The Word Religion

Th e Wo rks of H uldreich Zwi ng li

been religious in different ways ?

Certainly there have been those who thought it not worth while to have God in their kn owledge , Rom . 1 : and , on the contrary, those wh o did think it worthwhile . Hence disagreement in regard to religion .

For into those wh o counted nothing Of greater value than , according to the word Of the prophet, Jer .

9 : 24, to under stand and know God , the heavenly Spirit entered with such ample inspiration that they recognized only "the Lord who exerciseth loving "

But they that, on the other hand, were wise in their own conceit, or mighty, or rich , determined about God as seemed good to themselves ; yet, in order not to be esteemed impious , served

-kindness, justice, and righteousness .

Him with such worship as pleased themselves , not with that in which He delights . Thus it has gradually come about that many Of us have embraced only such a religion as the deceit fulness Of human wisdom h as ventured to invent and Spread abroad ; and this is so far from deserving to be called "religion that it ought more properly to be dubbed

"hypocrisy , impiety , and superstition .

It is, therefore , perfectly easy for me to write on true and false religion as displayed by Christians , and to render an account , as it were , Of my faith , since I have drunk it in not from the stagnant pools Of human wisdom , but from the living water Of the divine Spirit , which is the word Of God . Accordingly I care nothing for these critics , for it is n ot wares Of my own that I am displaying , but the goods

Of the Lord that I Offer, which , according to the word Of the prophet [Isa on e may dispense without money and without price .

If any man scorn them , let him scorn ; if h e make onslaught upon them , he will accomplish no more than the giants Of story .

THE WORD RELIGION

Cicero , in the second book Of his De Natura Deorum , 'f "When Zwingl i wrote. th e text of the Bible had not yet been divided i nto ver s es .

In thi s transl ati on th e verse numbers have been added .

TCi cerO De na twra deor um, II , 72 .

! ui omn i a , quae ad cultum deorum perti nerent , dilig enter retra cta rent et tamqu am rel eg erent, relig iosi di cti sunt ex releg endo , ut elega ntes ex el ig endo, i temque ex dilig endo dili g entes , etc.

Th e Wo rks Of H uldreich Zwi ng li wards . Hence it happens that many hear the word of faith , but are nothing but bundles of superstition . What else is such a proceeding than setting uncracked nuts before little children ?

Being unable to reach the meat, they lick the Shell , till ﬁnally in disgust they throw away shell and meat and all .

This then shall be the order Of procedure in this work I shall speak ﬁrst Of "true religion , " then Of " not in separate and distinct books, but in distinct sections .

"false,

BETWE EN WH OM

RELIGION SUB SISTS

Now, since religion involves two factors , on e that towards which religion reaches out, and on e that which by means of religion reaches out towards the other , our next task must be to speak Of each Of these . That is, since it is God towards whom religion reaches out and man wh o by means Of religion reaches out toward Him , religion cannot be duly treated Of without ﬁrst Of all discerning God and knowing man .

[3] GOD * What God is is perhaps above human understanding, but n ot that God is .

For many of the wise have got so far as to have no doubt Of the existence Of God, though there have been some who attributed divinity to many beings— through their

limited understanding, no doubt, which did n ot venture to attribute to one and only on e being the great power and majesty that they saw must b elong to divinity .

There were , however, men wh o perceived the it ucpoho "mean concep tion 'yfa [ "] these philosophers had of God, and saw that the exist ence Of God was less certain if divinity were attributed to many than if to one only .

Therefore (whether through divine or human agency I will not now consider , as I will discuss that point presently) , they arrived at the opinion that there is one and only one God, though such is the sluggishness and careless ness Of the human intellect that they did not think it

Of any great importance to hold fast to this recognition Of God , but, content to have recognized the fact and satisﬁed with them

s On the pr ovidence of God, i n vol .

Of thi s s eries, pp . 128-2 34 .

"Cf. Zwi ngli '

O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i o n selves for this , they scorned to live according to His will . And this we see the general body Of Christian scholars doing even now , zealously disputing about the word and the true worship

Of God , but in fact not becoming one whit better men .

The foundation on which they all build is what Paul wrote in Rom . 1 , 1 9 :

"That which is known Of God is manifest in them ; for God manifested it unto them .

" Here I will treat in pass ing what I held back above .

We here see plainly that that knowledge Of God which we credit to some natural agency is

" Paul says , "

"manifested it .

"For God , really from God .

And what else is natural agency than the constant and unin terrupted Operation Of God , His disposition Of all things ?

And whence , pray , comes our intellect but from Him , who "work eth all things In all " [I Cor .

Now Paul In this passage \ conformed somewhat to the usage of the Gentiles in speaking Of God, not because he holds the view that our knowledge

Of God proceeds from human reason , but because this was the view Of the Gentiles , between whom and the Jews he is here acting as mediator . Hence he carefully adds ,

"God manifested it unto them .

" Following his example , I have begun with the questions of God 's existence and nature , in order that I may be more easily understood by those who have derived their knowledge Of God from man rather than from God .

NowI come back to Paul "the 'knowledge of God was manifest even in the Gentiles , for God manifested it unto them .

For the invisible things of him , 's words , that " he says , "are clearly seen , being understood by the things that were made from the foundation Of the world, even his power and Godhead ; so that they are without excuse , because they indeed knew God, but glori ﬁed him not as God , neither were thankful ; nay rather became vain in their reasonings , and their foolish heart was darkened . And though in their own judgment they were wise , they became fools , and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God for the likeness of an image not merely Of mortal man , but even Of birds and four -footed beasts , and creeping things , etc .

Therefore , that God exists was generally acknowledged among all the heathen , but in widely different ways .

Some came to the recognition Of on e God but did not worship Him as they ought ; though Of these there were very few . Others , see

Th e Wo rks of Huld reich Zwi ng li

ing clearly a might and power grander than that Of man , recognized that this was God . They did not, however , regard it as the on e Only Power, but turned to themselves for a con cep tion Of what kind Of being God was .

SO they, ﬁrst Of all , divided Him into many , because they were incapable Of comprehending

His inﬁnite power ; and presently they clothed these many with different forms according to their own imaginations .

Hence the worship of idols and Spirits , who cunningly made them selves such as poor mortals i n their poor wisdom had installed as gods and distinguished with vari ous forms . Thus I think it is clearly apparent that nearly all the heathen have agreed in acknowledging that God exists, though some have made Him many, others have made Him fewer , and a very few have made Him on e. Yet from slowness Of mind and conﬁdence in their own wisdom they have disregarded Him , have held such views Of Him as pleased them , and likewise have worshipped

Him as they chose .

On this subject n ot only our people but also the philosophers* have written lengthy volumes .

Now the faithful ( for this is the generally accepted term for believers or pious persons , or worshippers Of the true God) are by virtue Of this on e thing faithful , because they believe in on e only true and omnipotent God and have faith in Him only .

Furthermore , h ow it comes about that the pious hold this view Of God, and do n ot, after the fashion Of the heathen , make just any unknown power God, is easy for a pious man to explain : It comes about through the power and grace Of Him in whom we believe ; for as far as the nature and endowment of man are concerned , there is no difference between the pious man and the impious .

Accordingly , in the realm Of error in regard to gods, anything that could happen to one man could happen

, to any other, unless there were some higher power to call and attach to itself the human heart, which has no natural aversion to those wh o are most completely in error . Here , then , the ﬁrst traces Of faith and piety disclose themselves .

It is not the fact, as most men have thought, that the faithful become faithful because they hear Moses say [Gen . 1 :

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth for those are numberless who hear this but do not believe the

"The heathen phi losophers .

O n T ru e a nd F als e R elig i o n world was made according to the Mosaic tradition .

SO also those who hear the Lord Himself speak , and see Him do mi r acles , are n ot all straightway pious ; for both in early times and in Christ 's time there were men who were so far from turning to God because they saw or heard , that none raged more vi o lently not only against the pious but against piety itself. Since ,

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth , therefore, it is clear that whoever upon hearing the words ,

" imme di ately believes that the world is the work Of God does not come to this through the power Of the words or Of our intellect

( for if the words could effect this , all woul d be made pious ; and if our intellect could , no one who heard would be impious) it is manifest that the faithful believe that God exists , and that the world is His work , etc . , just because they are taught this by God . It is Of God alone , therefore , that you believe that

God exists and that you have faith in Him .

Furthermore , what God is , we have just as little knowledge Of from ourselves as a beetle has Of what man is .

Nay, this inﬁnite and eternal divine is much farther separated from man than man i s from the beetle , because a comparison between any kinds Of created things can more properly be made than between any created thing and the Creator, and all perishable

things ar e nearer and more closely related to each other than to the eternal and unbounded di vine, however much you may ﬁnd in them a likeness and footprints , as they say , * Of that divine .

