Repentance

Repentance

O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i o n antly exclaim , We will Si n , for all things are freely pardoned through Christ,

" have never felt the pain of sin .

For if they had ever felt it , they would take care with all their might n ot to fall into it again .

I have made this preamble in order to be able to speak more clearly, as I promised to do , about repentance .

[8]

REPENTANCE

We have till now regarded repentance as a forced and feigned pain for Sins committed, and as the paying Of the penalty set upon the Sin by the judge , i . e., the father con fessor .

We repented of our evi l doing only when the Pope ordered , or when the celebration of Easter was approaching , or when our health demanded it .

What was this but hypocrisy ?

Or whence came it except from ign orance of ourselves ?

For he who h as attained to knowledge of himself sees such a vast slough of wickedness that he is driven not only to grieve, but to shudder , to despair, to die .

For what lust is so filthy , what greed SO bold , what self-esteem so high , that every man does not see it in his own heart, scheming or working or hiding something ?

And as no on e can deny this , how h as it hap pened that we have not felt the pain that is born thereof ?

h as happened from the fact that, as was said above , n o one tries to g o down into himself, no on e.

When , therefore , we do so go down , real pain and shame immediately follow.

But this was by no means the case before in the repentance of the Popes .

For how should any on e be disgusted with himself when no on e knew himself, but thought rather that he was righteous either through his own works or through hired efforts ?

The second part of the gospel , then , is repentance : not that which takes place for a time , but that which makes a man who knows himself blush and be ashamed of his old life, for on e reason because he is greatly dissatisfied and pained at himself, and for an other because he sees it ought to be alto gether foreign to a Christian to waste away in those sins from which he rej oiced to believe that he had been delivered . When , therefore Christ and John and the Apostles preached, sayi ng,

"Repent, they certainly did n ot speak Of that feigned and counterfeit repentance which I mentioned in the first place ;

T h e Wo rks of H uldreich Zwing li n or of that which is felt once for all and straightway thinks license to si n given it, for this kind , as h as been sufli ci ently set forth , i s just as much a counterfeit as that performed by order of the Popes .

But they spoke of the repentance in which a man goes into himself and diligently investigates the reason of all his acts , his concealments, pretences, and dissimulations .

When he h as done this honestly, he is driven by the vast extent of his disease to despair of his own righteousness and salva tion , just as a man wh o has received a mortal wound keeps expecting black and everlasting night . Then , if some Machaon *

Should bid him be of good cheer, that the wound could be sewed up and all made good again , I think nothing more acceptable and cheering could happen to him .

So our sinner, too , having thus probed his wound and despaired of safety, betakes himself to begging for mercy, and presently after see ing Christ understands that all things are to be hoped for ( for " [Rom . 8 :

He rises up who had lain prostrate .

He lives who had learned and felt "if God is for us , who is against us ? to his horror that he was dead .

But neither Christ, nor John , nor the Apostles spoke of this side of repentance in such a way

as to imply that it is to last a certain time and then can be put aside .

It is to last permanently, as long as we carry about this pitiful burden of the body . For this is so given over to vanities that it never stops teeming with evil growths, which , as soon as they Spring up , must be crushed, cut off, stifled , as things highly unbecoming a Christian .

And this labor, this struggle , this watchfulness— what is it if not repentance ?

Therefore when Christ and John and the Apostles preach saying , "Repent,

" they are simply calling us to a new life quite unlike our life before ; and those wh o had undertaken to enter upon this 'were marked by an initiatory sacrament, baptism to wit, by which they gave public testimony that they were going to enter upon a new li fe .

Now I will come to the testimony of the word , lest I seem to anyone to have brought forward my own rather than beav enly testimony .

Christ called a certain man to the service of the gospel , Luke 9 : 59-62 :

"But he said , Lord , suffer me first to go and "S on of E sculapi us and physici an of the Greeks at Troy .

1 34 The Wo rks of Huld reich Zwing li also might walk in newness Of life .

What else does Paul teach here than that all we who have been baptized have been

admitted to the death of Christ, as the act of baptism bears witness, which first plunges us into the water to recall the death and burial Of Christ, and then draws us out again , sig ni fyi ng nothing else than that, as Christ rose again from the dead to die n o more , so we while buried in baptism are dead to the world and our former life , but when drawn out begin a new life, that is, on e worthy of Christ ?

