7 The Childhood of Christ as a Model of Christian Child Raising: Two Sermons of 1553 by Rudolf Gwalther

Gwalther’s Sunday series, which he recorded in the Greek New Testament he had acquired in 1536,⁶ is remarkable for its length. During his years at St Peter’s he preached as follows:

In light of the central role of biblical exposition in the Zurich church, it seems remarkable that the sermons given by the city’s theologians initially appeared in print so infrequently. Only after 1550 was the content of their sermons often accessible in published form. Zwingli wrote down and published only a small number of his sermons and in the process he expanded their original content significantly.⁷ In the years before 1550 Bullinger was working on his Decades, his systematic theology, which took the form of five sets of ten sermons, and during this period he published both significant theological writings and biblical commentaries, but no sermons.⁸ Gwalther’s reputation rested initially on his poetic work and he had been commissioned by the Zurich church to translate and edit the work of other scholars.⁹ The five sermons on Matt 24:23–6 that he published in 1546 are a special case. These Endtchrist or Antichristus sermons were designed to caution their audience and call them to repentance. Their antipapal polemic was composed of quotations drawn from medieval critics of the papacy and served Gwalther as historic grounds for his sharp warnings about the threats posed by the renewed papacy, the Council of Trent and the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War. The translation of these sermons into Italian, English and Dutch brought Gwalther both a European-wide reputation and the protests of the Catholic Confederates.

The first of the Zurich theologians to follow Zwingli’s example in making his sermons available in print was Otto Werdmüller (1513–52), archdeacon at the Grossmünster, who in 1548, 1549 and 1552 published his German-language sermons.¹⁰ In August 1551 Bullinger and Gwalther began a process whereby by mutual arrangement they too published their German-language sermons, initially with some frequency, but subsequently at a slower pace. In 10 small books containing a total of 17 sermons, Bullinger reflected on issues of faith and the end times;¹¹ Gwalther’s 23 books, with a total of 68 sermons, tackled the life of Jesus, the Christian life, the Bible and prayer.¹² In 1561 Johannes Wolf, minister at the Fraumünster, followed their lead when he published one of his sermons, as did also Ludwig Lavater, archdeacon at the Grossmünster, when in the course of 1571, 1577 and 1584 he published 15 sermons across four small books.¹³ These published sermons had not previously been read out in church. They originated in well-prepared sermons that had been given unscripted and in the German dialect spoken locally in Zurich. Subsequently these essentially oral sermons were reworked on the basis of their Latin outlines (Memorialia) and written down in the High German/Swiss characteristic of officialdom. The printed version does not therefore reproduce word for word a sermon given from the pulpit, and indeed the material in the first, oral version had been expanded for publication. The Zurich theologians had not searched through the Bible for passages that spoke to a specific theme; rather, they tackled topics that emerged as made their way through individual books of the Bible, topics that they wanted to bring to the attention of all elements of the multi-layered society who made up their audience. These small books found their readership in Southern Germany and Switzerland, amongst readers who shared a common linguistic base.

In 1553 Gwalther provided his educated readership with two different forms of Latin exposition of complete biblical books: on one hand, 37 extensive homilies on the First Letter of John and, on the other hand, short Homiliarum sylvae, of which five were on the Second Letter of John and four on the Third Letter of John. Although the latter are closer in form to Gwalther’s sermon outlines, it was the former that met with the warmer reception, for they proved of more practical use to the parish clergy in preparing their sermons. Working from the notes from his sermon series, Gwalther therefore published, in large folio form, sermon series in the form of homilies on the Acts of the Apostles (1557), Mark (1561), the 12 minor prophets (1563; Hosea and Joel had already appeared in 1560), John (1565), the Letter to the Romans (1566), Luke (1570), the two letters to the Corinthians (1572), the Letter to the Galatians (1576), Matthew (1581/84) and Isaiah (1583, Homiliarum sylvae). In total he published 1,580 extensive homilies and 364 short Homiliarum sylvae, for as his strength declined around 1583/84, he published, as he had in 1553 for Second and Third John, the initial outline of his sermon without significant further reworking. The homilies, which have received little scholarly attention, make up his principal work. These volumes were repeatedly reprinted in Zurich up until 1596 and in Heidelberg between 1601 and 1619.¹⁴ Their very accessible Latin provided them with a market throughout Europe, and they continued to be used by pastors until into the eighteenth century. Only in 1557 did Bullinger follow suit, and over the next ten years he published 526 Conciones on the Apocalypse, and on Jeremiah, Daniel and Isaiah.¹⁵ In the ten years before his death Ludwig Lavater (1527–86) published a total of 432 homilies on other books of the Old Testament,¹⁶ and over 200 sermons by Johannes Wolf appeared after Wolf’s death in 1572.¹⁷

