The Other Sacraments
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in the third ; who fervently prays for forgiveness with the help of brethren , as in the last .
He, I say, makes sufficient con fessi on who i s so minded, and he has no need of any priest.
But he wh o h as not been taught after thi s fashion certai nly has very great need of a priest .
But of what sort of priest ?
Not of on e who gets into the treasure chest with false keys, but of one who by the word of God teaches men to recognize their mi sery, and grace as well .
Secret confession , therefore , is a consul tation , the Keys are the expoundi ng of the gospel , and all else is mere windy gabble of the Papalists .
But there are those wh o say that many persons will perpetrate many mis deeds when they are n ot obliged to confess .
To such I answer :
You are either inexperienced or hypocrites ; inexperienced, because you have not learned that nobody ever refrained from misdoing on account of confession , whereas we know that, on the contrary, if they were ashamed to confess , many have refrained from confessing what they had done ; hypocrites , because no person can help knowing how recklessly b e con ceais things and even feigns righteousness where he wishes to give the impression that he h as made a clean breast of every thing and has felt sincere sorrow .
Yet, we still venture to defend a thing which h as been nothing but a means of getting men
's goods away from them ; for unless the Lord of Hosts had left us the seed [cf. Isa .
. e. , had brought back again the light of the gospel , it would have been all over with everybody 's goods, earnings, and possessions .
Was not the Pope of Rome saying that all realms are his ?
We have our selves seen the legate of the Pope of Rome putting up the claim at Zurich that a certain house belonging to the priory , as they call it, was his .
Let us , therefore, confess frequently to the Lord, let us begin a new life frequently, and if there is any thing not clear let us go frequently to a wise scholar who looks not at the pocket -book but at the conscience !
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THE OTHER SACRAM ENTS
Confirmation had i ts beginning when the custom of bap tizi ng infants became common , since among the earliest Christians only those infants were baptized who were engaged in a struggle for life .
And yet why was this ?
Does the danger
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( Those others , whom you are forced to acknowledge as bishops because of their official rank , are, as I have said, n ot
"episcopi " [away Those , there fore , who forbid wi ves to ministers of the word build up with words to tear down with deeds .
For there is no need of my saying anything here about the lust of the fles h : we all know by experience how chaste and pure we are !
Why, then , do we voluntarily invi te a scandal into the church of God, when nowhere are wives forbidden by God " aposcOpi [overseers] but rather 's commandment ? We all kn ow that marriage is a respectable thing, as I have said .
Wh y, then , are we unwi lling to allow it to the minister of the word ?
Instead , when we see that any is weak , we prefer to put up with a whoremonger, to the offence and disgrace of the whole church , rather than with a lawful husband .
And yet some say that they shudder at any ministering of a pries t who h as a wife ; for they cannot hear , they say, to see a priest cele brati ng mass in the church or teaching while his wife is listen ing and praying, though yet they endure wi thout any offence a most shameless whore, sometimes sitting in on e of the very front seats .
At this point I might properly deal savagely wi th men not foolish but wicked ; for theirs is the voice not of fool ish n ess but of unrighteousness .
The mass is not only worth less but an abomination ; and I am not sure but the profit seeking traffic of masses h as deserved that God should have so " ( for that is what Peter calls this ki nd of men long endured in His church such foul "spots "[II Pet . 2 : 1 3] Why, then , does He n ot wish to see the priest celebrating Mass ?
Because that which is abominable so pleases us that nothing right either can or ought to please us .
We demand masses : therefore let whoremongers celebrate masses , for they are better sui ted to this abomination than respectable husbands .
But let the b us band of on e wife [cf. I Tim . 3 : 2] administer the word in the church of God , lest, when he is teaching that it is not permissi
~ ble to defraud a brother i n his matrimonial affairs , he see present many women whom he has defil ed with adultery , and, smitten in conscience, not dare to speak out and to rebuke unfalteringly his own and other men 's sins .
But more a little later upon marriage , when we come to vows .