This the Apostle himself expounds in the following verses, saying [Rom . 6 : 5 -1 1 ]

"For if we are united with him in the likeness of hi s death, no doubt we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection .

By this likeness we learn that our old man was crucified with him , that the body of sin might be done away, that we Should n o longer be in bondage to Sin .

For he that hath died i s justified from si n .

But if we died wi th Christ, we believe that we Shall also live with him .

By this we see that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more ; death n o more hath dominion over him .

For in that he died , he died unto si n once : but in that he liveth , he liveth unto God .

Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto si n , but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord .

In these words of Paul, clearer than the sun as they are , there is nothing which everybody cannot easily grasp

"to be dead unto sin except the on e expression , ; for this expres sion Paul uses in different senses .

When he teaches that Christ died unto si n , he means that Christ died because of Sin , that si n might be slain ; but when h e says that we are dead unto si n , he means that we are freed from sin and hence no more subject to it .

In Gal . 6 : 1 5 we read :

"In Christ Jesus neither circum cisi on availeth anything, nor uncircumcision , but a new creat

It i s n ot enough , therefore , to be baptized , but we are baptized in order to be new creatures .

It is n ot enough to say, Lord, Lord ure .

" [cf. Mt . but we must live according to the will of the Father .

This new life and the laying aside of the old is thus taught in Rom . 1 3 : 1 1 -1 4 :

"Since we know this , namely, the time , that now it is high time for us to awake out

of sleep : for our salvation is nearer than when we believed .

The night is far spent, the day is at hand : let us therefore put away

O n Tru e a nd Fals e R elig i o n the works of darkness , and let us put on the armor of light ; and let us walk honestly , as in the day , n ot in revelling and drunkenness , not in chambering and wantonness , not in strife and envying : but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ .

The same thing is taught in I Peter 4 : 1 -1 1 . Let him who wi ll look for it there .

All the writings of the Apostles are filled with this idea , that the Christian religion is nothing else than a firm hope in

God through Christ Jesus and a blameless life wrought after the pattern of Christ as far as He giveth us .

It is plain , there fore , that repentance is not only knowledge and abnegation Of self, but guarding against the abnegated self, so as always to have something to h Ope for while you walk in hope , and not to be without something to fear , namely, a relapse into sin .

This also is clear, that n ot repentance but h Ope in Christ washes away sin , and that repentance is the being on guard lest you fall back into the ways you have condemned .

But here there seem to be many obstacles to prevent us from hoping that blamelessness can be preserved .

Fi rst :

"All men are liars " [Ps . and where lying flourishes all things are depraved .

Then :

In many things we all offend, Jas . 3 : 2 , and as many as offend , sin , Matt . 1 8 : 7-8.

Therefore, since we all offend in many ways , we all Si n in many ways .

Furthermore, St . John declares , I John 1 : 8 :

"If we say that we have no sin , we deceive ourselves , and the truth is not in us .

How, therefore , even when Christ is kept before our eyes , can we be saved, Since He demands a new life and other ways, but we see ourselves constantly turning back to our natural disposi tion ?

Here it is a hard tas k to satisfy some wise and learned persons ; for since they have the clearest testimony of Scrip ture on both Sides , namely that the redemption brought by Christ is mighty and effective for all that pertains to salvation , and that, on the other hand, blamelessness is so uniformly demanded , two diffi culties seem to them to follow : one, that those who dauntlessly and constantly inculcate faith in Christ seem to be traitors to zeal for blamelessness ; the other, that, see ing blameles sness so insistently demanded, they begin to doubt h ow much Christ can do .

These persons, therefore, are very hard to satisfy ; for si nce they are devoid of that which is

1 36 The Works of Huld reich Zwing li wrought here in the pious by faith in Christ, they do not grasp that which i s spoken spiritually .

For piety is a matter of fact and experience, not of speech or knowledge .

For as Abraham knew that the voice of God which bade him slay the son [Gen .

