eternal word says: "this is my body, this is my blood."
We have not taught this untruthful likeness at St. John's blessing, but in strong evangelical sayings. So our God and Savior Christ says, St. John 7: "My doctrine is not my doctrine, but the doctrine of him that sent me." Here you hear that Christ shows an excellent difference in his teaching, when he says: My teaching is mine and not mine. So that it must be understood how he speaks differently according to human nature and divine nature.
The most holy gospel of Christ, after his holy human manner, proclaimed with uttered words, is the doctrine of Christ, as delivered by him in an intelligible voice; and this is the word of Christ after human character.
64. but that which is signified by this Word, and hidden from the voice, is the true eternal Word of the Father, Himself, the Son of God, according to the divine nature and person; as He then says to the Jews in the eighth of John, "I am the very thing that I speak to you."
And so the teaching and the word of Christ did not come from the humanity of Christ, but from the heavenly Father. In this way Christ says: "My teaching is not mine.
In this way, the true eternal Word of God is proclaimed through human and sensible words, and is united with them in such a way that where the Word is spoken, the Word of God is present without expression; and yet the difference is that the Word of God is not the word of man, nor is the voice of man the word of God; nevertheless, the Word that is preached is called and described as the Word of God.
So, devout Christian, take here a strong and irrefutable likeness in the doctrine of the Sacrament, where certainly is true bread and wine, and the true essential body of Christ.
4) "samiglich" - sämmtlich.
and his most holy blood. The bread thou seest; the body thou canst not see, or the blood; for, as often said, by virtue of the almighty operation of the word of Christ, his body and blood are invisible, and present beyond the comprehension of all sense and reason. So you perceive the bread sensibly, also the wine, and the body and the blood of Christ under the bread and wine, or with the bread and wine, invisibly and [un]sensibly.
68 You can also read more about the comparison of the word "good" in the Gospel; for Paul also speaks to the Thessalonians, 1 Thess. 2: "When you receive from us the word of divine preaching, you receive it, not as the word of men, but (as it truly is) as the word of God."
69) Clearly, the difference mentioned above can be heard in the living Word of God, for Paul had to preach to the brethren with his own voice and speech; but that which was proclaimed in the words of Paul is the eternal, fatherly Word of God, hidden among human words and voices.
(70) And though the voice goes away with the sound, yet the word remains in the concept and imagination of those who have apprehended it, or described it, and are presently speaking of it, or contemplating it.
71 Furthermore, the examples thoroughly hold thus: that as the word of God, in the outward word, does not become fruitful, so long it remains in sound and voice, or also in sensual or rational retention; but only then, when it becomes inward, and is accepted with faith, does it bring life.
(72) So also with the sacrament, he who without a living faith receives the body of Christ and his blood with the bread and wine has no grace or fruit, but rather eats and drinks the judgment of God himself, as Paul says in the first Corinthians on the 11th verse.
Therefore, the sacrament, like the word of God, is only for the faithful an increase and confirmation of their faith; but for the unbelievers [the] revenge of God on their ingratitude is also an unpleasant increase.
I think that these comparisons of the Word and the Sacrament are much more sufficient to confirm the truth, because Zwingli with his St. John's blessing may penetrate the true Christian mind in the doctrine of the Sacrament. Although some who fall into the trap of denying the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament through Zwingli's art may find such a likeness of Scripture incomprehensible, I am well aware of it,
Whoever accepts the simple knowledge of God's word with due faith, that he may easily meet the manifold seduction of this new prophet.
VIII] For the eighth, Zwingli brings the
Article of faith. He ascended into heaven, seated with the righteous of God the Father Almighty; there he sits, there Stephen, the first knight of Christ, saw him. Apost. 7.
(76) Yes, dear Master, it is just as much done with this as with many writings martyred above by you; but, praise God! we have not allowed you that, because of the visible and essential ascension, the body of Christ may not be invisibly present in the bread; as insurmountably indicated by the word of Christ, to which word also no scripture or article of the true Christian faith is opposed.
