1. what the pope's decree contains.
2. from the decree of the pope.
3. the Pabst's impiety and his tyranny.
4. decretals and decrees.
5. the spiritual right, what it is.
6. figure and conterfei of Pabst's Decretals.
7 What Gratianus sought in the decree.
8. of the pope's decree and chancellery.
9. against the canonists.
10. of the spiritual right.
11) There is nothing about Christ in Pabst's books.
12 Comparison of the Papists and Anabaptists.
The pope serves for the world.
14. the monks, papists, and enthusiasts regiment and comparison.
15 For such a long time, no one paid any attention to the Pope's ungodly decrees.
16. the donkey's will.
1. what the pope's decree contains.
(Cordatus No. 592. 593.)
The pope with his canons is vain beggary from the laws of the emperor.
The author of the decrees was an ass, who did not explain what is the right, what is the law, what is custom, of which he speaks at once. Through the Decretals
they govern the world, for they contain judicial and secular matters; of the church they contain nothing.
2. from the decree.
The decree is not confirmed and approved by the pope, and nevertheless the pope follows it in what is for him. And is therefore by
long custom torn down and taken. For Gratianus, who forged it, when he saw the pope's power and splendid status, he decided and put it all in the pope's favor and will; but this is against the concilia. Therefore one should be obedient to the pope!
Thomas Aquinas does the same. The same one, although he has the most beautiful sayings in the Scriptures, concludes with the opinion of Aristotle. Gratianus, in Canone of Consecration and Consecration, makes it very Bachantian. There were also Fratres ignorantiae, unlearned brothers. I wanted you to read the decree, so that they would see the great impiety, impiousness and wickedness of the pope and his church. In the first, and sometimes, there are fine, good, healthy, righteous canons in it; but after that follows a very ungodly thing. There are two cuncta in it; there the pope has well let himself be noticed, and proved himself to be an anti-Christian. So it goes, when Christ is not there, and hides himself. I read Dinum about the decree, which confirmed me and gave me cause to write against the pope.
(Here § lines are omitted because contained in Cap.
22, z 132.)
The pope wanted his decretal to be held equal to the writings of the evangelists and apostles, and to be a purpose to which all canons and distinctions were directed. Summa, the pope wants to be a lord over goods and churches, and a lord over all lords. Fie on you!
3. the Pabst's decree Jmpietät and his tyranny.
To M. Holstein, the new jurist, D. M. said: Pabst's decrees have a lot of ugly devilish canons in them. When you read them, remember them. The church is especially plagued and besmirched with them. For the pope may impudently say: If a man kept and believed all four evangelists, and did not keep his decree, he would be maledicted, and it would be in vain and for nothing that he believed in Christ. Item, in another canon it is written: "If the pope sends countless souls to the infernal hell, then he will be destroyed.
But one should not ask: why do you do this? Is this not the devil, and the extreme ruin and poison of the churches? I should follow the pope, even if he leads me to hell; since his office is to comfort the poor consciences and to feed them to Christ. Fie on you, should you teach the consciences to doubt?
Item: You will often find in decrees that an article from Scripture is proved with fine, beautiful sayings. Now when he (the master) has led all Scripture, he argues against it, and says: The Roman church has decided otherwise; and may impudently subjugate the holy Scripture to men. So also does Thomas Aquinas, who in his writings and books argues pro and contra, and when he has led a saying from Scripture, he finally concludes thus: Aristotle in the sixth book Ethicorum holds it differently. There the holy scripture must give way to the pagan master Aristotle.
The world does not want to recognize such darkness and abominations, but despises the truth and falls into horrible errors. Therefore, let us make good use of the time, for things will not always remain as they are now.
4. decretals and decrees.
In decrees, the pope rules and triumphs like a victor and conqueror: there he is in possession and on his mast, roaring 1) and thundering, along with these words: "We recognize, judge and judge by divine command: We have power to command and to conclude; the others shall and must be obedient to us." Item: "Let all the world know that no one has power to judge the pope, but he alone has power to judge the whole world."
In the decree he only argues alone, but in the decree he triumphs. I believe that it is written more than a thousand times in the spiritual law that the pope may not be judged by anyone. And there is a special proof of this: for one pope introduces another. Thus proves a thing with himself. Gratia-
1) So Stangwald instead of "billt".
nus, who has compiled the decree, begins in the first fine, as said above, at the saying of St. Paul about the office of a bishop, and divides it finely into main sayings; but in the end he decides nothing but about prebends, consecrations, tithes, oils, smearings, and such gimmicks and abominations. All jurists were silent about this, except for Peter of Ferrara.
5. the spiritual right, what it is.
(Lauterbach, Nov. 4, 1538, p. 158.)
Canon law, according to the judgment of all jurists, is a very unflattering book that reeks of money. Take away the arrogance and avarice from it, and nothing essential remains, and yet it has a shine under the best of appearances; for all misfortune must be raised in the name of God, as only in the name of God is righteousness and salvation. Thus also under the pretense of this name all idolatry and superstition arises; therefore not without reason after the first commandment follows the second: "Thou shalt not uselessly use the name of the Lord thy God."