22 : 1 -1 4] through whom a holy posterity had been promised was the voice of Him who had made the promise, even though human reason might fairly have maintai ned something else, namely, that it was the voice of the tempter, the Devil— "How could it be that he should bid you Slay him whom he had but just given you forraising up a posterity

— h egirds himself with unshaken faith, arranges the wood for the fire , inexperienced as either lictor or priest he binds the loved and tender form , draws the Sword with hardly less pain surely than if he were drawing it through his own heart, and raises it, Oh , with what trouble of soul ! over the blameless neck so Often covered with his kisses .

All of which was the work of God alone , that He might be marvelous in our eyes [cf. Mt .

For if He had n ot SO impressed Himself upon the understanding of Abraham that he had no doubt the voice was God 's , the command would have been given in vain .

As, I say, that voice was known to Abra ham only as the voice of God, while everybody else would have thought it the voice of an impostor, so the things that I am going to say about faith in Christ and Christian blamelessness will not be understood by those whose faith i s a matter of teaching rather than of experience .

For I see them here at once scoff and say :

"I have faith .

It is you who lack it .

Why do "

We will , therefore , bring right before ' you judge me ? you those who dare solemnly to boast of themselves, saying, Seek ye a proof of Christ wh o speaketh in me ?

" II Cor . 1 3

and whose faith is would be impious to doubt— and we will hear what they have to say on this question .

When Paul magnified grace so highly, there were not lacking persons to snarl , as some also do today :

"If the goodness and bounty of the grace of God are made manifest in my si n , what forbids my sinning almost without limit, that the bounty of God may become known to all Rom . 3 :7 And again :

"Shall wecontinue in si n , that grace may abound ?

[Rom . 6 : 1 ] He replied to them in the way I quoted a little while ago from chapter 6 .

On the other hand , when he saw that some were beginni ng to have

1 38 Th e Wo rks of H uldreich Zwing li what He wills, what He wills n ot, what He demands , what He forbids .

But, that the will of God i s permanent, so that He is never going to change any part of that law which has to do with the inner man , is evident from the words of the Lawgiver Himself.

In Matthew 7 1 2 Christ says :

"All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do to you , even so do ye

If all our acts are to be done in accordance with this rule, it must be eternal ; to them : for this is the law and the prophets . for if it be not eternal , all of them are n ot to be fashioned according to it .

Then , in Rom . 1 3 : 1 9 , Paul teaches that all laws are gathered up and comprehended in this on e law,

"Love thy neighbor as thyself .

Every action , every design , there fore, and whatever regards one 's neighbor must be compre hended under this law .

With these points briefly settled, you will easily understand a very difficult problem of which some persons complain that no on e has given a solution satisfactory to them .

This is : How does it happen that from the same Law we keep some things and cut out others ?

Those things which, on being referred to and tested by this rule of the permanent will of God , " are seen to be com prehended under it, can never be abolished ; but those that are

"Love thy neighbor as thyself, n ot were rendered obsolete by Christ.

"For Christ is the end " Rom . and "the end of the law* is love , I Tim .

1 : 5 .

Christ, therefore , and love must be the same thing .

of the law,

" I John 4 : 8.

They, therefore , wh o serve under Christ are bound to do that which love orders ; what love does not order or what does n ot proceed from love either is n ot enjoined or is unprofitable, I Cor.

"God is love, [1 0] SIN] Sin is taken in a twofold sense in the Gospel teachings

First, for that disease which we contract from the author of our race, In consequence of which we are given over to love of our selves .

Of this I spoke to the best of my ability when consid ering man .

It is this disease that Paul h as in mind when he says , Rom .

"It i s no more I that do it, but Sin which dwelleth in me .

This si n , therefore, i . e. , this defect, is the .k g i3 : Vulg ate , pm epti ; Greek , 7 6 3 t a p a 'y 'y c k l a l fOf. Zwi ng li 's On ori gi na l si n, i n vol . 2 of thi s series , pp . 1 -32 .

O n True a nd Fals e R elig i o n disease native to us in consequence of which we Shun things hard and burdensome and pursue things pleasant and agree able .

In the place , si n is taken for that which is con trary to the Law, as through the Law comes knowledge of si n ,

Rom . 7: 7.