Since, then , we can in no way attain Of our own effort to a kn owledge Of what God is— for if, according to Solomon 's words , Eccles . 1 : 1 3-1 8, all things ( he is speaking

Of things under the sun ) are SO difﬁcult that man cann ot un fold th em , what presumption it would be to try to explain what God i s l— and since Isaiah , 45 : 1 5 , in solemn warning

" it must be admitted that only by God Himself can we be taught what He is .

For , accordi ng to the View Of Paul , I Cor . 2 : 1 1 , as n o one "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself , says, "knoweth the things Of a man , save the spirit Of the man , which is the man himself, even so all are ignorant Of the things of God save the Spirit Himself Of God .

" We may well call it the rash boldness Of a Lucifer or a Prometheus if any on e

. R om . 4 : 1 2 ; II Cor . 12 : 1 8 ; I P et .

'Cf

T h e Wo rks of H uldreich Zwi ng li presumes to know from any other source what God is than from the Spirit Himself Of God .

All, therefore, is sham and false reli gion that the theo -adduced from philosophy as to what God is .

If certain men have uttered certain truths on this subject, it h as been from the mouth Of God, who h as scattered even among the heathen some seeds Of the knowledge Of Himself, though sparingly and darkly ; otherwise they woul d not be true .

But we , to whom God Himself h as spoken through His Son and through the Holy Spirit, are to seek these things n ot fromthose logi ans have who were puffed up with human wisdom , and consequently corrupted what they received pure, but from the divi ne oracles .

For when men began to disregard thes e, they fell into all that is ﬂeshly, i . e. , into the inventions Of phi losophy, took to believing these, and, relying upon them , n ot only held such views as they liked about God, but forced others to hold the same .

And this, though none of them woul d have permitted any one to hold such view Of himself as that other, whoever he was, wished . Such is the arrogance Of the ﬂesh that gave its elf out as theology . We wish to learn out Of His own mouth what

God i s, lest we become corrupt and do abominable works .

Psalm 1 4 .

When Moses asked the Lord, Exod . 3 : 1 3 , to declare His name unto him , in order that he might be in a better position to deal with the Children Of Israel , the Lord said unto him ,

"I AM THAT I AM .

In these words God disclosed Hi mself wholly ; for it is just as if He had said ,

"I am he who am Of myself, wh o am by my own eﬂ

'ort, wh o am absolute being, wh o ' par excellence .

An d this meaning He immediately brings out by addi ng, 'am "This shalt thou say unto the children Of Israel , He that is hath sent me unto you .

" By these words He indicated that He alone is the being ( ease) of all things ; for unless you take it in this way, that " is, and alone is, the being Of all things , the Lord would not have distinguished Himself from other things that have being, which , though they have being from Him and through Him ,

"He that is yet still have being ; and consequently God would be regarded as having evaded the question Of Moses , rather than as having answered it .

For suppose that neither Moses nor the Children

O n T ru e a nd Fal s e R elig i o n

Of Israel understood the words He that is to mean anything different from what we mean when we say Of anything that it is , what else do you suppose could have been understood both

"Some one hath sent me unto you by Moses and by the Children Of Israel than , " ?

And what would there have been great or remarkable or worthy Of faith in that ? It is plain , therefore , that by the words , I AM THAT I AM , and "He that is hath sent me unto you , " Moses understood Him who is Of His own nature , and who SO is as to be the being Of all things ; and that the Children Of Israel un derstood the same words in the same sense . For they never coul d have been persuaded by somebody thus casually announced to g O away , leaving Egypt behind them , and to follow one whom they knew not . The same thing becomes still plainer when we examine the etymon Of the "

"Adonai , supreme name Of God , which the Jews pronounce as to be sure, in reading , in spite Of the fact that the signs , i . e. , the letters , by no means form that word .

Not that the Hebrews cannot read it according to the value Of the letters, but because they think the name ineffable on account

Of its sanctity .

For this name is derived from the word for being ; or per haps the word which to them signiﬁes being is derived from this name .

For Hih

" [ nan] signiﬁes " to them , and Ihuh "was

" [ mm] is the four -lettered supreme name Of God, which still remains ineffable among the Jews . * When , therefore ,

Moses heard the aforesaid words Of God , he straightway under stood that He that is , and from whom all things are , was speaking to him .

And this the Lord manifested to him still more clearly, when further He bade him begin before the elders

Of Israel thus [Exod .

"The Lord God Of your fathers appeared unto me, etc . , now plainly calling Himself "

"Lord

from Hi s power and majesty , as He had just before from His being called Himself " and " By all this I wish to make this point only, that the ﬁrst thing in acqui ring knowledge Of God is to kn ow that He is he who is by nature , wh o Himself is, and who receives being from none other .

From this we afterwards are easily brought to see clearly that "He that is .

"I AM ,

"In th e ﬁr st sermon which Zwi ngli p reached at Berne, there i s a very simi l a r tr eatment of th e word [mm] .

S ee th e Egl i -Fi nsl er -Kiihler s Works , v ol . VI , NO . 1 1 6 . edi ti on of Zwi ngl i '

Th e Works Of Huldreich Zwing li

all things are from God, and that nothing we can see can have being from itself, but must have its being and existence from another, from this source and fountain Of being, namely , God .

He shall be, then , the only God wh o h as His being from Him self, and wh o bestows being upon all , and so bestows it that they could not possibly exist a moment unless God existed, who is being and life unto all , sustains all things , governs all things . This Isaiah, 40: 1 2 , h as beautifully indicated , sayi ng :

"Wh o hath measured the waters in the hollow Of his hand , and weighed heaven with his palm ? Who hath poised with three ﬁngers the bulk Of the earth , and weighed the mountains in scales , and the hills in a balance , " i s as really good as it is being .

For as it exists alone and Of itself, so it is alone good, true , right, just, holy ; for it is Of itself good, true , right, etc .

This is again clear from His own words, Gen . 1 : 31 , "Being This "And God saw every thing that he had made , and, behold, it was very good .

If, therefore, such a countless brood Of created things was very good, in the sense that singly and collectively they were good, it i s clear that their author must be good, and in such a way good as to have his goodness from no other but his own self, and to be n ot only the force and essence Of all things that are , but the source and fountain of all good .

And this Christ expresses a . little more plainly, Luke 1 8 : 1 9 , saying :

"None is good, save one, that is , God .

" If, n ow, all the things which He h as made are exceeding good even in His own judgment, and nevertheless none is good save God alone , it follows that all the things which are are in Him and through Him . For since all the things which are are good, and yet God alone is good, all the things which are are God ; i . e. , the reason they exist is because God exists and is their essence .

This Paul expressed thus, Rom .

"For Of him , and through him , and in him , * are all things .

This good , therefore, is not a thing idle or inert, so as to lie torpid and motionless , moving neither itself nor other things ; for we saw above that it is the essence and constitution

Of all things .

What does this mean but that through it and in

"In ip so : the readi ng Of the Lati n Vulg ate.

Engl i sh version s follow s comment , a n te, v ol . 2 , p .

148.

S ee Zwi ngli th e Greek orig i nal , "g a brap '

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Lk . 1 2 :

Since , therefore , all that moves or lives lives and moves because it has being ( for unless it had being it could not move or live, and in that it has being has it in God a nd through God) , it may be most clearly inferred that, as God is being and existence to all things, SO He is the life and motion of all things that live and move . And this is beautifully shown by Paul, Acts 1 7: 28, when after a somewhat extended dis course he sums up by saying :

"For in him we live , and move , and have our being ; as certain even Of your own poets * have said , For we are also his Offspring .

We see here in passing how the Apostle quotes from profane writers , n ot by any means using them as authorities , but, when the heavenly Spirit h as willed to say anything through their mouths, showing where we may ﬁnd this , SO that we may n ot have to dig over all their ﬁlth in the search for on e or two pearls .

I come back to the subject .

It is clear from this, therefore , that just as all things have being and existence in God and through God ,

SO all things live and move in Him and through Him . This He Himself shows also by the mouth Of Hi s servant Moses , saying

Deut . 30: 20,

"For he i s thy life , and the length Of thy days .

Again , He i s not the life and motion Of all things in such a way that either He Himself blindly puts breath or motion into them , or they which breathe and move ask blindly Of Him life or motion .

How coul d things that could not even exist unless they existed from Him ask Of Him , or how ask before they existed ? It is evident, therefore , that God not only is a sort Of stuff, as it were , from which all things have being and motion and life , but is at the same time such wi sdom , knowledge, and foresight that nothing is hidden from Him , nothing unknown to Him , nothing beyond His reach , nothing

disobedient to Him .

Hence n ot even the mosquito has its sharp sting and musical hum without God 's wisdom , knowl edge, and foresight . His wisdom , then , knows all things even before they exist, His knowledge comprehends all things , His foresight regul ates all things .