When Gwalther’s sermon outlines, published after his death with the title Archetypi homiliarum, are included in the total, 2,667 writings in the form of sermon prototypes (Urbilder) or models (Vorbilder) were printed in various combinations in Zurich and Heidelberg between 1587 and 1612, on Esther, Psalms 1 to 94, the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and all the Letters; some include the date on which the original sermon was preached. Several drafts on Isaiah and Jonah appeared in Zurich in 1604 as an appendix to Vermigli’s Preces sacrae, under the title Sylva homiliarum … de vera precum ratione. Unfortunately Gwalther’s notes were not preserved after their publication; by contrast, many of Bullinger’s handwritten sermon outlines have been preserved and only a few have been published.¹⁸

For any single biblical text, close ties between Latin sermon outline (Memoriale, Archetypus), German sermon and published Latin homily exist only when they all belonged to the same sermon series, which happens only rarely for all three forms of exposition.

In the short summary of P 1–2 that follows below, the headings of the material that appears alongside the text is given in italics; the footnotes record the relevant (and almost always identical) marginalia from A and H along with the numbering of the extract from A. This method both provides evidence of the close ties between P, A and H in these instances and makes a comparison of the three printed texts easier.

The practices of parents.²⁶ Every year Mary and Joseph travelled to Jerusalem for the Easter festival, as God had commanded (Deut 16:16); as soon as Jesus had turned 12, they took him also. – Mary and Joseph obey God. In so doing they provided an example of a ‘God-fearing and reverent life and of obedience before God’, for they could have argued against having to visit Jerusalem on the grounds that the costs were high for poor hand workers and that they would lose valuable time, or that Jesus, the son of God and the true Easter lamb, was living with them.

The raising of children should begin with the parents.²⁷ Children follow the example set by their parents and become like those with whom they live, and therefore parents should follow an honest life and give no occasion for evil. – Parents are to be God-fearing. Someone who is God-fearing reads the Bible at home and with the community of the faithful hears the Word of God in church; in so doing that person will feel compelled to keep the commandments and pray. – Parents should be decorous and honest. Parents should be measured in their speech, gestures, morals, clothing, eating and drinking; they must never be immodest. – Parents should avoid whoring and adultery. Should they not remain faithful to one another, parents should at least spare their children. – Parents should work to preserve unity. Unity makes married life easier; disunity causes disrepute. If a father or mother speaks badly of the other, their children will play them off one against the other and will themselves become hostile; it is for this reason that faithfulness and unity are so necessary. – Housekeeping by parents. Parents should exercise restraint in what they eat and how they dress; at the same time they should also be generous, not miserly. – Parents should be respectful towards their superiors. They should speak of preachers and of those in authority with great respect in order that their children also learn to respect them. If parents talk of those in authority with contempt, their children will also show contempt for them, before they have judged for themselves. It is for this reason that today many young people are unwilling to follow the prohibitions of God and the authorities. If parents follow all these instructions, they will provide a good example, will not annoy their children and will not bring God’s anger on themselves (Matthew 18:6).