Any course Of action , therefore , which IS contrary to the Law is called si n .

Let us see, then , how they are related to each other, the sin that is disease and the si n that is trans g ressi on of the Law .

The disease does not know that it is dis ease, and thinks it h as a right to do whatever it likes .

God does not think so, but when the disease tries to get everything for itself and thinks all things bound to serve it and to minister to its greed , He prunes this luxuriant growth with the sickle of the Law .

For the Law "

"was added because of transgressions , Gal . 3 : 1 9 .

For the Searcher of hearts is aware that the nature of all is the same , and that Thersites * h as just as much self love as Agamemnon . * Now if all were alike given loose reins, the only consequence would be that every man would subject everything to himself, according to the measure of his strength ; whence a harvest of robbery, plundering, murder , parricide , and all that kind of enemy to human association would Spring up .

He therefore confines this far -reaching greed within fixed limits , and commands us n ot to do to others what we do n ot want done to us , and , conversely, to do to others what we want done to ourselves [M t.

And that we may do it more read ily and recognize the wisdom of God, He sweetens this law of nature, as it is called, with the seasoning Of love , saying :

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself " [M t. 22 :

Love is a sweet thing, but it takes even the most bitter things cheerful ly , for nothing is hard to him that loveth .

Therefore , though it seems a great and difficult thing to do to your neighbor what you want done to you , it becomes pleasant and very easy if you love .

But here the Old man , th e disease , the flesh , Adam , si n , rebels —for thes e are the names by which the teaching of the Apostles calls this vice of (pa wn -i a , [self -love] .

The flesh , or the Old Adam , I say, rebels, scorning everything but itself ; for it would rather that all things Shoul d serve its own lust to their own des truction than put any limit to its greed and its passion

'Th ersites was the meanest, as Ag amemnon wa s the highest, of the Greeks before T roy.

1 40 Th e Works of H uld reich Zwing li

for glory and pleasure .

Hence anger against the Law and the Lawgiver, hatred and machinations— hatred, because it cannot avoid or escape , the Law or the Lawgiver, for if it ascendeth into heaven , He is there , if it descendeth into hell , He i s there

[ cf. PS . 1 39 : 8] machinations, because it struggles with all its might to deceive Him who yet cannot be deceived ; it ponders , devises, schemes , hustles about, and after many attempts comes to _thie conclusion :

"He is a tyrant who demands these things , for h ow is it possible for anyone to love another as much as himself ?

Nevertheless , since He makes such severe demands , His vengeance must be guarded against .

You will do , there fore, as crafty Slaves are wont to do with good and éfiéh gg [gui leless] masters— think up some clever dodge to blind Him

Hence the usurer endows a priesthood or some sacred office, the so that He will not see your design .

'whoremonger keeps a season of thoroughgoing fasting in honor of the Virgin , the betrayer puts up trembling and desperate prayers .

By this more than silly cajolery they hope, forsooth , to overwhelm their unsuspecting Lord, or to throw dust in His eyes , so that they can indulge with impunity in adultery, usury, and betrayal .

Thus was the Law no more listened to, nor men 's ways modeled upon it, nor the things that cause dishonor put away, but man became a god unto himself ; for though the

Law might slay, yet man none the less made himself alive in his wiles and hopes .

Hence impiety gradually increased to such an extent that it said in its heart :

" [Ps .

"There i s no God 1 4 : 1 ] though by disguising its face it was openly posing as piety itself .

I have spoken thus at rather great length that we might see how th e sin that is transgression is born Of the si n that i s disease .

The next thing is to Show h ow we have been made free from the Law and from si n .

We have not been made free from the Law in the sense of not being bound to do what the Law bids ; for the Law is the unchangeable will Of God .

For not one tittle of the Law shall fail , Luke How then are we through Christ dead to the Law , so that we are subject to something other than the Law, as Paul taught by the analogy of the wife i n , Rom . 7: 1 -4 ?

' loves This is the way we have been made free :

He tha t -does

1 42 The Wo rks Of H uldreich Zwing li God so loved us that He gave His Son for us , h as He not above all kindled a responsive love ? For on e might, perhaps , undergo death for a righteous friend ; but God , when we were His enemies, sent His Son to free us and to make us joint heirs with Him [cf. Rom . 5 : 7

Again , we are freed from the vengeance of the Law ; for Christ h as paid by His suffering that penalty which we owed for our Sins .

