Statues and Images
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3 : 3 .
Their own impudence makes me want to mention cer tain of them by name, wh o, simply to carry the point that infants should n ot be baptized , have dragged into the fiercest di scussions whole cities that were beginning to have real knowl
edge Of Christ .
What, good God, is insanity, what is madness , what is dementia , if it is not this , namely, thinki ng that this is your spirit which by its very fruits shows that it cannot be Of any one but man 's enemy, the Devil ?
This is the way Satan tempts us : when he sees that he h as not succeed ed by means Of persecution , he tempts us wi th contentiousness , so that perse cuti on is almost to be chosen in preference to contentiousness ; for the on e i s a peril to the body only, the other to the soul .
Some* are like this : When they see that images have been removed at Zurich , both in the city and in the country districts , without the least disturbance wherever they were worshipped, they likewise bend all their efforts to having them removed in their own jurisdictions also , so that they shall not be behind others , though their brethren are still tender and strongly opposed to the change .
Let them first teach their hearers to be upright in the things that pertain to God, and they will imme di ately see all these objectionable things fall away .
For where there is trust in God, there we behold "Satan falling as light ning from heaven , " Luke Let us , therefore, implant blamelessness , peace , and cheerfulness of soul in the Holy Spiri t, and we shall drag Satan from heaven , and in all things duly take offence into account ; for God ai deth His own work .
STATUES AND IM AGES
I had determined to say nothing here about statues and images , because I had decided to write a Special booki about them in German at the earliest Opportunity ; but when I was already beginning to shorten sail , some of the brethren would n ot allow me to make for port until I had explored this bay also .
I will , therefore , set down very briefly the essential things in this matter .
For wh o could ever satisfy the contentious spirits ?
NO one is so stupid as to think that we ought to do away
"The Anabapti sts .
TEi ne An twor t Va lentin Compa r g eg eben, dated April 27, 1525 .
O n Tru e and Fal s e R elig i on with statues , images , and other representations , where no wor
Ship is Offered them ; for who is affected by the flying cherubim on the mercy seat or embroidered on th e curtains , whether for their mystic meaning or for decoration , or by the palms , lions , oxen , pomegranates , and such like ornaments cunningly wrought in Solomon 's temple [cf. I Kings 6 : 1
Again , when they are worshipped , who is so senseless, not to say faith less, as to think they ought to be tolerated ? Of course , Offence is to be taken into account .
But if it had n owhere in the Scriptures been commanded that statues and images if wor shipped shoul d be destroyed , love would be enough , which cer tai nly admonishes every faithful heart to convert to the use of the needy that which is spent on the worship of images .
For "Thou shalt set up this statue in honor Of God or Of some Saint, as soon as human reason says , " faith certainly contradicts , declaring that all the moneys you expend for the honor of the Lord ought to be converted to the us e of the poor .
For when Christ in reply to the insulting words Of Judas said to all the disciples [Jn . 1 2 :
"The poor ye have with you always ; but me ye have not always, and ye can do good to them ,
" He turned aside all material service from Himself to the poor .
Let us , then , not weary God with any of these marks of honor which He transferred to the poor, but bestow them where He directed .
For when He rose from the dead He would not suffer the same Magdalene who had bathed his feet with her tears [Jn . 1 2 : 3] to touch Him [Jn . for He was on the eve Of His ascent to heaven ( though He had not yet begun His depart ure, though everything necessary to it was prepared) where there would be no need Of the ministrations which she was preparing to offer .
And when some people say that man is taught by the images , and influenced to piety, this is an idea
Of their own .
For Christ nowhere taught this method of teach ing, and He certainly woul d not have omitted it if He had foreseen that it woul d be profitable .
On the contrary, knowing all things that were to come, He saw that it frequently hap pens that we turn to the thi ngs that are evident to sense , and He did n ot wish images to be made more impressive to us by the influence of teaching .
For we do seem to owe something to those who teach us .
We ought to be taught by the word of
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God externally, and by the Spirit internally, those things that have to do with piety, and not by sculpture wrought by the artist 's hand .
But I return to the worship .
Who has not seen statues publicly worshipped ?
Has their worship brought to ecclesiastics the smallest part Of their wealth ?