(77) I see also in thy swiftness how rough thou soundest here from sitting to the righteous hand of the Father, when he must sit with thee all the way. How? if he might also stand up before you? Stephen saw (says Lucas, Acts 7) Jesus standing before the righteousness of God.
Dear reader, one feels an Aristotelian Christian quite well and obviously in this subtle master; because he does not admit the omnipotence of God more than his reason can grasp with the pagans.
79) But it should be reasonably thought, 1) that it is just as impossible of nature that two bodies be in and in one circumscribing place, as that a body be visible in one place, and otherwise supernaturally (without all sensitive effect and quality from God's almighty power) also truly present in other places.
Now St. John speaks twice on the 20th that with his true body Christ entered through closed doors to disciples and opened his joyful resurrection. But nothing of the Scriptures is valid for the wise Aristotelian preachers; they do not express their patron saint by name, but they push all their foundations of faith into the sinful, afflicted reason. Christ nor Paul did not teach them this, but their high intellect in Aristotle and other pagan fables, since they have drawn their high Latin from. I hope, however, with the grace of God, to soon bring the new prophets to a fuller understanding of their spirit and their Christianity, and to bring them to the knowledge of all pious Germans. But, dear reader, listen, for God's sake, how this master rummages around in the Scriptures.
81. to the ninth he says: Therefore Chri-
1) i.e. consider.
stus is from the right hand of his father in the future to judge the living and the dead; therefore he cannot be invisibly present in the sacrament. And he confirms this with the word of Christ, Matth. 26: "From now on you will see the Son of Man in the righteousness of the power of God. There he sits (says Zwingli) from that 1) he has ascended. You see here! He (Zwingli) does not grant Christ that he rises, and unwaveringly from the side of his Father works something further (according to the content of his eternal word), which the sense and understanding of all creatures cannot comprehend without faith.
He further says: Christ does not sit in a little stone house. Now there is no need to answer this further. It is evident in what sense we have taught of the Lord's supper, recorded above. But that he refers to it in this ninth article, saying: "There he showed himself and nowhere else bodily, that he did not further visibly show his bodily presence after the session to the righteous of the Father", we know well.
But Zwingli cannot escape from the true bodily invisible presence, with which he kindly shows himself to the believers in the bread, when he says: "This is my body", even if he would bring forth the whole Bible of his invented mind.
For of all the sayings of the Divine Word, there is not a single one in the whole Bible that is fundamentally repugnant to and contrary to the blessed, invisible presence of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament.
In the tenth rotten foundation, Zwingli warns us not to fall into the Marcionite heresy. Oh God! If he had left himself and his listeners, yes, all of Christendom, unconvinced and unburdened by this most harmful error, against the eternal Word of God, we would have easily protected ourselves from the old heretics.
But he continues to torment the Christians with false reasoning (invented from the innocent Scriptures), and says: "because Christ did not show Himself to the disciples on the day of resurrection at one time, the body of Christ may not be present in the sacrament by any means": which is printed in many ways here above.
(87) Then everyone can see how finely Zwingli's Scriptures are compelled, for this is his delicious argument: "If Christ could have been in many different places at one time, he would have been (when he vanished from
1) So put by us instead of: "and he is gone out".
to the two disciples at Emmaus, and was no longer 2) with them) no less with them and with the disciples at Jerusalem."
88. Now hear this, Christian reader! Is not this a strong reason against the most holy sacrament, first invented by Zwingli, and previously unproven to all Christians?
(89) It has been said as much as this: Christ did not walk on the water all the time with dry and sinking treads, therefore he may not do it all the time. Is this not a masterly argument? Christ did not let himself be seen in many places on Easter Day for one hour, therefore his body cannot be visible to the righteous of the Father and invisible in the sacrament. Ah, wretched master! bring forth an expressed text that will do your poetry justice, and say that Christ's words "this is my body, this is my blood!" are not to be heard according to their light and bright understanding of the true presence of the body and blood of Christ. But you would not produce the same text in eternity; for God has once said, "This is my body," etc., and will never revoke it in eternity. What you further attack in the Scriptures in testimonies and other fictitious teachings, is all pervasive and pulled by the hair against God's word.