Here meanwhile I will sugges t that the on e and only reason , it seems to me ,
O n True and Fal s e R elig i on why we refuse marriage to our bishops , in spite of the fact that Paul in making a selection above all prefers a married one, I Ti m . 3 : 2 and Ti t. 1 : 6 , is that such a countless crowd of priests given over to leisure seems to be a menace if they may take partners to themselves .
Some monk will be an heir along wi th his brother ; some nun will put in a claim for an inherit ance that h as passed to some on e else ; some priest will be elected into the Council , or perhaps succeed to a magistracy .
This is really, in my opinion , the kind of meanness that yet screens itself behind something other than the fact .
But why not obviate these evils ?
Can it not be enacted by law that no priest shall be chosen into the Council ?
When such a law has been passed , what further danger will threaten ?
Thus other dangers also coul d be duly met , and this shameless nastiness be removed from the sight and presence of the faithful .
And as far as the exceedingly great number is concerned, why do we not let them die off in peace , and not put any more men into their pries thoods , but convert their goods to the use of the poor, especially since the poor have gone hun gry long enough while those others have been filled to bursting ?
What disturbance , pray, has for some time arisen anywhere in all the kingdoms of the Christian world that was not raised either by the Pope of Rome himself or by those mitred and hatted dis
cipl es of his, the bishops and cardi nals ?
Do they not regulate all the policies , fortun es , and decrees of kings ?
But whence comes this great power ?
From riches .
And whence come the riches ?
Fr0m so many priesthoods , rates , tithes , and other oppressive burdens which woul d be harder to count up than the stars .
Their means , therefore , must be narrowed down to modest limits .
But, that no one may be able to complain that the acti on is taken out of covetousness rather than from zeal for divine thi ngs , these persons must be endured until they di e
' in peace , as I have said .
But if some of them with char ofl acteri sti c pertinacity continue to disturb the peace of a com m onwealth or ki ngdom by their power , their wings must be clipped until they no longer can fly so high .
But look here , you ; what boldness have you ?
See how ready you are to make a disturbance and to take to plundering !
You will crush only those who make a disturbance ; those who make no disturb
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ance you will leave free , lest you make a stil l greater di sturb ' be kept wi th them as long as they keep it themselves , lest through the habit of brea ki ng faith we degen ance.
Faith m ust ers te from men into beas ts .
Look here, you , too ; come back and hear the thi ng out .
No private person is to do this , for thus it gradually woul d come about that anybody could make an attack upon anybody else on some made-up, empty pre ten ce .
Leave thes e thin gs to be arranged by king or magis trate . But look here, you also , you kings and magistrates . Why do you put thi s money into your own treasury unles s forced by extreme need in the defence of your people ?
Adopt the followin g rul e :
Put the proceeds from the pries thoods , monasteries , rates , revenues , of the departed into the treasury of the poor, n ot into your own .
What these persons have hitherto impiously extorted , give back .
Otherwise you would increase more than ever i n power an d wealth , which render no on e humbler or kinder ; and so it woul d eventually come about that on account of your oppressive rul e you woul d make yourselves more hated than you ever woul d have been if thi s great increase of wealth had not come to pass .
Fortune i s accompanied by envy , and the more the former grows, the more the latter at the same time glows . So much briefly as to abolishi ng the useless priest hood and converting its goods to the use of the poor .
For Christians ought to have no priesthood save Christ
's ; and He i s an everlasting priest [Heb so that none should suc ceed to His place .
But min isters of the word , bishops, that is , watchers wh o watch over the flock of the Lord , are to be hon ored with due honor according to Paul 's direction [I Ti m .
5 :
These alone, therefore, we shall have some time in the church of God , when within at most forty years all those that now make us sick and impatient will have moved elsewhere .
So long were the Israelites in going from Egypt into the land of Canaan [Exod . 1 6 : 35] in patient endurance we shall not, I hope , he inferior to them .
V ows Some ki nds of vows are as impious and as stupid as if one should give a pledge to a ki ng to bring to him without harm to
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ti on ed .