What monks have ever feigned such lowly poverty that they have not begged a donation for the worship of images ?
Why should I tell of the gold, silver, gems , and pearls of which solid images are made , just as among the heathen , or with which their vest ments are so stiff that , if you would command it, they would stand alone ?
Have we not all thought it a sacred thing to touch these images ?
Why have we imprinted kisses upon them , why have we bowed the knee , why have we paid a high price merely for a view of them ?
Such images, I say, the Lord orders removed .
But contentiousness again Objects that not the images are worshipped, but those whose images they are .
I answer that neither were any of the heathen ever so stupid as to worship their images of stone , bronze , and wood for what they were in themselves ; they reverenced in these their Joves and Apollos .
Hence, although the Holy Scriptures frequently mock at the worship of images, as if the worshippers wor shipped wood and stone , yet everybody knew that they did not in the least worship these things, but in them those rather whom they regarded as gods .
But since those gods were noth ing, unless perhaps evil spirits making sport of poor mortals, it was said in contempt of these who were no gods that they were nothing but stones or wood, gold, bronze , Silver, so that wor shippers might feel greater abhorrence for them .
When , therefore , it is said that we do n ot worship images (which is not true, for we do worship them more reverently than any heathen ever worshipped idols ; but let us grant this) , for all that the conclusion does n ot follow :
It is, then , permissible to have images ; for two reasons :
First, because we have the worship of idols so expressly forbidden in both the New Testament and the Old .
For this is the distinction between the worshippers of the one true God and idolaters , that we worship a God wh o is invisible and wh o forbids us to make any visible representation of Him , while they clothe their gods with any shape they please . There
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I have made these brief controversial remarks only in order to afford a foretaste of the booklet hereafter to be pub lish ed, that meanwhile those who defend statues and other rep resentati on s may see that, if the matter is to be settled by rea soning, it will be more evident that no images at all can be kept, than that they are (15 ,6,m [a matter of indifference] where they cannot fail to have the appearance of evil .
Not that my feeling is different from what I said in the beginning, namely, that they ought to be done away wi th when they are wor shipped .
Why, then , i n this matter, which i s set forth with such distinct and clear ordinances all through the Scriptures , do we Split hairs, especially as nobody attacks any images but those that are worshipped, and as n o image , if set up in the place where we put the things we worship , can fail to be ren dered more impressive and august ?
But the greater and more precious it is in our sight the less is our trust in God .
Since there are so many important passages in Scripture on the sub ject, it is better for me to note them by book and chapter than to give them here in full .
Read , therefore , Exodus 20, in which chapter you will find mention of gold and silver statues ; Exod .
34 :
1 7, Exod .
1 9 :
1 , Lev .
26 :
1 , Deut .
4 :
1 5 -1 9 , Deut .
5 : 8, I Sam . 7:
3 , Num .
25 :
4-5 , Deut . 7:
5 , Dent . 1 1 : 28, Deut . 1 3 : 6 -9 , Deut . 27: 1 5 , Josh . 24 : 23 , Judg .
1 0: 1 3, Ps . 96 : 5 , Ps . 1 1 5 : 4, Isa . 42 : 8, Isa . 44 : 9 , Jer . 1 0:
8, Jer . 1 3 :
27, Ezek .
1 4 : 7, Ezek . 6 : 6 , Mic . 1 : 7, Hab . 2
1 8f. , and II Kings 1 8 : 4 , II Kings 1 0: 27, II Kings 23 : 4-1 5 , II Chron .
I Cor .
Acts I Cor .
Acts I Cor . 8 : 1 -8, I Cor .
I Cor .
Gal .
I Thess . 1 : 9 , I Pet . 4 : 3 , I John There are also many besides these , but let him who is not content with these leaf through the whole Bible .
Now, when you examine these indi vidual passages , kind reader , you will find in some places strange gods forbidden , in others images , and in others both strange gods and images together .
This you are not to under stand i n the sense that— as the contentious say, but without the authority of the word—s trange gods only are prohibited , or that images are considered as gods , or put in their place , although sometimes the passages cited seem verbally to imply this .
