This document is missing in Walch, so we reproduce it here, as we promised in the sixth volume, Col. 199, note. It is found in Latin among the disputations of 1540 in the Wittenberg edition (1550), tom. I, fol. 409d; in the Jena (1579), tom. I, fol. 525b and in the Erlangen, opp. var. arg., tom. IV, p. 450. We share it here in German translation.
The twelve evangelical counsels, falsely invented by the sophists.
I. Poverty. Matth. 19,21: "If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have" 2c.
2. denial of oneself or obedience. Luc. 9, 23.: "Whoever wants to follow me, let him deny himself."
3. chastity. Matth. 19,12.: "Some are cut off, who cut themselves off for the sake of the kingdom of heaven."
4. not to repay evil with evil. Matth.
5:44: "Do good to those who are aping you."
Suffering from injustice. Matth. 5, 39: "If someone gives you a blow on the right cheek, offer him the other also.
3460 E. opp. V. arg. IV, 450-452. gleanings, no. XXXVII.
6) The multiple sufficiency 1) (supererogatio) of works of mercy. Luc. 6, 30: "Whoever asks you, give to him."
7. abstain from oaths and useless words. Matth. 12, 36.: "Men must give an account of every useless word." Matth. 5, 34.: "However, you shall not swear."
8. avoid the opportunity to sin. Matth. 18, 9: "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out."
9. do prudent [good] works, lest we become hypocrites. Matth. 6,1.: 2) "Take heed to your alms, that ye give them not before men."
10. do what you teach. Matth. 23, 3: "They say it well and do it not"; therefore he advises the hypocrite, Matth. 7, 5: "First pull the beam out of your eye.
11. not to worry about food. Matth.6, 31.: "You shall not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat?"
12. brotherly punishment. Matth. 18, 15: "If your brother sins against you, go and punish him between you" 2c.
This last, however, is understood only of venial sins, for in regard to a mortal sin the commandment is always obligatory, but not forever, namely, as long as the punishment seems useful.
The evangelical { commandment } "divorced.
the evangelical { Rath }
The commandment is the general teaching of God, which obligates every man at all times under the penalty of mortal sin.
The Council is the special teaching of God, which alone obligates under the penalty of a venial sin, for the time of this life.
This is the quite general theology of the Pabst and the Sophists, and so recognized that even St. John Hus approved of it in the very book for the sake of which he suffered death by fire, for he brings all this up almost word for word, in the 7th chapter.
But also the Sorbonne in its verdict against the condemned Luther does this out
1) Luther would probably have given it like this: Thun von überlängenen Werken der Barmherzigkeit.
2) In the editions: Matth. 7.
3) that this is too burdensome for the Christian religion, if one has to take it for commandments. Hence there is that famous dispute among them, whether the law of Moses is heavier or that of the gospel? And the so great men, in fact extremely wise, decide as follows:
The law and the gospel, as far as difficulty is concerned, relate to each other as to what is prominent and what is not (sicut excedentia et excessa), because, as far as doing away with ceremonies is concerned, the gospel is easier, but as far as keeping the mind (animi) is concerned, the gospel is more difficult, because the law forbids the hand, the gospel the mind, as the Magister 4) says in the 3rd book, distinct. 40.
Here learn, Christian brother, how much you owe (by the grace of God) to this teaching, which is restored at this time. For what (I beg you) does this Pharisaic theology finally leave us even from Moses or even from the holy ten commandments (to say nothing of Christ)?
For the eternal memory of the cause, but especially for the honor of the Redeemer, mau must keep this in living memory and make it great against the quite insolent tongue-thrashers, the defenders of the papist abomination.
For from this you see what those perfect men, the monks and the priests, vowed, since they first taught that the counsels (that is, God's commandments) were not necessary for a Christian to be saved, and then vowed with a new idolatry the [counsels] that had been disfigured into human statutes, rather into doctrines of the devil. For, to make the commandments of God into counsels, is that not a human statute, yes, a terrible and diabolical blasphemy?
[Our soul has escaped like a bird from the bailiff's rope, the rope is broken and we are free.
This is what our help has accomplished in the name of the Lord. D. Martin Luther.
3) See St. Louis edition, vol. XVIII, 949.
4) Petrus Lombardus, Magister Sententiarum.
5) Cf. vol. VI, 199, § 235.