For that thing which is God would n ot be the supreme good unless it were at the same time supreme wisdom and foresight .

For if there were anything which coul d be hidden from God, His wisdom and knowledge

"Aratus Phaenomena 5 , and Cleanthes Hymn to Z eu s 5 .

On T ru e and Fals e Relig i o n would be ineffectual to that extent, and if any thing were regulated by other providence than His , then divine providence would be inert and defective in this particular , and accord i ngly woul d not be supreme n or absolute ; for in as far as it failed to act it would be imperfect .

But this is so far from being true Of God that nothing is so at variance with His nature and character as imperfection .

For that which

i s imperfect is not God ; and , on the other hand , that alone is God which is perfect , i . e. , absolute, and which lacks nothing, but h as everything that beﬁts the supreme good .

I am not speaking here of perfection as the theologians usually speak .

Nothing, therefore , can es cape God , n othing defeat or alter His purpose and ordering ; and when we with more temerity than faith demand Of Him a reason for His acts or designs, asking why He made the ﬂea, the g adﬂy, the wasp , and the hornet , things that are a plague to man and beast, we simply display a vain and useless feminine curiosity . As if, indeed, the human mind could comprehend divine wisdom , and as if, when one or two things become known , many more would not emerge , insisting upon being

kn own just like the ﬁrst !

NO mind but the inﬁnite and immeasurable mind can hold the knowledge Of all these things , while on e as narrow as is the human mind simply makes vain labor for itself by such inqui sitiveness ; as Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes , Ch ap . 1

. In contemplating divine wisdom and providence p oor mortals wi ll , therefore , have to do as each does in his own sphere . Different persons have different utensils and implements adapted to their activities , and they desire the use Of some to be di sclosed to all , that Of others to remain unkn own to all , though not unknown to themselves ; for they know how and for what p urp ose they are going to use them at the proper time .

S O, let us contemplate with reverence what God has wished disclosed to us . But what He has hidden , let us n ot impudently desire to touch , lest it be taken indignantly away from us , and punishment be inﬂicted upon us for our rashness , as was done to Prometheus * Of story .

For the dwell i ng Of God is large , the heaven is His abode and the earth His "B ecaus e Prometh eus brought ﬁre fr om heaven to men he was chai ned to a rock and hi s liver torn by a n eag l e.

The Works of Huldreich Zwing li footstool [cf.

Isa .

66 : and the contents are so vast and various that on e who desires to know them all should rather be overwhelmed with despair than entertain the hope of com prehending them all . If you set yourself to examine one grape leaf closely and completely, you will fail . It h as a stem running through the middle to the apex, and from this aortas, or prin cipal veins , that branch out and extend to particul ar areas , and from these the so -called mesial or mesenteric veins , minute ducts that run out to every last particle of the blade, properly distributing the sap— just such complexity as you will ﬁnd when you consider man as a whole or the entire universe . Yet the workmanship in this little leaf will force you to give up before you have learned it all .

See how all human wisdom , in fact, seems to amount to nothing, and is forced to confes s its ignorance and lack of knowledge ; but neither ignorant nor lacking in knowledge is the divine wisdom and foresight, by which all things are rightly done and regul ated .

Now it is time to bring forward the wi tness of the word itself to everything that h as been said so far about the wisdom and providence of God .

Solomon , Prov . 8 : 22-36 , has a ﬁne description in praise of wisdom , commendi ng it ﬁrst for its antiquity, in that it was with th e Lord Himself before He began to create the universe ; and then because afterwards through it the poles of the world were hung in place, and all things put together . And Jeremiah ,

51 : 1 5 , says :

"He hath made the earth by his power, he hath prepared the world by his wisdom , and stretched out the '

" But none speaks more delight fully than David in Psalm 1 04 . He portrays both the wisdom and the providence of God so that you see God as Creator balancing the mountains in His mighty hand , putting each in its place, drawing out the valleys between and the cool streams heavens by his understanding . in the valleys , spreading out the ﬁelds, thrusting back the tur bulent sea into its own depths, that there may be no confusion from its unruliness , then assigning settlers to each region and adding provision abundantly .

Now I will hasten on to the witness of the New Testa ment, content with the more striking passages just cited , because the whole Scripture of the Old Testament views every

O n Tru e and Fals e R elig i o n thing as done by the providence of God .

Hence the frequent appearing of angels , the many utterances of God Himself, and in time of urgent necessity the miracles .

Hence the watchful care and guardianship of God over individual men dwelling among the wicked , such as Noah , Abraham , Lot, and others .

Hence the sending of prophets to give warning of what was to come, and the terrible ch asteni ng s sent upon those who did not heed their warnings , the frequent victories at the hands of the Lord , if they had been obedient, the frequent defeats and disasters if disobedient .

Christ warns us distinctly, Matt .

6 : 25

-34 , not to be troubled even about the things that pertain to the body , since we ca n be sure that in these matters God

's providence exercises care over us , from the fact that He provides so bountifully for the birds of the air , and clothes the lilies of the ﬁeld so sumptu ously that Solomon 's gorgeous robes of state and all his adorn ments are mean in comparison . How much more will He give all these things to us , who are of much more value in His sight !

Why, He says in Chapter that it is not in our power to make on e hair of our own heads white if it is black , or black if it is white .

And that even t h e hair of our heads , a thing

of so little account that it can be taken away without any loss , is His care, Luke also testiﬁes , "Even the very hairs

of your head are all numbered .

See how wide is the care of the heavenly providence, and how sure :

"are all numbered, "

He says . What will the advocates of free will say here ? Will they argue that there is a trope here ? But that is just what I maintain , that the words are used rpom xé s Must we, then , wait for them to expoun d the trope ?

Not in the least, for a child can explain the meaning of this trope : namely, that God exercises constant care over even those things that in our judgment seem hardly worthy of human care . Or is it a hyperbole ?

"When I feed the birds and clothe the ﬂowers , shall I forget you ?

Ar e ye n ot of much more value in my sight ?

" [M t . 6 : 25

But of thi s more when I come by and by to speak of free wil l . In Matt . 1 0: 29 , Christ says :

"Are n ot two sparrows sold for a penny ? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father .

Here no one may fairly plead a hyperbole . It is plainly an argument from

The Wo rks o f H uld reich Zwing li the less to the greater, in which the ﬁrst term must be abso lutely true ; otherwise the conclusion wi ll not hold .

Christ, then , means this :

"Since not on e of the sparrows bought for a penny falls to the ground even by accident without the Heavenly Father, h ow much more will you , who "are of so much value in Hi s eyes, nowhere perish without His so order

This, then , will be absolutely true, that God is the author even of things which to us seem to happen accidentally . ing ?

Christ seemed to the sisters of Lazarus not to know that their brother was sick [cf. Jn . but after it was told Him , He made it plain in a word whether God coul d fail to know anything and whether anything could happen without His care and purpose and ordinance . For he said :

"This sickness i s n ot unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be gloriﬁed thereby .

" You see whence this sickness came ? From God , surely ; for He w as going to use it for the glory of Hi s Son .

Christ answered his disciples in the same fashion , John 9 : 3 , when they asked for whose sin it came about that a man who was there was born blind :

"Neither did this man si n , " He said, "n or his parents : but that the work of God shoul d be made manifest in him .

I will be content with these citations n ow, meaning to treat this topic, as I said , more fully elsewhere . Do you, good reader, remember these meanwhile, that you may not be bored to death with repetition .

For the whole business of predesti nation , free will , and merit rests upon this matter of providence .

Now it would be vain , fruitless , and useless to mortals , if this supreme good, God, were wise for Himself alone , as is said ; were goodness, life, motion , knowledge , foresight for Himself

alone .

For in that case He would not differ at all from mortals , whose natural characteristic is to sing for themselves , to look

out for their own interests , and to wish themselves better off than others .

It must be , therefore , that this supreme good , which is God, is by its nature kind and bountiful , not with ! that bounty with which we like to seem bountiful , looking for a return or for glory, but with a bounty that causes Him to desire the proﬁt of those to whom He gives , with only this on e thing in view, that He may belong to those things which were made by Him ; for He desires to impart Himselff reely .

O n T ru e and Fals e R elig i on -source of all things ( for no one before he existed had any claim to be born of Him) , so also is He unceasingly bountiful to those whom He begot with this

For , as He is the fountain on e purpose , that they might enjoy His bounty .

In a word , this good differs from other things that seem good in this , that they do not spend themselves oip wdw 'ri , i . e. , gratuitously , being mean and poor ; whereas this , on the contrary , neither would nor could be spent except gratuitously .

Again , things that are good merely in outward appearance desire to be sparing of themselves ; for they can satisfy only a very few , being of narrow and slender compass .