If God had wished to forbid strange Gods only, it would
O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i o n be of no use for Him to speak of images ; for if, as our friends say , it was permissible to have images , why does He forbid it ?
Again , if the images and the strange gods are the same thing , images ought certainly as little to be worshipped as strange gods .
But if strange gods are forbidden by themselves and images by themselves , why do we not see that there is no further room for argument ?
NO one denies that strange gods ought not to be worshipped , for the reason that they are forbidden by the mouth Of the Lord .
When , therefore , we admit that images are just as much forbidden as the gods whose images they are , why do we n ot in the same way admit that we cannot have images at all , any more than strange gods ?
The reason is that we still have many, or strange , gods .
I am sorry to have to say this, for it is a secret disease and those who suffer from it do n ot acknowledge it .
Every man makes a g od of that which he hopes can help him when occasion demands .
Now let us see whether all the statues and most Of the images have not been placed in the churches to remind us of those helpers to whom we are to run in various ills .
We set up a wooden Magdalene to remind us Of her to whom many Sins were forgiven ; not because we wi sh to imitate her by sitting at the feet of. the Lord and listening to and following His word, but because we have the hope that this saint , as sh e once , over come by the weakness of the flesh , yielded overmuch to her natural desires, so today also will plead before God for those guilty of fornication , nay, will pardon fornication itself .
For there have been those who ascribed to the saints what belongs to God alone .
We have made this saint a goddess , and no on e can truly deny it ; and we have worshipped her image for its own sake , as doing a thing acceptable to this goddess of ours .
And do we still urge that these images be kept ?
Do we not all see that men run for help to the places in which images have been placed ?
TO a certain Anna— whether the mother Of the Virgin Mother of God was called by that name is n ot sure from the Holy Scriptures , but let us grant that this was her name to Saint Anna , I say , prayer has here and there been made , but at the same time statues were everywhere set up , and as soon as they were set up the people prostrated themselves before them , thinking they would be blessed if they were allowed to
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kiss or touch the wood .
See h ow august an object in our eyes the image has become which the artist, or rather our own madness , has exalted into a g od .
Since, therefore , the images in the churches are n ot free from this danger, how comes it that we deem worthy of any advocacy these things that so greatly draw us away from God ? It i s impossible that those whose only hope i s the Lord should n ot pursue with hatred everything that is even only a reminder Of that which draws away from God .
Remove this image of Anna, and no on e will run to the place where it had stood before .
This view is confirmed by the Christian steadfastness of the people of Stammheim , who, seeing the statues of Anna worshipped in their sanctuary in a quite unchristian manner, in conformity with the decree of the Council of Zurich cast them out and burned them , being unwilling to endure longer this abominable worship before the eyes of their Creator and Of pious men .
After that n o one looked there for what certain men falsely declared they had found before .
Thus does the evil spirit mock us .
This is the View which everyone sees we ought to take of all images in general .
And if we did not set great hopes upon those whose images we worship in the churches, we should n ot take their removal so hard ; nay, the greater and more sincere our faith in God was, the greater would be our zeal also to remove from sight everything that calls us away 'from God .
When , there fore, they say, "
"Images can be kept for teaching purposes , they have already been given a suffi cient answer as to the source from which we ought to derive our teachings .
But I add this also, that since sure danger of a decrease of faith threatens wherever images stand in the churches, and imminent risk of their adoration and worship , they ought to be abolished in the churches and wherever risk of their worship threatens .
SO also only those images ought to be abolished which offend piety or diminish faith in God , such as are all those in human shape which are set up before altars or churches, even though they were n ot at first set up to saints .
Length of time makes an image venerable, so that we sometimes see a very bad tyrant and impious man worshipped as a saint for no other reason than that a statue was once set up to him in a church ; for, as everything in a church has a certain august character, the
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to befoul it with his own interpretation ; and when he has pol luted everything he proceeds to misuse everything in the inter est Of lust .
Hence it h as come to pass that we have purchased salvation from the Roman Pontiff as from a peddler, and have g ot the idea that Christianity is an article of merchandi se rather than holiness Of life .
There is no difference between the life Of man and that of beasts if you take away the knowledge of God .
For what has man that beasts have n ot also ?
Men defend themselves and their children , satisfy their desires , flee from want ; so do the beasts .