90 He says even more in this tenth article, since Thomas did not want to believe that he had risen, John 20. Let us see that the disciples did not understand Christ's words, "This is my body!" that he had given them his body to eat; for Thomas (says Zwingli) could have believed otherwise very soon.
Oh God, of the deceived teaching and introducing of the Scriptures! If Thomas had believed the word of God unwaveringly, he would not have doubted the resurrection.
Now Thomas and all his disciples had fallen away, for Christ had so often and so clearly said that he would rise again on the third day, but they did not believe. This proves beyond all doubt that Thomas did not want to accept anything, because he saw it and grasped it with his hands. Therefore, it is far wrong that he would have been content with the hidden and invisible presence in the sacrament.
It is also undoubted that the disciples did not keep Christ's supper at that time.
2) "no more" put by us instead of "always". - After "was with them" we have deleted "there he would be" because it is too much'.
But Zwingli must thus force and penetrate much Scripture together with Christ, the eternal Word of God, against Scripture and Christ, so that he alone may be the light of the whole world. But our light Christ stands with us with the true lanterns of his word and shines for us, so that we know with good faith and an eager heart (regardless of Zwingli's chatter and his kinsmen) that his body and blood, in virtue of his almighty word, are in the sacrament; and therefore we do not say that Christ is everywhere after the manner of men, but in such a way as is often indicated above, where after his word and institution the supper of Christ is held.
In the eleventh, Zwingli takes the pope as a witness to his doctrine and says: as it is written, de consecratione, distinet. 2. prima: the body of Christ, in which he is resurrected, he must be in One place. "Ah God! (says Zwinglius) what can all the popes do against it? Does it apply, their pope's book, why do they not surrender then?" I let Zwinglin force with the pope, maybe they will become one without me.
But I have sufficiently indicated that we do not believe or teach Christ's body to be present outwardly according to sight or sense, nor according to your concept of reason, for we know, according to the infallible word of God, that the words of Christ, "this is my body, this is my blood," according to the omnipotent effect of the word, irrefutably bring the innocent body and the most holy blood of Christ to be present; yet (as has been said all along) invisible and insensible.
97 And herewith I want to have jumped over all his bars, which he has shot in front of the truth; for they are only his fictitious straw-halves, which a sick flea can jump over; I say this of his false interpretations and not of the truth.
He is the only one who, without any reason, miserably and shamefully insists on and forces his unfortunate error.
But let it not be so: for though he dreams that no creature may leap over his bars, yet I, the most grievous creature of God, know that I have leaped over them with all true believers, with joy and true faith, and on the ground of the Scriptures. So, even if he were to put down the greatest bars, growing in all forests and stubborn minds, still we remain at the table, eating the true body and drinking the blood of Christ, and are well preserved; for God, our Lord Christ, has spoken it, and will no longer speak otherwise of this sacrament.
99. With this I will also conclude for this time, and have served my dear Christian brothers (out of necessity and insurmountable need of love, through which faith works and is able to do all things) with haste; so that the impolite plea and seductive declaration against the true presence of the innocent body and most holy Christ in the Sacrament may be found to be impotent and contrary to Scripture.That the impious plea and seductive declaration against the true presence of the innocent Body and Most Holy Blood of Christ in the Sacrament may be found to be impotent and contrary to Scripture, and that Christians may be taught how to remain steadfast to the revealed and expressed words of Christ.
Afterwards (whether God wills it!) this new error will probably be further disclosed, discovered, and found to be true with the word of God among all true Christians.
God have praise!
Eilends zu Markgrafen-Baden. [In the year 1526, mense Junii.
JEsu Christ's servant,
Jacobus Strauß, preacher at Baden.