But this good is so exuberantly abundant that it is more than sufﬁcient for the needs of all ; for it is limitless and loves to impart itself.

For it cannot enjoy others, for they are beneath it ; and unless they enjoy it, from which they have their being, they in no wise can exist .

Now follow the testimonies to the preceding .

The whole company of created things testiﬁes to this view .

For if God had not wi lled that His works shoul d enjoy Him , He never would have called them forth from nothi ng ; for God does n ot enjoy them . For what purpose, then , did He create them ?

That they might enjoy their Creator .

In Genesis 1 5 : 1 , the Lord thus speaks to Abraham :

Fear not, Abraham :

I am thy shield , and thy exceeding great reward .

" Wh at, pray, is it to be shield and reward, or prize, or good , which thou mayest enjoy , rich and abun dant beyond what thou canst imagine , but to be God ? Further more, that He thus of His own accord discloses Himself, to whom is this not a proof that He loves to impart Himself ?

Isaiah , proves clearly enough that all things are done by the providence and bounty of God, when he repre sents Him as talking to Cyrus . Cyrus did not know God , but God kn ew Cyrus , for He showered upon him vi ctories , riches , and whole kingdoms so bountifully that the East and the West ought of right to have seen that He who gave all these things so lavishly was the on e true God .

After a long admoniti on the Lord speaks thus to him [Isa 45 : 21 -22] ( not to write down the whole speech) :

"Tell ye, and come , and consult together . Wh o hath declared this from the beginning ? From that time I have foretold this .

( See the providence which

The Works of H uldreich Zwing li "Have n ot I the Lord, and there i s no God else beside me ? A just God and a Saviour , there is none beside me . Be converted to me, and be ye saved , all ye ends _of the earth exercises care even over the impious .) ' God, and there i s no other, etc .

See the bounty with which He of His own accord invites to Himself all th e ends of the earth . See also the certainty that : for I am '

He i s the only one who dispenses all things justly, is the only Savior, and there is no God beside Him .

In the same way He displays his kindness , Isa . 55 : 1 , when He calls to Himself all who desire or need heavenly wisdom and help , thus :

"All ye that thirst, come to the waters , and ye that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat .

" See h ow He encourages them not only to hasten , but also to drink gener ously .

Now from the Old Covenant enough testimony has been adduced ; for what is the whole gist of it but the showing that God is the only one wh o saves , who looks out for us , who desires that all things be asked from Him ?

"I , even I , am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, " Isa .

" Psalms 43 : 25 .

"The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord , 33 : 5 ; and [Ps . 1 45 :

Thou givest them their meat in due season and [Ps . 1 45 :

"Thou openest thy hand , and ﬁllest with blessing every living creature .

" And Joel , 2 : 27, "Ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel .

" And what is it to be in the midst of Israel but to be among them in such a way that it is not necessary to ask His aid as from one afar oﬂ, but as from Him alone who dwells among them in familiar and affable fashion like one of themselves ? For, being in the midst means this , that there is no haughtiness for anyone to dread .

From the New Testament, what other testimony shall I bring forward than Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Virgi n , who is himself the Testament ?

For when we were by nature children of wrath, Eph .

2 : 1 -7, we were restored to favor by God , who is very rich in mercy, through his Son Jesus

Christ .

God also appointed him a propitiator, Rom .

3 : 25 , that they that have faith in his blood may be accounted holy and spotless before the Father .

He, then , is our propitiation , therefore also our covenant and testament, which God has made with us . He is Himself the propitiator also , for through

Th e Works of H uldreich Zwing li heaven and on earth are less than the S on .

For this purpose, then , He delivered up His Son for us , that we, seeing that what was highest as well in heaven as on earth had been made ours, might be sure that nothing could be denied us .

For He who has given His S on h as given His all .

For the Father hath nothing which the Son also hath n ot.

This will, perhaps , be enough to show the untaught that as God is the fountain-source

of all good, so He is bountiful and by n o means niggardly or inexorable, but is so lavish and prodigal of Himself for the beneﬁt of those who enj oy Him that He delights to be taken , and held, and possessed by all .

And He i s, accordingly, so ever ready to help that He always runs to our assistance and never lags .

Hence some of the Greeks think* that the word "to run because He runs to us everywhere, and is everywhere present to aid .

196687 "God, is derived from ﬁéew [

But why should I treat at greater length of the knowledge of God, when the very words that I have quoted from His own mouth have n o more value with the impious man than

-called gift goods ? Anyone who cas ts these pearls before those swine will ﬁnd he has been feeding the wind . On the other hand, so the pious have in their own hearts too good and intimate a knowledge of God to get any increase of it from these words of mine . For to them God is everything— being, life, light, strength, treasure , sufﬁciency of all things, a veritable storehouse of blessings .

Having experienced this , holy men of God have from the creation of the world called God by various names , as on e may see all through both Testaments , naming Him Lord or God , Life , Existence , Father, the Mighty, Light, All-powerful ,

All-sufﬁci ent.

Yet all these names they have given Him from the faith within them , because, namely, they felt in their hearts as to God that He was their strength , life , being, father , etc .

And from that faith with which they credited to Him strength , life , etc . , they afterwards gave Him the names Endur ing Power, Lord , Life , Strength .

It must be admitted, there fore, that what I have said thus far about knowledge of God is idle

-unless faith be added .

Hence n o man can reproach me with having based my teaching about the knowledge of God "Cf. Plato Km tylos , 397 C ; M acrobi us S a turna l . I , Zwing li ag ai n notes thi s etymology i n hi s R ep ly to Emser ; see below, p . 388.

O n Tru e a nd Fals e R elig i on upon human persuasions .

For, in the ﬁrst place , I have relied upon the divine utterances only ; and , in the second place , I have shown without reserve that it is not through human power that we come to the knowledge and worship of God , for that "is not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth , but of God that hath mercy " [Rom . 9 :

It is He who grants that the works of His Hand recognize Him only as true God , Lord ,

Savior , Helper , Strength , Life , Light, Father , the heaped -up measure of all good things , generous , kind , well

-wishing, eager to impart Himself freely ( for all that is what I understand by this word For unless we feel in this way in regard to Him , we shall never have faith in Him alone , never have recourse to Him alone , never love Him with all our heart and with all our strength .

So much for the knowledge of God .

M AN To know man is as toilsome as to catch a cuttleﬁsh , for éf as the latter hides himself in his own blackness in order not to be caught, so does man , as soon as he sees on e is after him , stir up such sudden and thick clouds of hypocrisy that no Lynceus , no Argus , can discover him . Not only that biting critic M omus

'f complained of this , but the divine herald of the Gospel , Paul , understood it so well that in I Cor . 2 : 1 1 he speaks on this wise :

"For who among men knoweth the things of a man , save the spirit of the man , which is in him ?

" Though he says this only for the purpose of illustration , he really holds it as established that the human heart hides its purposes with such zeal and so many wiles that no one can have knowledge of them but itself ; for unless this were his view, he could n ot logically draw the conclusion he is trying to prove in the passage .

And Jeremiah says of this ﬂeer from the light and this wiggler of ours , chap .

"The heart of man is wicked and unsearchable .

Who can know it ?

I , the Lord, who search the heart and try the reins .

From this testimony it becomes manifest that man cannot be known by man .

He has such recklessness in lying, such readiness in pretending and concealing, that when you think

"Th e spi ri t of censori ou snes s .

Th e Wo rks of H uldreich Zwing li you have caught him somewhere, you ﬁnd he h as long since slipped away elsewhere .

If you say, "The prophet bears wit~ ness openly that the human heart is wicked " [cf. Jer . he immedi ately crawls out with the explanation that "wicked "

" and that it is n ot asserted of all men ; looking the while to this , that, if he can convince you that some are strangers to all wickedness , he shall himself be counted among these , for the very reason that h e so "inclined to wickedness , is put here for stoutly defends the glory and innocence of an honest heart .

Since, then , it is such an unattainable thing to penetrate into the recesses of the human heart, we shall doubtless have to give up the hope of a knowledge of it .

So be it, then l May everyone learn to know himself— by another in no wise is on e known— although the defenses of self-love are so strong that very few persons, if any at all , break through to a knowledge of their own selves .

Under no other teacher or guide than God alone , the bui lder of man , will it ever be granted to see the secrets of the human heart .

For as He created man , so He knows all the headwaters of his cunning and the source whence they come .

All of which Jeremiah signiﬁed by the words "Wh o can know it ?

" doubtless n ot supposing that any one would venture to avouch that he had knowledge of it , except the God wh o fashioned it . Hence , at once , he adds :

"I , the Lord , who search the heart and try the reins .

From the Lord God, therefore , the Creator of man , is the knowledge of man to be sought, n o less than the knowledge of Himself, though for different reasons .