Man founds laws and states . The 'i a , i . e. , gregarious animals , as cranes, thrushes , starlings , tunnies , deer, cattle , bees , swine , do the same , being governed by fixed laws, dividing the mass now into wedges and n ow into dyeh a single lines , n ow dwelling in on e place , now migrating to another, and generally keeping faith better than is done among men .
God , therefore , was unwi lling to leave man without the knowledge Of Himself, and has always taught him in such a way as immediately to call him back when he seemed to have fallen into forgetfulness Of God, that he might not in his degeneracy prefer to perish with the beasts rather than to live forever with Him .
Hence the anxious inquiry, addressed to fallen man :
" [Gen .
Hence the fire and the flood , in order to keep man to his duty by fear also .
Again , the splendid promises and benefits .
He prom ised Abraham Offspring that should save the world [cf. Gen .
"Adam , where art thou ?
1 5 : 6 -21 , 1 7: 4-9 , so to Isaac [Gen . 26 : 4
Israel [Gen . 28 : 1 3 and —Jesse 's son David .
Unwilling to endure longer the affli ction of His people , He brought the whole nation under Moses out Of the savage tyranny Of Pharaoh , and , after punishi ng the enemy , supported them in the desert , n ow wi th bread from heaven , now with the flesh of quail ; and where water was wanting He brought it forth abundantly from the hardest rock , or where it was not good sweetened it so that they could enjoy it in ample measure .
He hedged them about with laws as with a guard rail, and thus separated them from the rest of the nations, that they might see that they were the peculiar people of God .
In this manner He Showed Himself a most loving Father to on e race ; yet He was nowhere lacking to others, that the whole world might recognize that He is the
O n T ru e a nd Fals e R elig i on one and the only on e who can do all things , by whom all things exist , by whom all things are governed , that miserable man may not go over to the beasts ; for He marked them off from the beasts by bringing their passions into line through laws .
Yet who would ever have accepted His laws that had not first dedicated his heart to Him , that had not above all the belief that He was the true and only God ?
Therefore , it i s evident that, whenever God manifested Himself to the world , He also
SO entered the heart that what was heard or seen was recog ni z ed as being divine .
For the flesh receiveth not what is Opposed to it ; and whatever the heavenly Spirit does is opposed to the flesh .
Therefore man cannot receive God , cannot listen to the law , unless God Himself draw the heart to Himself [ cf.
Jn . 6 : so that it shall recognize that He is its God , and shall receive the law as good .
Thus , then , from the founda tion Of the world God has manifested Himself in various ways to the human race , that we might recognize Him as Father and Dispenser Of all things . The first thing , therefore , in piety is that we should firmly believe that He whom we confess as our God is God , the Source and Father of all things ; for unless we do so , we shall never obey His laws .
The next thing is that we should know ourselves ; for when we have not knowl edge Of ourselves also , we accept no law .
For how should one accept a law who thinks nothing lacking to himself ?
There fore this Heavenly Householder rises betimes , aye in the night, as the prophet says [ cf . P s . to arrange and prescribe everything early , that we may not begin to labor before the allotted task has been assigned .
He hedges the human race about with laws, therefore, that it may begin nothing without regard to law ; for He not only compassed the pe0p1e of Israel about with laws , but also inscribed upon the hearts of the Gen tiles the so -called laws of nature ; for one of their prophets says :
"W 530 , o ' ea v-réy [know thyself] came down from But on kn owledge of self rests the law, What you wish done to yourself, do to another [ cf. Mt . and its counterpart, What you do not wish done to yourself, do not to another [Tobit For our own good , therefore, God manifests Himself to us , for whether He enters into our hearts
"Juven al S a t . xi . 2 7 .
The Works of Huldreich Zwing li —which i s the greatest miracle— so that we recognize that He i s our God and Father, or whether He accomplishes the same thing by m 1 raculous works, He does it solely with a view to benefiting us .
And what i s this benefit that He provides with such care for us ?
It is twofold , verily : namely, to live here blamelessly ; and , whenthe course Of this life has been finished , to enjoy eternal bliss with Him .
