1. where the statutes in the papacy come from.
2. finite cause of human statutes in the papacy.
Ceremonies are the tinder of superstition.
4. of the papists fasting.
5. hypocrisy and fictitious holiness deceive people.
6. from St. Bernard's Foundation.
7. where the word Easter comes from.
8. the feast of the Holy Trinity.
9. avoid new and superstitious ceremonies.
10. why and by whom the Sabbath was changed to Sunday.
11. to whom the statutes of men are to be compared.
12. work saints devise many new ceremonies.
13. of righteous Christian fasting.
1. where the statutes in the papacy come from find.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 31, 1538, p. 126.)
The human statutes in the papacy were created by the most unbearable tyrannical pride according to the words of Christ (Matth. 23, 4.): "They will not lift a finger." For the pope insisted with all his prestige on that which he himself despised, as those two Frenchmen who came from Rome said: they had eaten meat dishes publicly in Rome even on Char Friday. If they did that in France, they would be burned with fire. This is how great the impiety of the Roman See is.
2. finite cause of human statutes in the papacy.
(Lauterbach, Oct. 14, 1538, p. 151.)
The final purpose of the ordinances of men, namely, that they are the services of God, necessary to salvation, is the devil and all misfortune, even though they have the most godly works. If a preacher, a ruler, a householder fulfills his profession quite diligently, but adds this as a final purpose: I do it for this reason, so that I may do good enough, then all is ruined. Such was the exceedingly godless superstition of superfluous good works, as the ship well indicates, in which only monks and priests and nuns sat, who held out their hands and threw ropes to the other people who were in the sea, as if the holy church were nothing but the heap of the shorn. For even today Witzel blasphemes me for praising and exalting civil works.
3. ceremonies find tinder of superstition. 1)
(Lauterbach, April 3, 1538, p. 53.)
If we could preserve the Catechismum and establish the schools for the churches coming after us, we would have lived well. 2) The ceremonies may fall, for they are tinder and cause of superstition. Let the ceremonies fall, for they are a tinder and cause of superstition. If I could only bring it about that one, as a worldly thing, ordained that one should not eat meat for two days a week, that would be enough. We do not want the superstitious papist fast, since the collations [snack] were better than the meals. And he told a story that had happened in Italy, where a stranger was asked whether he wanted to go to the table for the meal or for the snack. When he chose the meal, he was served herring and a few bad things; but at the other table the best delicacies, fish and confectionery, were served, since they were fasting, with the best drinks. It is a play of the devil.
4. from the papist fast.
(Lauterbach, Oct. 14, 1538, p. 151.)
After that he said about the strict fasting of the papists, from which very miserable murder and corruption of the youth took place, where the people, according to arithmetic proportion, were forced to observe the same time, the same food, and so the natural forces are ver-
1) In the original, this section follows immediately after Cap. 5, z 26.
2) For "pastores" in the original would probably like to read postsris, as Aurifaber also read.
derbt. Therefore, Gerson was forced to write a consolation for those who were challenged, so that they would not despair, because in fasting they sinned less through abundance than through lack, because lack ruins nature. Such darkness was in Pabstism, where neither the Ten Commandments, nor the Christian faith, nor the Lord's Prayer was taught, nor was it considered necessary to know it.
On that day Luther was quite ill and spoke of breaking down his tent, because he could no longer, he had done his part. God would raise others after him. It would be over with him. He still wanted to do what he could, but under the forgiveness of sins.
5. hypocrisy and fictitious holiness deceive people.
People are miserably deceived by the self-invented and chosen holiness of the hypocrites and superstitious. But it is only the Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit's office to reveal such things. No dialectics can teach the difference between essential and accidental holiness. St. Francis was essentially holy only by the word of faith, and then he was accidentally sanctified by the holiness that was supposed to be in the cap, which the people could see and grasp, and thus assumed as if it were precious holiness; since the cap was a foreign and not an accidental thing of holiness, since it did nothing to it. It is not a natural and accidental thing that belongs to the being, as the form and powers in a young man are a natural and proper thing, although the being can well be without them for itself: but the monk's cap and the rope of St. Francis is a strange, monstrous and accidental thing; as if one put on a fool's cap or a carnival larva, without which a man can well be.
6. from St. Bernard's Foundation.
St. Bernard was an abbot for thirty-six years, during which time he built one hundred and sixty monasteries and provided them with abundant income. Think what
to it has belonged, said D. Martinus, to preserve one hundred and sixty monasteries. Thus superstition and superstition increase and rise to the highest in a short time, since the gospel must beg and go for bread.
7. where the word Easter comes from.
About the word Easter, from where it is called, there have been many questions and opinions. Some have said in the first: It comes from the fact that one asked those who used the holy: edistis Easter? Do you eat it? Others say that it is because Christ, having risen from the dead, was seen towards the east. I, said D. Martinus, said, it is a corruptum vocabulum, a word in which the letters are displaced and reversed; as Easter for Urständ. Thus, in ancient times, they called the feast of Epiphany (which is called the feast of the three kings) Ueberschein.