6. figure and conterfei of Pabst's Decretals.
In the decretals of the pope, the consciences and bodies are tormented and martyred, therefore they are rightly compared to this image, which is a virgin at the head, because the beginning is pretty and lovely to look at; the body is a lion that breaks through by force; the tail is a snake, that is, all lies and deceit. So goes the whole pabstacy with its superstitions, superstitions and abominations.
7 What Gratianus sought in the decree.
Gratianus, the jurist who compiled the decree, was most concerned about it; and the ultimate reason why he did it was that he might concord and harmonize and unify the canons, and find a means between the good and the evil. He meant well, the good man, but it turned out badly, because he rejected what is good and what is evil.
approved. For since he has submitted that this is impossible, he is deterred by the gloss that says: This is not to be held, for it is against the pope. For the histories testify that the pope has always wanted to be a lord and master even over the Holy Scriptures and the Word of God. And even though many bishops have resisted him, they have not been able to achieve or maintain anything against him, out of God's great anger to punish the world's ingratitude and contempt for his word. Thus, out of good zeal, Gratianus undertook to concord the sayings of the Conciliar, and to purgate and purify the good Christian canons from the ungodly and evil ones.
8. of the pope's decree and chancellery.
Anno 1539, the 21st of April, D. M. read in the decree, and said: It surprises me that in such a large book nothing of the faith is dealt with. So also the fathers, ecclesiastici Scriptores, cold have written thing enough of the doctrine of faith. And when he read in the decree how Emperor Louis, the great Caroli's nephew, had given the pope authority over all kingdoms and lands, he said: "I consider that the pope's chancellery is a cloaca full of lies, as he has drawn all privileges on custom.
9. against the canonists.
On the way to Schmideberg, M. was highly moved and very angry with the canonists, and said: He wanted to use Amsdorf as a mediator between him and D. H[ieronymus] 1) S[churf]. Since he could not achieve anything by this, he wanted to teach publicly against him. For the canonists' faculty would be the most insolent and ugly, foreign of all arts, and not founded in Roman emperor's rights, but would only be a little trade and enjoyment of the Rabuls and tongue threshers. And they should govern the gospel and God's word?
10. spiritual law.
Emperor's law is nothing else than what human reason teaches; but the spiritual law is nothing else.
What the pope sets, paints and dreams is right. I wanted to give my left hand so that the papists would have to keep their canons. I mean, they would scream more than about Luther.
11) There is nothing about Christ in Pabst's books.
In all of the pope's legal books and laws, there is not a single word that teaches what and who Christ is. This is not called the shepherd of the church, but the devil. And comfort me also, as often as I think of it. He speaks of baptism shamefully enough; he has even torn apart the sacrament of the altar.
(Here 29 lines are omitted because contained in Cap.
27, § 43.)
(Cordatus No. 69.)
The papacy is the proper kingdom for all godless and despisers of God, who are worthy of such a ruler that they must obey a godless man even against their will, who voluntarily did not want to obey God.
12 Comparison of the Papists and Anabaptists.
(Cordatus No. 79.)
The whole order of the papists consists in doing, but of the Anabaptists in suffering, and is one as good [as] the other.
The pope serves for the world.
(Contained in Cap. 27, § 68.)
14. the monks, papists, and enthusiasts regiment and comparison.
(Lauterbach, Dec. 18, 1538, p. 193.)
On December 18, he said of the Church of the Papists, in which the monks plagued the consciences with their statutes. They were worse than the papist epicureans, the cardinals, who ruled physically, thus became vain jurists, but to the highest ruin.
of conscience. Ah, dear Lord! The name of the church was the pretext for the most shameful heresies. For the papists arrogated this name to themselves, since they are the real enemies of the church, partly epicureans, partly idolatrous hypocrites. Therefore, their opinion is to be regarded as nothing without the Word. On the other hand, the courage of the zealots is also not to be suffered, because they completely reject the reputation of the church and hate the sayings of the best and most proven people and only decorate their opinions with passages of Scripture. Both of them sin. Therefore, the name of the church must be carefully taken care of.
15 For such a long time, no one paid attention to the Pope's ungodly decrees.
Let it be known that the righteous church has never had a name or title in the world, but has always been without a name; therefore it is believed and not seen. As we confess in infantile faith, and say, I believe a holy Christian church, because it is commonly weighted and covered with the holy cross. Just look at how it went with the pope, aren't these ungodly cruel decrees, the chapter Cuncta 9. q. 3; C. si Papa, dist. 40, item, the Cap: ad. Apostolicae, de appellat. in. 6? No emperor, king, nor theologian has noticed it; that I marvel at the great blindness that they have not noticed so great gross lies of the pope, who has brazenly boasted that the Holy Scripture has its authority and power from the Roman Church, and testifies to its foundation and reason the saying from the Scripture: You are Peter.
16. the donkey's will.
(Cordatus No. 746.)
The donkey's testament: I give my head to the papists, my ears to the cardinals, my voice to the singers, my dung to the fertilizers, my bones to the players, my skin to the sharrhans, that they may make a kettledrum out of it.