The knowledge of God is denied to our understanding because of its feebleness and His glory and splendor, but the knowledge of man , because of his boldness and readiness in lying and dissembling, as has been said .

The Heavenly Builder formed man in His own image, and , having formed him , placed him in a garden abounding in all delights , nor only as a denizen of it, but as proprietor and lord ; but on this condition , that he might eat of every thing that grew there except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil .

This tree 's fruit he was not to touch or taste , and if he did so he was to die an instant death , Gen . 2 : 1 7. The

O n T rue a nd Fal s e R elig i on 's spouse that it was from fear for His dominion that God had

Devil envied man this happy condition , and persuaded Adam forbidden them that tree , the very name of which showed that as soon as they had eaten of i ts fruit they would become like gods, i . e. , woul d know good and evil .

The unhappy woman believed his high promises , plucked the fruit, ate , and then with faithful intent gave to her husband .

He , being without knowledge or experience of snares and feminine indiscretion , obeyed ( for what coul d he refuse to his and did what no husband would have declined to do to please his wife .

But see how evils burst suddenly upon us from quarters whence they are least feared .

Our ﬁrst parent, having hoped through the knowledge of good and evil to become a god , learned noth ing but his own disgrace and found everlasting death .

For thus God spake unto him , "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die .

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for any word of God [M t. 24 :

Therefore , as He had foretold that man should die , man died when he had plunged his teeth into the fatal fruit .

But it is necessary to consider what sort of death Adam died after he ate the fruit of the forbidden tree .

Fi rst, then , it is evident that he did not immediately die a natural death when he ate this food , for he lived many ages afterwards .

Next, it is evident that in due time the fatal day came , for no other reason than that he had once transgressed the law :

" Rom . 5 : 1 2 .

For he would have lived in happiness forever , if he had refrained from eating the unhappy apple . It is evident, in the third place , that Adam

"Through si n came death , di d besides di e a death of some kind as soon as he put to his mouth his reckless hand laden with the fatal frui t . For the word

"In the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely di e.

Death , therefore, ensued in the same moment in which he ate .

But bodily death did not immediately ensue ; it was, therefore , of God says :

the death of the soul that instantly ensued .

For the death of the body was born of sin , as h as been said, whence also it fol lowed the death of the soul .

This i s clearly put in Rom . 5 : 1 2 :

"As by on e man si n entered into the world , and death by si n ; and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned .

The death, therefore, by which Adam so suddenly perished was

Th e Wo rks of H uldreich Zwi ng li

si n ; and this death is as much more destructive than bodily death as the cause is greater than the effect .

For the death that is sin is the parent of bodily death .

Now we must see what the death that is si n is, or what its character is .

We infer the character of everything we see from the inward urge by which it is impelled to the pursuit and acqui si tion of what it desires . Thus we call a man avaricious who for the sake of pelf ploughs the sea, though he fears i ts dangers . *

We must, therefore, take pains to observe just what it was that Adam showed his character by seeking .

He was going to be equal with the gods , and if he succeeded he would know by the exercise of hi s own faculties what good and evil were . This ,

then , is the bait that he craved and by which he was taken : to be a God and himself to know what good was, what evil was .

But whence could this craving have originated except from love

of self ?

For we all wish things to be better for us than for others . cb tka vf ta , therefore , i . e. , love of self, was the cause of Adam listening to the evil counsel of his wi fe .

Man is, then , by nature a lover of self ; not by the nature with which he had been made and endowed by God, but by that which he acquired , when , n ot content with the lot that God had given him , he desired in his heart to become skilled in good and evil , yea, to become equal with God .

Since , therefore , man has become gui lty of self -love , and has been convicted of that offense, it is manifest that the death that is si n , as far as its character is concerned, consists in man 's unceasingly loving himself, pleasing himself, trusting in himself, crediting every thing to himself, thinking he sees what is straight and what i s crooked, and believing that what he approves all ought to approve , even his Creator .

For he was caught a fn -o gop , in the very act, of trying to make himself a God knowing good and

evil , without the knowledge of his Creator .

His viciousness , therefore, his inborn character , his defect of nature (and what is that but death ?) cannot be denied .

But it is better to prove the matter by the testimony of the mouth of God than by arguments , even though these are

. Horace, Car . I , l , l 3f. ut trabe Cypri a M yrtoum pavidus "Cf na uta secet mare.

O n Tru e a nd Fals e R elig i on founded upon the word of God .

For this Proteus of ours, with whom we are dealing , evades , denies , lies , unless you convict him by witnesses .

For he is shameless and reckless, puts on any shape [cf. II Cor . 1 1 : makes all sorts of promises and all sorts of threats , to prevent your dragging him out into the light .

Therefore, God says , Gen .

6 : 3 , "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, because he is ﬂesh .

God here gives man up as a degenerate , because he h as become wholly ﬂesh .

And this He also testiﬁed to before , when He pushed him out of the nest as an intruder , and stationed a guard at the gates of Para dise to prevent him from returning , Gen . 3 : 24 .

But if man is wholly ﬂesh , what, pray , does he meditate but the things of

the ﬂesh [cf. Rom . 8 : 5] And if this is all he meditates, what other part does he play than that of an enemy of God ?

For the spirit lusts against the ﬂesh , and the ﬂesh against the spirit ; "

[Gal .

"for these are contrary the one to the other 5 :

See how plain it begins to be that man , in so far as he is man , and in so far as he thinks and acts in accordance with his own character, thinks and does nothing but what is of the ﬂesh , of the enemies of God , of the adversaries of the Spirit .

In the same passage we read [Gen . 6 : 5f.]

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth , and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually .

And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth , etc .

Here we have the plain state ment that the entire imagination of man is n ot only inclined to evil , but ﬁrmly ﬁxed and set upon it, and that not at intervals

( as people suffering from insanity or fever have seasons of less violence) , but all the time .

Afterwards we have , "The imagination or thought of man "

's heart is evil from boyhood .

For this is the real sense of the Hebrew, and the Septuagint is not very different, "Since the mind of man is intent upon evil from his youth .

But our translation * has :

"The feelings and imagination of man " a change in the sense certainly due to man 's heart are prone to evil , 's ignorance .

For few mortals reach such a measure of scorn for themselves as to attribute nothing good to themselves, and to confess openly the evil desires of their innermost hearts .

Hence it is that we cannot be induced ' i . e. , th e Latin Vulg ate.

Th e Works of H uld reich Zwing li

to admit that our whole heart is evil .

And, persistently deny ing this, we even go to the length , such is our boldness , of changing, or rather corrupting , the word of God to sui t our view .

This is what has been done here : where the real sense " some on e h as dared "is evil , of the Hebrew is quite plainly * "is prone to evil , so that he may not himself fall under suspicion of being evil by nature .

Yet this was done very incircumspectly .

For h ow did it lighten the cause of human wickedness to modify the statement here , when just before it was said that we are ﬂesh and that all our imagination is intent

to say, upon evi l continually ?

For since we are ﬂesh we cannot help having always a taste for the things of the ﬂesh ; but all these are the very wickedness from which the worst fruits proceed , as Paul h as taught, Gal . 5 : 1 9-21 .

The mind of man and the heart of man are, therefore, evil from hi s early years , because

he is ﬂesh , because he is a lover of self, of glory, of pleasure , and greedy of wealth , however he tries to disguise or conceal it .

" Isa . 9 : 1 7, "For we are all hypocrites, "and evil doers , and every mouth speaketh folly .

And the Preacher cannot cry "Vanity out sufficiently h ow vain we are, saying, Eccles . 1 : 2,

" of vanities ; all is vanity .

Now I turn to the testimony _of the New Covenant .

In John 8 : 34, Christ says :

"Everyone that committeth -servant of si n .

Adam sinned .

Therefore h e became the slave of si n .

Paul , writing to the Romans, puts it thus , Rom . 6 : 1 6 Know ye not, that to whom _ye yield yourselves as servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey ? si n is the bond

" Adam yielded him self to si n , for if he had not yielded himself, he never would have touched the forbidden fruit .

Therefore he became its servant and slave .

For unless, resolved to make himself like God, skilled in the knowledge of good and evil , he had ﬁrst yielded himself to the counsel of the Devil , he would have had such a repugnance to the apple that he would not have deigned to look at it . Our ﬁrst parent, then— n ot to go on offering kindly excuses— willingly and gladly yielded himself to the servitude of si n .

Now, by virtue of his condition , a slave neither can nor ought to listen to anyone but the master to whom he h as bound

"See above, p . 76 .

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measure the ocean [cf. Isa . or to cleanse the stable of Augeas . * Hence it can easily hide its wickedness and retire into its depths .

But He who is light [cf. Jn . 8 : 1 2] cannot be deceived .