For when he says [I Cor . 7: 5] "Defraud ye n ot one the other
" (he is speaking of a husband 8 or wife
's withdrawal from intercourse) , "except it be by consent for a season , that ye may give yourselves unto prayer .
Afterwards come together again , that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency,
" it is evi dent that, to avoid the temptation of Satan , that is , the defil em ent of fornication and adultery, it is permissible to marry ; likewise when our praying is hindered .
But how far any on e is hindered none knows better than he who feels the thing .
If, therefore, you feel , as I have said , your mind reel at the mention of Venus , so that you say, "
"I would if I might, the flesh surely has the upper hand and will never res t until it has accomplished what it wants .
In order, therefore, not to be perpetually burning, marry ; "for it is better to marry than to burn .
" Whoever desires fuller knowledge of this matter should study carefully the chapter mentioned [I Cor .
"If thou hast n ot continency, marry [I Cor . and, We , see, therefore , that all alike were spoken to .
"if a virgin marry, sh e hath not sinned [I Cor .
Therefore , all alike may enter into marriage .
For as to the objection made on the score of your vow,
* it h as no force to invalidate the law of God, so that it is even the height of impiety to override that because of our traditions, as Christ, in Matt . 1 5 : 3 , reproached the scribes and Pharisees with doing, when He said :
"Why do ye transgress the commandment of God b ecauuse of your tradi tion ?
I will not mention n ow how foolish it is to promise a thing which is not in your power .
All vows of chastity, there fore, are impious .
The objection , raised by some on account of the Nazarites, Num .
6 , has long been obsolete .
For the Lord commanded many things of the children of Israel of which He had Himself no need and in which He had no pleasure ; but He bade them be done for Him that they might not be done for the Devil .
Such were various sacrificial rites .
And this i s the view to be taken in regard to the Nazarites .
There was danger that the Jews would desire their sons to live after the manner of other nations according to some peculiar way of life , and that they would forthwith make vows to that effect .
The Lord , therefore, "The priest 's vow of chastity .
O n Tr u e a nd Fal se R elig i on gave them a way of life Himself, with which they would be so content as n ot to turn aside to idolatry .
Others , again , cite in objection " [Ps . and "V ow and pay , "Pay thy vows unto the Most High , " Ps . 76 : 1 1 ; but in doing this they only betray their own ignorance , namely, that they have not yet " is used in the Holy Scriptures for v ol un tary gifts and offerings, not for taking an oath or dedicating the learned that "vows heart . This last is what was demanded by the law [Deut . 6 : 5]
Thou shalt love the Lord , thy God , etc .
As , therefore , offer ings were abolished , so also were vows . For
" [ T U] in Hebrew signifies the voluntary offering of anything cus "nader tomarily used by the priests as an offering .
In general , all vows can apparently be reduced to two classes .
We vow either the things the Lord orders or of our own free will certain things over and above those which the Lord orders .
Those , therefore , who vow what the Lord h as commanded act pre sumptuously , for they pretend that they will do more zealously what the Lord orders if they add their own vow or oath than if they listen to the command alone of the Lord .
And what else is this but extreme folly and weakness of faith ?
The faithful man ought to be eager to do the will of God for the reason that his God h as ordered this or that , not because he h as taken upon himself to do this or that .
For , those who are eager to do the commands of God for the reason that they have taken a vow make themselves of more account than God . The man is insubordinate who does n ot obey the orders of the commander unless he h as first promised that he will do so.
Everyone ought to do without any vow what is ordered by the law and the government .
Moreover, if we vow certain other things than those contained in the law of God , it is in vain ; for " says Christ in Matt . teaching doctrines and commandments of men "in vain do they worship me , "
; and, in the same chapter, "Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up " [M t . 1 5 :
And what ismore fool ish than to promise some new things to the Lord, as if we had fulfilled all that had hitherto been commanded and were gen erously adding on also something extra of our own ?
Who h as ever ful filled even this one commandment, "Love thy neigh bor as thyself " ? [M t .
It becomes plain , therefore,
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that when we make such vows we , fall into what Paul calls wexoapng xeza [will -worship] , Col .