For what need would there have been of knowledge of God , and of laws , if the end of the soul were the same as of the body ? Would it not have been better to let man remain a brute , if he had been a brute after this fashion , than to raise him to false hope ?
God willed , there fore, that amid the numerous and varied progeny Of created things the human race Should SO dwell upon earth as to strive towards the inheritance set for it in heaven .
SO it pleased the Most High .
For what other reason should He manifest Him self to man , and kindle him to love of Him ?
And knowing that man woul d wonder exceedingly what sort of an inheritance it was that he should hope for in heaven , He gave him a taste,
as it were, of that happiness, but through a mist and a lattice , as the saying is . Man sees all things done with reckless greed and turmoil , but when he hears God say,
"Thou shalt not covet " [Exod .
20: 1 7 cf .
Rom .
7: he infers truly that noxious covetousness must be very far from the place where true happiness dwells, and that the author of such happiness must be still farther removed from all greed .
He doubts not, therefore , that it would be a very beautiful thing if, also while we are here , we were far removed from all covetousness . Hence the constant struggle and contest .
The soul strives to fashion itself upon the pattern of Him towards whom it i s hastening , whose face it desires to see, the face , namely , Of its righteous and holy Father, aye , of Him who is righteousness itself, holi ness, purity, light, rest, refreshment, joy, and all blessedness together .
The body resists , because by its nature it scorns whatever the soul greatly values ; it yearns for the things of earth and lets those of heaven go , has no hope at all of seeing God any more than the very earth has from which it sprang .
Accordingly , it follows its desires, and if it is ever kept by the power Of the soul from attaining them , it proceeds to plot and rage against it .
Hence that constant battle between the flesh
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creatures , dwelling sometimes on earth , sometimes in the heavens ; and, again , while on the earth sometimes conquering, sometimes yi elding ; but we are by no means to ask the reasons for His acts .
Since , then , God asks of us these things only, faith and blamelessness, no more baneful plague can be imag i n ed than a varied worship Of God , the invention of our own industry .
' This we (being given to magnifying everything of our own ) embrace, instead of that true worship of God which consists of faith and blamelessness ; and, according to the words
Of the prophet Jeremiah , 2 : 1 3 , "We have committed two evils ; we have forsaken God , the fountain of living waters , and hewed us out cisterns, broken cisterns , that can hold no water .
We have substituted a vicar for Christ, and in our folly have decreed that he is to be listened to in place of God .
When he saw that a way to our purses was Open to him through our consciences, what scheme did he n ot think up ?
What did he not dare ?
How many roads to heaven he Showed us , but none without a toll !
You confessed into the ear of the vicar of Christ ; heaven was promised if you counted out so and so much for masses and mumbling .
Y ou joined some order , to which the stupid crowd contributed much , and again you attained the heavens ; for the greater the accessions to them , the more pow erful became our vicar .
Run thus through everything that reckless greed has prescribed for us , and you will find that it h as removed true religion from men , that is , faith and blame lessness, by which singly and alone God is worshipped ; nor does He require any other worship Of us ; nay, He so scorns other inventions as to say that things which seem high to men are an abomination in His sight .
God ought to be worshipped with those things alone in which He delights .
For who among men is so crazy as to honor any on e with things that are of no avail ?
Worthless trifles, therefore, are all those things which in our ignorance or presumption we parade as the wor ship of God . But n ow why do we ever remain children , when we see that God takes delight in other things than those with which we have hitherto wearied Him ?
Why do we find it SO hard to change from useless trifles to those true and solid things , righteousness , faith , mercy, in which Christ compre hended all religion ?
We owe faith to Him , righteousness and
O n Tru e and Fals e R elig i on guilelessness to ourselves and others , mercy to all in need .
SO, then , good reader, receive this Commentary , so hur ri edly written and printed in three months and a half that, as you see , it stands clumsy indeed , but zealous for the truth and holiness ; consider it calmly , and take it in good part .
I doubt not that there are in it many things that will greatly offend certain weaklings, but let these reflect that Paul sometimes spoke as a child [cf. I Cor . and let them con sider whether they may not themselves still be perhaps over weak .
All that I have said , I have said to the glory of God , and for the benefit of the commonwealth Of Christ and the good
Of the conscience .
Thanks be to God i