F -rom Him nothing can be hid, and He so com pletely discloses man to us that—if, at least, we believe His word

— we can see clearly that man is by nature evil , however much he struggles and shufﬂes to conceal the fact .

He from whose mouth we have heard this is true, and so it must be true .

Man i s, indeed, clever and bold in denying .

If we put faith in him , he will never admit plainly that his nature is vile , but when a "h eartf kn owi ng , Acts God drags him

'yvcbams [ m p6 to out into the light, he is ashamed to deny that which he is conscious of.

Nor here let anyone say :

"If everyone admitted that he is conscious of this, what you have said of th e wretched ness of human wickedness would indeed be much to the point ; but there are some who either do not accede to the words of God and confess themselves evil , or , even if in their hearts they recognize their wickedness , yet, in the hope or desire of con ceali ng it and preserving their reputation , are unwilling to seem to have recognized it .

Right, indeed .

Here we have coming up of i ts own accord the very thing I was after , namely, that for man to know himself it i s almost as necessary to have

God as his teacher as to have a knowledge of God , because man has so many deep caverns , in which he hopes to ﬁnd such refuge that no one can ﬁnd his hiding place , or even if he ﬁnd it drag him out .

We require God , therefore , as a sort of diver , and Him alone , in order really to explore man .

And what I said above , that on e ought not to expect to recognize God from His words unless faith be present ( for if that be lacking, what ever you assert of Him will seem an idle tale) , is also true in thestudy of man .

For unless faith be present, so that a man believes that every word that proceedeth from God is true , he will be as far from knowing himself as is the distance between spirit and ﬂesh .

"For through the law is the knowledge of sin " [Rom . 3 : 20] But the lawis spiritual , while we are carnal .

Unless , therefore , the spirit enter into us , we shall remain carnal forever .

For we are sold under si n [cf. Rom .

"Th e seventh l abor of Hercul es was the cleansi ng of the Augea n stables .

O n Tru e a nd Fals e R elig i on Yet as long as we are carnal , we recognize not ourselves .

For the ﬂesh in no wise despises itself, but is in its own eyes ever great and ﬁne , yea , even God .

Faith , therefore , is just as n eces sary to a man for knowledge of himself as for a knowledge of God .

Now, your distinguished theologians and hypocrites of animal appetite , not knowing this , are satisﬁed— to quote but one of their views belonging to false religion— to grant that man

's heart is prone to evil , at the same time attributing to him unimpaired power of choice , so as to be able freely to stretch out his hand towards anything he chooses . This is nothing else than trying to weave a rope out of sand or to make an angel of Belial . For as sand because of i ts character and form cannot possibly be woven together, so Belial * and man cannot be so changed that the one , the author of darkness , lies , treachery , and sin , becomes an angel of light [II Cor . and that the other stretches out his hand to any good thing, unless per haps his greed and love of self, in the hope of receiving pleas ur e, pronounce something good , just as the author of our race stretched out hi s hand towards the apple in the hope of bscom ing God and knowing all things , a hope that could have had

its origin in nothing except love of self .

Since , therefore , man would measure all things by himself if God in His wisdom allowed him , theologists in vain attribute to him soun d and unimpaired power of choice .

But more on this question in the sequ el ,f if the Lord will grant it .

It will , perhaps, not be inconsistent with my purpose to introduce here , as a sort of imported embellishment , the opin ion of a most learned and eloquent man— I mean Cicero —as given in the oration in defense of Archias , in which the passage showing that man does everything from a desire for glory agrees so completely with the divine teachings that the words seem to be due tot h e direct inﬂuence of God , rather than to be

the unconstrained utterance of Cicero , the creature of glory .

For h ow coul d he be revealing his true self in affirming here that we do everything from eagerness for glory, when at other times he wishes everything to seem done from patriotism and . II Cor . 6 : 1 5 .

"Cf "Was bel ow, S ecti on M erit .

The Wo rks of H uld reich Zwing li

love of virtue ?

These are his words : * "For virtue desires no other reward for hardships and dangers than that of glory and praise ; and if you take that away, gentlemen , what reason is there why i n ﬁthi s span of our life, meagre and short as it is, we should employ ourselves in laborious undertakings ?

Surely, if the mind had no presentiment of a hereafter, if it bounded all its thoughts by the limits within which the period of life is con ﬁned, it would not break itself with such toil , nor torture itself wi th so many cares and anxieties , nor so often risk life itself in the struggle .

There dwells in every man of worth an i nﬂu ence which rouses his soul day and night with the spur of glory and whispers to him that the remembrance of our names

must not be suffered to disappear with our life, but be made to "

How Cicero here reveals the inner nature of man !

He says there is a force dwelling i n the souls even of the best that unceasingly spurs them on to the gaining of glory and summons to the task all their thoughts and plans and labors .

But what he calls a endure through all future ages , etc .

" we who are the faithful know is nothing else than death and si n and the wretched condition of fallen man , in consequence of which he "force

is forever a lover and devotee of self .

And if among the faith ful you ﬁnd any who deny that man does everything for the sake of his own private glory and gain , you may consider it as settled that they are themselves not faithful , but carnal and servants of si n .

For as long as we defend ourselves, it is cer tain that the light of the Spirit is lacking, which shows and di scl oses man to himself .

Thus , even by a heathen writer are we taught that all our thoughtsare directed towards ourselves .

And let no one be inﬂuenced by the fact that Cicero declares the souls of all are possessed by an eager desire for glory ; but, on the contrary, let us observe that some are not at all intent upon glory, but rather upon pelf or feasting or lust .

For what Cicero said refers to the best, hi s thought being that it is char

acteri stic of them to make of all right actions so many rungs , as it were , in the ladder of glory .

The meaner, or rather viler , spirits , who measure all things by feasting and lust, are con sidered inferior to those eager for glory .

I am speaking of that eagerness for glory which walks in honorable paths ; for those

"P ro Ar chi a poeta 28 -29 .

O n True and Fal s e R elig i on who glory in bad things are sometimes cast out by the bad .

But those that are set upon pelf lay their schemes partly with a view in this way to raise themselves on high , partly with a view to supplying the means of satisfying th e demands of their gluttony and lust .

It remains , however, ﬁxed and unshaken that all the designs of every man are si n , in so far as he forms them as man ; for he measures all things by himself, cares for himself alone , thinks of himself more honorably than of others .

And although he may see himself surpassed in many things

by many men , he yet ﬁnds something in which to accord him self the ﬁrst place , lest he lack glory .

Caesar sees himself sur passed by Cicero i n eloquence * and in skilfulness as a coun sellor and pleader ; but as far inferior as he is in this depart ment, so far superior he ﬁnds himself in the nobler arts of command and warfare , for by these he has mounted to the very summit of power, whither all the torrent of Cicero 's elo q uen ce cannot carry him .

But in such cases , perhaps, on e may easily say :

"Everyone wh o in the judgment of all men has some special pre -eminence , gives himself ﬁrst place .

But take some poor Irus ,1 some pitiful man who can have abso l utely no hope of glory or of any distinction , and teach him , who is so thoroughly without ambitions in this life that he would rather die than live , teach him this self-devotion .

Then I will accede to your view .

Listen , then .

Confront Irus him self or the most miserable wretch with Croesus , Hercules , Ulysses .

To Croesus he will say,

"You are untaught to suffer poverty, I am well trained to misfortune ; to Hercules , "

"Y ou perform the most marvelous feats , indeed , but you are a slave "

"Y ou are indeed woxvyﬁmg , a man of many devices , but amid so many cunning devices it is impossible that fraud should not some times occur , whereas I enjoy a happy artlessness and live in a condition where fraud is of no us e. to passion , while I feel little or none ; to Ulysses , "

Thus he will always ﬁnd some point i n which to ﬂatter his vanity .

I say n othing now

of the malignity with which most people meditate only things that are going to harm others , if only they suffer no loss them selves .

We ourselves , all of us who either in early times or in 'Suetoni us D e vi ta. Cac ao/mm I . 55 .

!T h e ragg ed beggar of Homer , Odys . xvi ii , 1 -7 .

The Wo rks of Huldreich Zwing li these times have written about divine things, in the very work which ought to be farthest removed from the selﬁsh desire for glory have n ot kept ourselves free from it .

For h ow few do not so fashion their speech that it may win the approval of all , so deck it out that it may attract all !

This is not yet si n , but its natural result is to beget a faul t, unless we are very careful .

For there are some wh o in the warmth of Christian love wish all so well that they desire to have what they know to be pious and right shared with all .

There are , on the other hand, some wh o look to this on e thing only, h ow they may show themselves so eloquent, so wise, such practiced artists, that after the fashion of Gorgias* they can speak admirably on any subject what ever, and handle all themes admirably .