Mary brings Jesus to the worship service.²⁸ Mary brought Jesus with her to Jerusalem; unlike both Eli and many people today her piety was not limited to herself alone. From Jesus’ earliest childhood she did all that she could in order to bring him up well. – Children should be brought to God. Because children are given to us by God, it is fitting²⁹ that they be brought to God; to do so is to honour God. It is only as a result of our efforts that the earth brings forth good fruit, and, similarly, in light of our sinful nature, from a young age the human heart must be instructed in the teachings of God,³⁰ and also forewarned and punished. No message will be conveyed to children by our works and actions unless the seed of the fear of God has been planted within those children. As Solomon recognized (Proverbs 22:6), humans continue along the path to which they became accustomed in their youth; as adults they can only be redirected with great difficulty from the course they have adopted, whether it leads from depraved life to destruction or is the path to sanctity. The soul is the most refined part of man and therefore parents should seek to acquire for their children not just the accoutrements of life on earth but also the stuff of eternal life, for otherwise their children will behave just like animals. We should follow the examples of Abraham, Job, Tobias, Paul and Timothy and take to heart Christ’s command (Matthew 19:14) that the children should be brought to him, for to them belongs the kingdom of heaven.

Children are capable of faith and of taking part in the church service.³¹ If we hold children to be too young and too incompetent to be able to honour God, then we are in effect accusing God of asking us to do something that has no purpose. We do not know children better than God knows them, God who ‘created them and gave them a soul that has reason’. It is true that our reason alone (as Paul taught, 1Corinthians 2:7–12) is not able to comprehend God, but God has ‘illuminated us with his Spirit’. And so just as children are able to learn foreign languages, counting and music, as sons can learn fencing and daughters spinning, sewing and singing, so too they have reason enough to learn faith and what is true worship, ‘in which nothing is crooked or confused, but rather all is simple and correct’. For this children would lack nothing, but many parents do not have enthusiasm for the honouring of God.

Fear of God embraces aspects of child raising:³²

Mary becomes anxious about her child.³⁵ In the second part of the text that has been read out, Luke reports that Mary suffered fear and worry when she realized her child was gone, thinking that he was lost or even dead or abducted. She retraces a full-day’s journey and only three days later did she find Jesus. These words can bring comfort to parents and teach them, and, as we shall see in more detail, can give them patience as they carry out the hard work of raising children.

Comfort for parents when they are raising their children.³⁶ All our life is full of suffering, but the raising of children brings particular effort, work, worry and danger. God has so ordered it on account of our sins. To give birth to children and to raise them serves the salvation of women. Rather than become impatient, we should remember that children are given by God and formed in the image of God, that growing children bring growing worries. We can learn patience from Mary’s efforts with the child Jesus.

In the raising of children no effort is too great.³⁷ Although Jesus was ‘born with an unspoiled nature’ and enjoyed the special protection of God, he was also a true human who made much work for his mother. No matter how much effort we invest in our children, who were received by us in sin, they will always cause us grief, as Adam found with Cain, Noah with his son Ham, Abraham with Ishmael, Isaac with Esau and Jacob with his children. We must be alert and fend off evil promptly. – Comfort when children are disobedient. When all efforts in teaching, reproaching and punishing have proved unfruitful, all that remains is to turn to God, who will reward parents and punish disobedient children.

God’s providence orders everything well.³⁸ At first we do not understand how God’s true and paternal providence works around us. Mary and Joseph thought their child was lost, but rather his godly wisdom was being tested in the Temple to the praise of God. From this example we learn to recognize God’s providence. In an extreme situation, when we lose a child or spouse, we often discover later that something good although unexpected grows for us from that event, and so we must lay all our burdens on God and trust in him.

Christ is found in the Temple.³⁹ On another occasion it will be explained how we should seek Jesus, namely nowhere but in his Temple, that is, in ‘his holy Christian church’. In this sermon, however, we are concerned only with what the passage teaches us about the raising of children.

Children should serve God.⁴⁰ That Jesus was found not at play or in bad company but rather in the Temple shows us that children are highly impressionable, their hearts being ‘like a wax writing tablet’ – they are not like adults who are hard as iron or diamond – and at a young age they should be made accustomed to worship. In response to those who hold that children would not understand the sermon, we have the testimony of John (1 John 2:14), who declares that gospel teaching does not serve adults alone, but is also for children, whom it teaches to recognize their ‘true father in heaven’. – Against neglectful parents. Only a few parents bring their children to church; many allow them to roam the streets during the sermon (which is thought to be too long for little ones) – during the cold of winter children sledge for hours without a care, slide on the ice and throw snowballs at people. When we consider that the honouring of God is of no concern to many people, both young and old, it is no wonder that moral standards fall.