8. from the feast of the Holy Trinity.
Doctor Martinus said that the Gospel Luc. 9, about the transfiguration of the Lord Christ, rhymed very well with the feast of the Holy Trinity.
The chant: Come, Holy Spirit 2c., was made by the Holy Spirit Himself, both words and melody. Also for Easter: Stetit Angelus, der Engel stund bei dem Grabe 2c., is a very good song.
But the musicians and singers are unequal. Like a German, when he went to St. Jacob, and on the way, when he came to France, the people there asked him to sing German, because he had a good voice; so he sang: The shepherd in the Niedermühl would like to have my little daughter; and he bowed. Then the French also bent their knees, as if he called God.
9. avoid new and superstitious ceremonies.
Since M. Antonius D. Martino of the Consistorii order at Merseburg told that it was met with new and superstitious ceremonies.
1) I. e. of the Holy Communion. Binding rope III, 20.
ret, since neither the prince nor those in the Consistory knew anything about it, nor had they consented to it; said D. M. Luth. M. Luth. said: M. is a strange man, has a pious bishop, who is easily persuaded to perform ceremonies, has sent me a book, in which many ceremonies are listed, that I wanted to approve and sanction it. But I wrote on the margin next to it: "This cannot be: it is unpleasant and unchristian: superstitious, useless and not necessary: this could be tolerated to some extent" 2c. So I rejected the bishop's devotion.
I am heartily hostile to such orders, even if they could be kept free. For Satan seeks new snares of the consciences to ensnare people with human statutes, against which I have now fought for longer than twenty-five years from God's Word to preserve our Christian freedom. After that came M. Daniel of D., 1) who often talked with us about it, and asked us not to agree to such an order and decree, even if the prince or the angel Gabriel pressed for it, but that we would continue in the pure Word of God, righteous sacrament, and walk in a Christian and honorable life. We would have enough ceremonies and good discipline and discipline, if we only followed them. And D. Martinus said to him and M. Antonio: "If the three of you agree, I will exclude you from the number of our churches and put you under ban.
10. why, and by whom the Sabbath is set on Sunday.
I believe, said D. Martinus, that the apostles changed the Sabbath to Sunday, otherwise no one would have been so bold as to be allowed to do it: and I believe that they did it primarily to tear out of the hearts of the people this delusion, as if they were righteous and pious for the sake of the law, if they kept it, and so that it would be considered certain and constant that the law was not necessary for salvation.
But the apostles were moved to do this by the resurrection of the Lord Christ and the fact that the Holy Spirit was the one who had come to life.
1) Daniel Greser of Dresden. Bindseil III, 21.
The Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost. But before that they were under the carnal delusion that they thought and believed that he would restore the kingdom of Israel, imagining and dreaming only a worldly and political kingdom.
11. statutes of men, to whom they are to be compared.
I know, said D. Martinus, no better example and likeness, to which human statutes are equal and even, than (to speak with breeders) the ars, which does not let itself be bound, wants to be straight master and have the upper hand and the regiment; therefore the pope has left nothing else unbidden to man's body and soul, but the same.
Ceremonies, such as: Eating meat, fasting, clothing, place, time 2c. are free and proper in themselves, for such violate neither God nor the natural law.
Superstition and superstition, abuse in ceremonies, is when they are made necessary and regarded as worship and merit. But this can be postponed, because they are only means, which are used for the sake of a political end, namely, that order is kept and everything is done properly and honestly in the church. Just as the natural law teaches, which is planted in the heart of all men by God, and as we also see in the creation of all creatures, how finely ordered they are made by God. On the other hand, Christ says Matth. 15, 9: "They serve me in vain, because they teach such doctrines, which are nothing but the commandments of men." And St. Paul Gal. 1:8: "If we also, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." For the gospel teaches that it is for Christ's sake alone that we become righteous, just and blessed in the sight of God.
12. work saints devise many new ceremonies.
The worship in the New Testament and the Christian Church is based on truth and simplicity: there is no colored and painted superstition, nor idolatry. Therefore, St. John describes in his canons and epistles that three things.
1. the Spirit, which is the ministry of preaching; 2. the water, which is baptism; 3. the blood, which is the Lord's Supper, 1 John 5:8.
But the pope and the sectarians despise these testimonies and have invented and arranged innumerable services, ceremonies and sacrifices by their own choice without God's word; thus the church has been forced out of her bridegroom's institution and order by error.
13. of righteous Christian fasting.
When one said that the King of Denmark and Duke of Holstein had instituted a fast and commanded it to be kept three days in succession, exhorting the people to prayer and peace, D. Martin Luther said. Martin Luther: "It is right, I would like them (the lords) to set it up again; it is the utmost humiliation and humility, and if the inward also comes to it, then it is good.