Indeed , I think there is n o one wh o does n ot feel the spur of glory, even when he is doing his best to show that glory ought to be scorned .

This i s frequently met with in Plato , for whenever he makes Socrates talk philosophy he uses such involutions and such splendor of language that h e is clearly seen to have been most bent upon glory just when he was representing Socrates as the greatest scorner of glory .

I have brought in these things from the heathen in order that, if possible, even those wh o are devoted to philosophy may receive eyes with which to see what man is .

Nor let anyone fancy that pious men are insul ted by this seeming to put them on a par with the heathen ; for I doubt not that there were heathen wh o wrote with pure purpose .

But that was not man 's .

For if you leave man to himself he measures all things by himself.

's doing, but God So much for what man is in his own nature .

Hence , since even among the theologians you can easily ﬁnd some who treat the word of God as a mere matter of business ( for you see how they make their living by it) , it cannot be denied that they are zealous for glory .

Oh , that it were not true !

It h as now been quite sufﬁciently proved that man does every thing from self-love , and , unless he undergoes a change , always will do so.

Hence I have n ot improperly counted among those "Gorg i a s , th e famou s Greek S ophi st a nd rhetorician .

In 427 B . C . he . came t o Athens a s ambassador from hi s home i n S icily . There he made a g reat impression by rea son of hi s oratorical skill .

O n Tru e a nd Fals e R elig i on wh o, willy nilly, do everything for gain or glory this class of men wh o handle even divine things for their own personal ends .

Therefore, since they see that, because they bear the mark of persons who speak only to win favor and blatantly dissemble their real opinions, it is n ot hard to perceive what they are inwardly, I beg them to confess with us, i . e. , with the faithful , that man is altogether bad and that all his thoughts and actions are controlled by self-love .

R ELIGION

I must n owreturn to religion , which I put aside for a little while till I should speak , as far as the Lord gave to me , of those between whom religion subsists .

Of the word enough h as been said , and I now come to the thing itself .

God created man in his own image and likeness [Gen . and surrounded him with bles sings and indescribable delights , but he foolishly suffered himself to be dragged into the direst calamity by vain hopes .

As soon as that happened , he began to see in himself something unpleasing .

For it is written , Gen . 3 : 7:

"And the eyes of them both were opened .

Good God, were they blind before ?

By no means, but their hearts , like their eyes , were ignorant of anything base, as long as they kept from eating of the tree of life .

There was nothing to sadden them , nothing to make them ashamed .

But after they ate the fatal apple , their eyes were opened ; for it was plucked from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil .

Yet what did they see ﬁrst that they had not seen before ?

Some thing secret that they had not known before ?

The demon seemed to promise something of this kind, and the poor things no doubt hoped for something of the sort .

They saw, then , that they were naked .

Now, they had been naked before, but nakedness was not regarded as nakedness : si n was not imputed before the law came , Rom .

5 :

1 3 .

So nakedness was n ot known before lack of clothing was felt ; and this took place only when man turned away from his Creator, the treasure house of every good thing .

From this we shoul d learn that our minds, to whatever part of creation , to whatever design , to whatever hope they turn , ﬁnd nothing but trouble, disaster, and utter

The Works of Huld reich Zwing li wretchedness ( for thi s is the nakedn ess i n question , to be exposed to all evils and deprived of the protection of God) , and that comfort and rest are nowhere to be found save with God .

And we see, if we look a little more closely, that such folly i s native to us , so that we begin uncertain and difﬁcult things blindl y, without intelligent consideration of the end ; an d when that is ﬁnally reached our eyes are opened by hard experien ce, yet so that we see nothing but the evils into whi ch our own recklessness h as plunged us .

And the human mind is always after something new, though we ﬁnd an Epimetheus * oftener than a Prometheus ; that is , we are all wise after the event .

We are taught, in the next place , that the nakedness of Adam means nothing else than guil t and the death that is sin , of which so much was said above .

For who coul d believe that Adam was so dull that he coul d not make the argument :

"Sup pose you are naked .

God Himself created you naked .

Let Him see you naked .

But it was his consciousness of wrong doing that made him ashamed to come into the sight of God .

If Adam had had a hope that he had anything left with which to coax back favor, he never would have hi dden ; but he saw that his case was so utterly lost that we do n ot read of his turn ing to supplication .

Concludi ng, therefore , from his conscious nes s of guilt that the worst was in store for him , he hid , and gave his nakedness as an excuse for running away and delaying

to appear .

What else , then , are we to conclude from all this but that the case of man is so hopeles s and lamentable that he dares n ot appear in God 's presence, and even ﬂees from Him , dreads Him when He calls , and refuses to come into His sight ?

But at the same time we are taught the kindness of God , who receives back into favor this traitorous des erter to the enemy

's camp , without his humbly asking it, and though he swiftly runs away and tries to disguise himself.

God calls to him , reproaches him , and only so far turns -his happy estate into one of woe as His righteousness demands .

For what did Adam deserve but death and destruction ?

But as far as He could , God considered , with reference to Adam s bold misdeed , h ow

'Epimetheus :

Afterthought, the husband of Pandora , whom he ma r ri ed ag ai nst th e advice of hi s brother Prometheus , Forethought .

Th e Works of H uldreich Zwing l '

took its rise when God called runaway man back to Him , when

otherwise he would have been a deserter forever . For he saw that his nakedness , that is, his guilt, was of such ki nd and degree that he despaired of a return to favor .

But a merciful God pitied his persistence in ﬂight and his bewildered soul ; and, like a devoted father who indeed hates the folly or reck lessness of his son yet cannot hate the son , He gently calls to him in his desolation and despair , asking him h ow matters stand :

"Adam , where art thou ?

" Oh , wonderful and unspeak able graciousness of the Heavenly Father !

He who places all things where they are— or they would be nowhere— asks him where he is ; but He asks for the sake of the unhappy man , that He may show him the more plainly the depth of his guilt ; for he did not know where in the world he was . For, frightened by his consciousness of guilt, he saw that it was all up with his home and happy hearth , saw that the words of his Lord were only too true :

"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die .

He felt how hi s heart ﬂuttered , how his mind in its di stracted state ﬂuctuated between many plans , all unpromising and illusory ; and at the same time he feared the destined death was at hand every moment .

The Heavenly Father, therefore, asks him where he is, that man may be mindful for ever in what position , in what condition of hi s affairs, he was when God gently called to him .

Here , I say, is the cradle of religion , or rather loyal devotion ( for this 18 the established relation between parents and children , between God and man) .

The unhappy man saw that he deserved nothing but wrath ; therefore he despairs and ﬂees from God .

Now see the loyal devotion of the father to his undutiful son .

He runs to him in spite of his obstinacy and overbears him amidst his rash designs .

What is this but loyal devotion to the son ? Loyal devotion , therefore, springs from God even to our day, but for our beneﬁt ; for what are we to suppose that God would have lacked even if Adam had immediately expired by the destined death ?

But pious devotion is complete only when we turn to the one who calls us away from ourselves and our designs . Unhappy, indeed , is the parent (the human parent,

I mean) who pursues his son with constant kindness , only to ﬁnd him constantly resisting or retreating ; for his devotion to

O n Tru e a nd Fals e R elig i on his son is in vain . But such defeat cannot happen to God ; for he whom He calls is forced to respond whether he will or not .

This is shown by the prevaricating Adam , the adulterer and murderer David , the persecutor Paul .

Pious devotion , there fore , or religion , is this :

God reveals man to himself, that he may recognize his disobedience , treason , and wretchedness as fully as Adam did . The result is that man utterly despairs of himself, but at the same time God shows the ample store of His own bounty, so that he who had despaired of himself may

see that he h as with his Creator and Father an abundance of grace so sure and ready that he cannot possibly be torn a way from Him on whose grace he leans .

This clinging to God , therefore , with an unshaken trust in Him as the only good, as

the only on e who h as the knowledge and the power to relieve our troubles and to turn away all evils or to turn them to His own glory and the beneﬁt of His people , and with ﬁlial depen dence upon Him as a father— this is piety , is religion . For as those who ar e thus minded enjoy God "

's fatherly care, so they in their turn anxiously and unceasingly pore over ,

* study, and con sider the ways in which they can please Him and deserve well of Him . Piety, therefore , is recognized as surely present

where there is an eagerness to live according to the will of God , ' just as , likewise , perfect devotion between parents and children requires that the son shall study to obey the father as much as the father to beneﬁt the son . Again , true piety is born only when man not only thinks that he lacks many things , but sees that he has absolutely no means of pleasing God, whereas h is

Creator and Father so abounds in all things that no one in Hi s hands can lack anything, and His bounty and love to man are so great that He can refuse n o man anything .