Christ hears the Word of God.⁴¹ Jesus listened to the Temple scholars and answered them. Jesus therefore listened to the Word of God although as the son of God he could learn nothing from humans that he did not already know; as a human, however, he wanted to show us by example that we should not deride sermons given by those who have been appointed to preach, for they have been appointed by God. – How one should hear the Word of God.⁴² Our dress should not be too fine when we go to church and we should not interrupt the preacher but rather listen to the Word of God in church with reverence and all seriousness, as though we were sitting before the face of God. And we should also ask God to illuminate our teachers through the Holy Spirit. – One should not believe just any teaching. It is wrong frivolously to believe any teaching we hear; one cannot place all responsibility on the preachers. As Paul and John enjoin, only healthy teachings are to be retained. Because Jesus debated with the Temple scholars when he was only 12 years old, people should be taught to differentiate between teachings while they are still young.

Christ, the teacher of all.⁴³ All marvelled at Jesus’ wisdom. He is, as Moses had already called him, the teacher of all according to the will of God to whom we all should listen. – Christ puts to shame the wisdom of all the world. By means of the spirit of Christ the apostles preached the holy gospel in such a way that they prevailed over all the wisdom of the Jews and the heathen. This should comfort us when we must account for our faith under persecution. The ‘principal article’ (Hauptartikel) we must remember is that

Mary reproaches Christ.⁴⁶ Mary reproaches Jesus strongly for staying away, accusing him, in light of the fact that he is the son of God, of not showing himself to be a true son and of causing great worry to her, she who had to suffer so much on his account and had even to flee to Egypt.

Parental rights over their children.⁴⁷ The Holy Spirit teaches us through Mary that parents have the right and the power not only to teach and caution their children, but also, when necessary, to reproach them and punish them appropriately. Because man is born with a sinful nature, the thoughts of the human heart are from an early age evil and wicked (Genesis 8:21). Solomon spoke the truth (Proverbs 23:13–24; 29:15) when he said that he who spares the rod hates his son and he who loves him, disciplines him. Punishment brings wisdom. It is noteworthy that Solomon, the wisest and most magnificent of kings, talked so frequently of the raising of children. He knew that a people that did not bring up its children well could not survive for long. God himself gave parents power over their children. According to his law, parents of a stubborn, disobedient son should bring him before the court, which can condemn him to be stoned, and not just for adultery or murder but also for lesser misdemeanours such as feasting and drinking (Deuteronomy 21:18–21). Although the high priest Eli was pious, he was also much too lenient towards his wicked sons and was punished by God, and so too will parents who neglect their duty to raise their children be punished by God. Many parents experience from their own children the malice that they themselves had shown towards others. Impudent and wicked boys do not turn out particularly upright when older, but rather turn against their fathers, accrue secret debts and like vultures wait upon their father’s imminent death. Mary provided an example of how to punish and how to discipline. Children should take to heart how to bear such discipline willingly because it is commanded by God.

Christ justifies himself.⁴⁸ Christ responds forcefully to his parents, for his guiltlessness must be rescued from Mary’s accusation that he is disobedient, for had he been disobedient then he would have incensed his mother and committed a grievous sin. ‘That Christ was without guilt is not the least of reasons for our own salvation (for he would not have been able to sacrifice himself for our sins, or to give himself in payment of them, if he had been burdened with his own sins and trespasses)’, and therefore it was necessary ‘for him to defend himself in such serious terms’. – To what extent should children obey their parents? Jesus made evident the necessary extent of children’s obedience to their parents when he had to decide between his mother’s demand that he return home with her and the contrary command and call of God that he should teach in the Temple and reveal his godly wisdom.