For this is nothing else than a worship g ot up of our own will , and that is nothing but hypocrisy and contempt of the di vine law .
No on e thus far h as fulfilled what the Lord h as commanded .
Why, then , do we wh o have n ot attained to the divine commands make up new ones ?
I will say openly what is true : These vows of chas tity, poverty, and obedience are an avoidance and evasion of the di vine law, as will be evident presently when I have spoken of poverty and obedi ence .
What is the use of vowing poverty ?
The Christian heart is n ot Christian unles s it is poor ; for " [M t . 5 :
According to the law, therefore, we ought all to be poor ; and those who are n ot
"Blessed are the poor in spirit fail to obey the law .
Why, then , do they make a v ow of the law itself, as if they coul d keep it better having vowed than by obeyi ng the commandment of God ?
But if they vow poverty and want of material things , again they act foolishly .
For why do you vow what is not in your power ?
First, if you
are rich , it is not necessary for you to vow poverty, but, accord ing to the words of Christ, to sell all you possess and give to the poor [M t .
This the Lord enjoins .
Why do you vow what the Lord enjoins ?
If, on the other hand , you are poor, why do you vow poverty, which you have to bear whether you will or not ? Suppose you vowed that you would be deformed , when you were so before vowing !
Next, if God wishes you to be very rich , a king , for instance, or a prince, but to the end that you faithful ly dispense what h as been entrusted to you, will you vow poverty ?
Again , when the Lord has refused you riches , but given you a patient heart, so that you can endure cheerfully, and you then vow poverty, are you n ot more likely to ascribe your heari ng a very hard situation with equanimity to your vow than to the grace of God ?
For if you credited all things to the grace of God, you never would make the vow, but would constantly accommodate yourself to His will .
"if anyone shall com pel thee to g o on e mile, g o with him two, Now, obedience we all owe to all , for " Matt . and , Love seeketh n ot her own , " I Cor . but is eager to help others ; and,
"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you , do ye also the same to them ,
" Matt . 7: 1 2 .
The
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of monks secretly devise from uncontrollable passi on , so that it i s quite plain that their hearts , and sometimes their bodies also, are defil ed with foul er lusts than those living in wedlock ; nay, are so vile that they cannot even be compared with respect able marriages .
But, however filthy and foul they are , they fail to obey the l aw of God on account of their vow .
Their poverty is such a no-poverty that nowhere can you find greater riches along with greater peace and quiet than in the monasteries .
If you live in the world, even though you are very rich , you have to attend to many things , to run about from place to place , to fear rain , hail , and other in cl em en ci es of weather .
These friends of ours neither fear nor trouble themselves about any of these things , but without sweat and blood all things come to them ; they toil n ot, neither cleave the soil with the ploughshare, yet when no market h as any pheasants or pigeons, hares or goats , there is nothing in the way of stockfish , sole , mul let and eels that is not brought to them .
Trul y it is a great achievement to bear their want !
Wh y shoul d I speak of raiment ?
In wi nter they keep them selves so warm with ski ns and wool and fir es that they some times have to sweat in spite of themselves ; i n summer their robes are so open to the breeze , they lay aside so completely all
heavy clothing, that you might thi nk they could live on air .
Further, their obedience i s such that if a parent is i n want they are n ot allowed to help her, even if she h as spent all her substance i n getting this cuckoo* into that nest .
If she i s ill , they are not allowed , in consequence of this obedience, to g o out and to nurse, to relieve, and to help , in this illness .
( I say nothing of the rest of the poor .) When the government demands contributions , they are exempt ; when it assigns posts of duty, they object that, bound by their allegiance to God , they cannot fil l these .
Why continue ?
They have nothing i n common with their toiling neighbors and fellow-countrymen .
If war breaks out, they sleep n ot under the sky, but snoring peace fully i n the pleasantest habitations, so that Solomon in all his glory [M t . could not have enjoyed the delights of this world in such peace and quiet .
They owe nothing to anyone but themselves , they look out for no one but themselves . And "Her own son .
The cuckoo is proverbial for ing ratitude.