And this can be so abundantly conﬁrmed by the testimony of Scripture that all its teaching , in the Old Testament as well as in the New, and all the pious really sing no other song than that we have nothing, God lacks nothing, by Him nothing is denied . For wi th the Lord is mercy in exceeding abundance .

" [Ps .

"The earth is his and the fulness thereof

With him is the fountain of life " [Ps . 24 :

"Salvation is his, and ' r eleg un t :

Th e verb echoes th e noun rel igi on " of th e precedi ng

sentence, b ut th e Engli sh h a s no means of reproducing the effect .

The Wo rks of H uldreich Zwing l '

that so ready that he manifests hi s blessing,

. e. , his bounty and kindness, freely to his people " [Ps .

From this it can easily be inferred what further demands true religion makes ; and , conversely, it can be quite easily perceived what false religion is . True religion , or piety, i s that which clings to the on e and only God . Those , therefore , wh o are pious listen to their on e Lord , who so tears them away from the ﬂesh and unites them to Himself that they desire to hear His voice only, and wi th soul aﬂame with love cry, Song "Sweet is thy voice in my ears of S olombn 2 : 1 4, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste , yea sweeter than honey to "

; and, " [Ps .

1 1 9 :

True piety demands , therefore , that on e should hang up on the lips of the Lord and not hear my mouth or accept the word of any but the bridegroom . In order to set this faithfulness well before our eyes , the Lord often compares it in the Scriptures to a faithful marriage and, like a constant husband, warns us against adultery and fornication , empha sizing just this on e point, that as in marriage faithfulness is required above all else (indeed marriage is nothing but faith fulness given and received) , so piety is not piety unless you trust with all your heart the Lord who is the spouse of the soul , ﬁx your eyes on Him only, and lend your ear to none but Him . Therefore He commands , Num . 1 5 : 38-39 ,

"that in the four corners of their garments they put ribbons of blue , that when they see them they may remember all the command ments of the Lord , and not follow their own thoughts and eyes, going awh ori ng after divers things .

And Paul makes holy boast, II Cor . 1 1 : 2 , that he had presented the Corinthians as a chaste and untouched virgin to Christ alone , so that they might hear Him alone, admire Him alone , love Him alone , follow Him alone .

And in Ephesians 5 : 32 , he declares that marriage is a great mystery, for it betokens the union of Christ and the Church . By all this I simply wish to show that true piety demands the same faithfulness and purity towards God as are demanded in marriage ( I use

' in a comparative sense and not to denote equivalence) "same "

. Yet in marriage sh e is not faithful who listens to another, follows another , obeys another .

So also the soul is not truly pious that listens to another than God , follows another than its own spouse . It is

The Wo rks of Huldreich Zwing li mouth of God, Deut . 8 : 3 ; Matt . 4 : 4 . But what sort of man ?

The man of faith .

For what h as the unbeliever to do with the word of God ?

To him th e heavenly wisdom i s foolishness , and he laughs at you if you trust in God . The pious man , there

fore , is the only one wh o is fed , refreshed, and comforted by the word of God . Conversely, it follows that the pious man can n ot feed on any other word than the divine .

For as he trusts in God alone, so he is made sure by His word alone ; and as he is made sure by God 's word alone , so he accepts the word of none but God .

Thus again n ot only from Scripture, but also from the nature of faith itself it becomes manifest that the word of no created being can be accepted in place of the word of G od, because the conscience is not given peace and res t by the word of a created being . Nothing, therefore , of ours is to be added to the word of God , and nothing taken from His word by rashness of ours . To this some on e might here object :

"Yet many have found res t even in the word of man , and still do ﬁnd it ; for today the consciences of many are ﬁrmly per sueded that they will attain salvation if the Roman Pontiff

absolve them , grant them indulgences, enroll them in heaven ; * h ours,f and other things for them . if nuns and monks tell beads for them , and do masses ,

To this objection I answer that all such are either fools or hypocrites , for it must be the result of folly and ignorance if on e thinks one

's self what on e is not .

He , therefore , who measures his piety by the fact that he h as faith in the contrivances of the Roman Pontiff h as had no taste of what is God 's , n or h as it passed the edge of his lips how sweet is the Lord and h ow blessed he that trusteth in Him

[cf. Ps . 34 :

B ut if he is not foolish or ignorant he cannot escape the charge of hypocrisy .

For there are a good many who make much of the Roman Pontiff and of frigid ceremonies , because they see that in some respect they will be losers if anything is taken from his dominion ; and so they , the sly dogs , take early precaution against what is still afar off.

The statement is sound , that the pious heart ﬁnds rest in no word .

' Ou April 12 , 1525 , the Council of Two Hundred abol i shed the M a ss i n Zu rich .

'rThe seven canonical hou rs , i . e., stated times for the ofﬁces of p rayer and devoti on ; vi z . , ma ti ns , prime, terce, sext , nones , vespers , and compl i n .

O n T ru e a nd Fals e R elig i on

's , and can accept the word of none but God .

And this is so unanimously agreed to by the suffrages of all the pious that it needs no testimony beyond this one short and clear sen tence : but God "My soul refused to be comforted ; I remembered God , and was delighted , " Psalm -4 .

The conscience of the prophet* had nowhere found hope , nowhere rest ; but after he recovered the memory of God , at once peace and joy came to him .

But I will hasten on to the testimony of the New Testa ment , by which I shall show that it is sacrilegious to add any thing to the words of God or to take anything away .

Thus again it will be manifest that only that is uncontaminated piety which rests upon the words of God solely and alone .

In Matt . 1 5 : 9 Christ quotes the testimony of Isaiah 29 : 1 3 , as He is in the habit of drawing His fulminations against the Jews from the Old Testament, though rarely naming the passage :

"In vain do they worship me , teaching doctrines and commandments of men .

If, then , that worship , that piety or religion , is vain which proceeds from human invention or law, solid and true surely is that religion , on the other hand , which is guided by the word of God alone, and looks to and hears this only

"He that is of God heareth the words of God : for this cause ye hear them n ot, because ye are not of God .

In John 8 : 47 Christ says :

" It follows , then , that they that are born of God hear His word ; and , conversely , they that hear not are not born of God . But those that are born of God and not of th e will of man , John are born in this way : not of their own notion and choice have they selected as their God Him who is really God , but by His power in whom they trust it h as come to pass that they recognize that they are the sons of God . For He says :

"They are born , not of the will of the ﬂesh , nor of the will of man , but of God .

" Those , then , who are b orn of God hear His word only of whom they are born . This is the difference between the sons of God and the sons of the ﬂesh , that those who are sons of God know or mind the things that are of God ; those who are sons of the ﬂesh mind the things of the ﬂesh , Rom . 8 : 5 . Furthermore , whatsoever proceedeth not "S o. David .

Th e Wo rks of H uld reich Zwing li out of the mouth of God is not received by the sons of God, for the Spirit dwelling within them shows them all things and tells them whether what they hear is of the ﬂesh or of the Spiri t .

Hence it comes about also that "he that is spiritual j udg eth all things, " recognizes all things, yet he himself is judged of no man ,

" I Cor . 2 : 1 5 ; for it is not ﬂesh or blood that judges , but Spirit . I am speaking , indeed, of those only wh o are Christ

's and wh o have His Spirit, Rom . 8 : 9 .

Those, therefore, who have the Spirit of Christ have not their own , that is , the spirit of ﬂesh and blood and man .

But they that have the Spirit of Christ receive the word of none but God , for Christ, God Himself, cannot receive or endure any word but His own ; for man can n ot be God unto God, but God can be that to man ; and unless God is that, man is nothing but a beast . Whoever , there fore , receives the word of man receives the word of the ﬂesh and of a beast . It is dreadful , then , for him who is Christ

's to receive any word but God 's .

The same teaching is given in John 1 0: 4f, but clothed in the charming parable of the shepherd and the sheep :

"The sheep follow their own shepherd ; for they know his voice . And a stranger will they n ot follow, but will ﬂee from him ; for they know not the voice of strangers .

" The sheep follow the voice of God, their true and eternal Shepherd and Bishop , I Peter

2 : 25 .

For they know His voice and what it is like ; but a stranger they do not hear, n or follow, for they know n ot the voice of strangers . However, you will say :

"But h ow do they ﬂee from strangers , if they know not the voice of strangers ?

For if they do not know it, they will easily follow a stranger, taking him for the true shepherd .

"They do not know, they do not respect, they do not take to themselves the voice of strangers . For the Lord says somewhere [ cf

I answer :

. Mt . 7 23] that He does not know certain persons and yet nothing can be b id from him .

He uses "not know for disregard , turn away from , scorn .

S o also in this passage it is said of loyal sheep that they know , that i s, take to themselves , respect, fol

low, the voice of their shepherd only , and ﬂee from , abhor, refuse to follow, any stranger

's voice .

John teaches the same thing :

"As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; so neither

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