Obedience to God is greater than obedience to humans.⁴⁹ ‘This is to be taken as a general rule that means that we must learn to follow the call that we receive from God and that no human can be held in such great respect that we neglect our obedience to God in favour of obedience to that human’. It is true that there are no closer ties than those that bind us to our father and mother, but if our parents should ‘begin to require of us not just that which we are bound to give them’ but also that ‘on their account we do not fulfil our duties to God, then obedience to our parents has reached its limit and the answer given by the child Jesus guides us: Do you not know that we must follow God, who is the father of us all in heaven, and our obedience to God must be greater than our obedience to humans’. He who loves his father and his mother more than he loves Jesus is not worthy of Jesus (Luke 14:26). Children should know well that they may protect themselves from parents who try to force upon them false faith or worship, idolatry or vices. – On authority. The same is true of the authority that is second only to that of parents, for it is established by God. Obedience to such authority is not greater than obedience to God. When the Council of Jerusalem ordered the apostles to cease their preaching about Jesus, the apostles replied that man must obey God more than humans (Acts 5:29). No one who denies Christ and the true faith can justify himself by citing his duty of obedience to the authorities, for to do so would be to put human power above the honour of God.

Mary fails to understand Christ.⁵⁰ It is without doubt that Mary and Joseph did not understand Jesus’ reply because they did not have the true measure of the office of Christ, for they were caught up in the errors of the Jewish people, who held that he would become a secular prince who would set up his kingdom on earth and would free the people from the tyranny of Rome. The apostles made the same mistake when they bickered over who among them should be their leader. The child Jesus was not present in the Temple as a king, but as a teacher and preacher. We must not pass over the words of Jesus because of human reason that is blind to God, but rather we must hold them in our hearts, as Mary did.

Christ obeys his parents.⁵¹ After Jesus had defended his stay in the Temple on the grounds of his call from God, he again became obedient to his parents and was subservient to them, and he remained so until he was in his thirtieth year. Like Joseph, he was a carpenter. (Mark 6:3).

Obligations of children towards their parents.⁵² This part of the story of Jesus ‘teaches us to act according to the duties of children toward their parents’. According to Paul (Ephesians 6:1–6), the commandment to honour one’s father and mother (Exodus 20:12) was also to be followed by those who believed in Christ. Obedience. To obey the law means above all to obey one’s parents (Colossians 3:20), which meant unjustifiable opposition is not permitted. – Willing Obedience. If you hold someone in great respect then your heartfelt tendency will be to serve that person. – Food and sustenance. When our parents are old, out of gratitude we help them and ensure they have enough to eat; we do not allow them live in want. Even if God had not commanded us to behave in this way, nature itself would show us how to act, for by means of good actions even the animals can be brought to be submissive to humans; the ox knows his master, the donkey knows his stall, the horse even carries us into war against enemies, the falcon returns. If the earth is tended, it will bear good fruit. Humans who do not acknowledge the goodness shown towards them are worse than the animals. Most of all we thank our parents, especially our mothers, who carried us within their own bodies and gave birth to us in pain. Even if parents are too poor to be able to offer us anything, we are duty bound to be grateful to them. They have earned our help according to ‘the reckoning: feed those who have fed you, dress those who have dressed you, provide for those who have provided for you, stir yourself to effort and work for those who have in many ways made such efforts for you. It will not only come easily to you to act thus, but it will give you pleasure to have the opportunity to return the kindness shown to you’. God grants a long life to those who act thus; those who do not follow his commands will be punished, even, as according to his law (Deuteronomy 21:18–21), by stoning. – The punishment of ungrateful children. No one should think that God intends only to frighten by means of threats and will not act on these threats. Examples of God’s punishment of ungrateful children who do not respect their parents are provided by Ham (Genesis 9:18–25), the sons of Eli (1Samuel 4:17–18), and David’s son Absalom (2Samuel 15:1–19:11). – Solon. It should cause us Christians shame that the Athenian lawmaker Solon did not make provision for the punishment of those who mistreat their parents. – Punishment by the Romans. The Romans punished unnatural vices severely and they are to be praised for their strict legal code. Nature itself should spur us into action; it is said that storks carry older storks on their backs and feed them as they themselves were once fed by the older storks. Heathen poets praised Aeneas and others who stood by their own parents even at risk to their own lives. Many heathens have lived according to God’s command, while Christians must complain about ungrateful youth.

Christ laboured.⁵³ Christ was not ashamed to work a trade as did Joseph. From this we learn that children should be brought up not to be indolent or lazy, but rather to have an understanding of the importance of honest work. Such an upbringing ensures that many vices will be avoided, for young people tend more easily than adults to carelessness. It is wrong for those who are poor to make their children beg, or for the rich and the noble to believe that to practice a trade or learn a language is beneath them. They forget that God has commanded us to work and therefore there is no dishonour in work. He who has learnt nothing will be less content than those who are truly poor, for he can hold no position, but begins to cheat, steal and thieve, or, if he succeeds in joining a regiment, will lead the people into unnecessary war. Abraham and the other patriarchs are to be praised, for, despite their wealth, they raised their children to be able to plant the fields and tend the animals. Despite their royal roots and even their knowledge that Jesus was the son of God, Joseph and Mary still urged him to learn an honest trade. – The authorities should have their subjects work, for only then will the people remain prosperous and peaceful. Unfortunately the authorities today are more negligent than were the heathen as, for example, in Athens under Solon or the people of Marseille, who granted citizenship only to those who could sustain themselves by means of an honest trade. Paul worked and commanded (2Thess 3:10) that anyone who did not work should also not eat. – The ruin and deficiencies of youth. Children who have not been brought up correctly will shy away from work; they will laze away their days in indolence or boast that profiteering or military service will make them rich far sooner than would a trade. They are damned and they will fall into misfortune as many passages in the Bible teach (Genesis 3:17–19; Deuteronomy 27–8; Proverbs 22:16, 28:8; Isaiah 33:1; Matthew 7:2). To work manually is honourable, for it was commanded by God and sanctified by Jesus’ example. Military service, profiteering and whoring are scandalous.

The fruits of raising children correctly.⁵⁴ ‘And Jesus grew in wisdom, years, and mercy with God and the people’ – although only in his human nature, for his godliness was complete. Christ is wisdom itself and the son of God. But he is also truly human, with all the human characteristics and as such he grew in body and soul.

With correct upbringing comes wisdom.⁵⁵ It is a ‘delightful and comforting fruit’ of good upbringing that children grow not only in body and years, but also in wisdom and understanding. Discipline and just punishment drive out the foolishness with which they are born. Children who grow in wisdom, the ‘delightful treasure of humans’, will bring their parents joy; where wisdom is lacking, there is no order to life. He who is guided by wisdom is lord and master over his tribulations, is attentive to God’s commandments and discovers their purpose. – Discipline makes us agreeable to God and to the people. He who orders his life according to the Word of God will experience the mercy promised by God. All humans chase the favour of others, only a few follow seriously their calling from God. ‘If parents looked to God and served him, they would receive their reward from God’. He who serves the world receives worldly rewards, he harvests mainly ingratitude. – Why all estates are despised.⁵⁶ If young people seek true friendship and honour, obedience to their parents is necessary. This is something all estates must consider when they complain that they do not receive due respect. Many preachers seek good livings, rather than the honour of God. This desire is so common amongst us evangelicals (uns Evangelischen), that there are few faithful preachers. Because so few rulers, authorities, parents, teachers and masters of trade look to the honour of God, God takes the respect for them. I will say more about this another time; this brief warning is sufficient here.

The story of how Christ was raised must be ‘examined earnestly and taken to heart’, and the model it contains must be ‘followed with great enthusiasm’. Then are we Christians. The teaching of Christ should alone rule amongst us. But he teaches us not only with words but also with ‘a perfect example’. For this reason he wished to become a child and allow himself be raised as are other children. ‘All who rule and all those in authority must learn to direct their attention to young people and where parents are neglectful’, they must ensure that children are brought up ‘to fear God, to have faith, to honour God’ and to be ‘obedient from a young age’, for little can be achieved later. Schoolmasters carry ‘the hopes of a whole people’. If they are unmindful of their duty, they must ‘be punished for harming the common good, for ruining and leading astray a whole people’. Parents who do not bring their children to God, from whom they received their children, must know that they not only sin against God but also will never delight in their children, and all their efforts and work in external things ‘are without purpose and lead nowhere’ if they do not bring their children ‘the treasure that is true knowledge and fear of God’. ‘All those who proclaim the word of God must know that young people are their particular responsibility’. Children must know that God wishes them to be brought up correctly, and therefore they must ‘bear this upbringing patiently so that they will not be disciplined horribly by God, as were, we have heard told, Eli’s sons and Absalom’. All this is important. ‘If we can improve the situation in our own time, then we will have achieved a great start to Christian reformation and improvement. For this reason the raising of children must be deemed a serious matter for everyone. May God in his mercy let preachers, authorities, schoolmasters and guild masters, fathers and mothers look to their offices and carry them out.⁵⁷ May God make children obedient that they become children of God, who grow each day in Christ and inherit with him in heaven. Amen’.⁵⁸

Sermon One: parents must start with themselves so that they become models. Because children are given by God, they must be led to him. From an early age they are able to have faith and to take part in the church service. Fear of God is at the centre of Christian child-rearing. Raising children correctly requires patience and is hard work. And if all efforts are fruitless, parents can seek consolation in God. Negligence leads to moral decline. Children should be taught at an early age to distinguish between correct and false teachings. A model is important.

Sermon Two: parents have the power to raise their children correctly; if they fail to exercise this power, God will punish them. The limits of earthly authority are determined by obedience before God. Children have the right to protect themselves from parents and other authorities who demand that they act falsely. Normally, however, they should obey willingly and also support their parents when they are old, for ungrateful children will be punished by God; indeed, they were already harshly punished according to the laws of the heathen. Work is sanctified by the model provided by Jesus and for this reason everyone should be encouraged to follow an honest trade. Laziness and arrogance teach nothing; they lead to misfortune. All those who are entrusted with young people have a great responsibility; their reputation will be harmed if out of self-interest they fail to honour God. When adults bring up children correctly and children allow themselves to be brought up correctly, these children become children of God, and a Christian reformation will have taken root.

In these two sermons there is little evidence of how Gwalther’s exposition of Scripture grows out of grammatical analysis and illumination of the historical context; how he uses biblical passages to address the problems of his own time is, however, very evident. Men and women have equal status; so too do girls and boys. He often repeats what is important in order to drive his position home and to give even greater weight to his message.

Gwalther believed it right that other preachers should draw a different message from the same biblical verses, tailoring their sermons to suit the particular situation in their own communities; no single individual could draw out all the riches of the Bible.⁶⁰ Two examples of very different expositions of this passage must suffice here. Calvin stressed the importance of the Bible for defining true worship in contrast to the papist cult, for rescuing Mary from false ambition, and for emphasizing Jesus as mediator.⁶¹ On the first Sunday after Epiphany Luther always preached on the story of Jesus as boy in the Temple and his emphasis was on suffering and consolation, on Christ as the Word of God and on warning against parental ambition; on rare occasions he would touch on the sanctification of work through Jesus (a point on which he and Gwalther did overlap to some extent).⁶²

Gwalther’s own life had provided him the necessary experience and understanding to enable him to talk with authority on how children could be shaped by their upbringing. Fatherless since birth, Gwalther’s relationship with his stepfather had not been easy. On the death of his mother, the 13-year-old Gwalther had been taken into Bullinger’s family, where he had been blessed with a correct, but strict, upbringing. The behaviour of some of his fellow students in Basel, Strasbourg, Lausanne and Marburg had shown him where laziness and drunkenness could lead. Before becoming pastor at St Peter’s in Zurich in 1542, he had taught for one year at the Latin school that was part of the Grossmünster and during that period had also preached to the congregation in a small village near Zurich. By the time he preached these two sermons and arranged for their publication, he was one of the most respected and most eminent pastors in Zurich. And in 1552 he was also father to two daughters, aged ten and two, and to a son newly born that summer. Gwalther knew personally just how full of wonder and yet challenging the raising of children can be.⁶³