Indeed, we have been SO completely freed from Sin , as far as it is a disease , that it is no longer able to harm us if we trust in Christ .

For "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus , who walk n ot after the flesh [Rom .

And in so far as it is transgres sion , we have been freed from harm from it in the same way

as from the wrath of the Law , Rom . 8 : 2 :

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of si n and of death .

" we are simply saying, "The Law condemns , "

For when we say, "The si n which is done contrary to the will of the Law condemns .

" Hence I said, we must determine about freedom from si n in the same way in which we have deter mined about freedom from the condemnation of the Law .

When after all this we find in our own case that the disease is still so potent that we are constantly sinning, and have said that those have absolutely no hOpe of salvation who have n ot been made new men , we are , of course , driven into the old despair .

Therefore , having made the needful preparations for removing this difficulty, I will now show how we are new men , even when we still are full of the old man ; that is, to speak plainly, h ow it happens that those wh o are in Christ, even though they si n , yet are n ot condemned .

In order to do this more easily and fitly, I will treat the words of Paul in Romans 7.

Paul was forced to ventilate this question when he was settling the controversy about justifica tion by faith and justification by works .

One party raised the objection , Rom . 6 : 1 , "Shall we then continue in si n , that grace may abound ?

His answer to this Objection he does not set forth until the eighth chapter , and I refer the diligent reader to that chapter .

I Shall begin with the words that seem best adapted to clearing up our problem .

Paul asks , then , Rom .

7: 78

What shall we say then ?

Is the law Si n ?

God forbid .

Howbeit, I had n ot known Si n , except through th e law : for I

O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i on had not known that coveting i s si n ( to speak for the moment in paraphrase)

"except the law had said , Thou shalt not covet .

But sin , finding occasion , through the commandment , " as with a sun -dial or a plumb line ( for there is personification here) ,

"measured out* in me all manner of coveting .

That is, when the Law came into sin 's hands , She wanted to measure and weigh everything, and finally brought it about that I learned that all manner of human coveting is Si n .

For all teem with it in consequence of the disease .

And that this is the meaning

i s shown by what immediately follows :

For apart from the law sin is dead .

I , Paul , will take myself as an illustration " still ignorant because of my age of even the name of law ; but when the commandment came , sin revived .

"I was alive apart from the law once , for you .

There was the disease of mk a vr i a [self-love] and coveting in me , but I did not know that these were si n , thinking allowable what love of self per suaded to .

But when the law, Thou shalt n ot covet, was promulgated , si n revived ; not that any new change took place in me, but what I had not before known to be wi cked I per cei ved through the Law was wicked .

And as soon as I saw this , "

For all that I saw in me was the lust Of the flesh , of the eyes, the hands , the belly, and a sort of vast pride

"I died .

of life .

Hence nothing but despair of life could arise within me .

But I must not omit to state that no one should from this death of mine accuse the Law of poisoning, so to speak , as if i t killed me .

The Law displayed itself to me to Show me that I was dead before , but to my undoing did not understand what death or what life is ; and it tried to restore me to life and innocence .

But this res ulted for me in death , through the fault not of the Law but of myself .

For sin , being a curious but stupid evi l ( note the having g ot hold of the Law as a standard , began to measure everything . And the Law deceived me ; for in great part at least I thought myself righteous , but I was mighti ly mistaken . Indeed, everything so teemed with si n , was so polluted and impure , that, as I said, I straightway died .

For , to speak frankly, no blame for this death of mine ought to be imputed to the Law .

"The law is holy, and the com mandment holy, and righteous and good " [Rom . 7

If you 'dimensum es t : Vulg ate, oper a tum es t; Greek , u n m y au n

1 44 The Works Of H uldr eich Zwing li think I am n ow saying these things in order to defame that which is good , as if it were the cause of death unto me , you are wrong .

For the Law di d not kill me , but at the Law 's so showing I found myself dead .

For [Rom . si n "

"that it might be shown to be what it is , through the law , which is good , rendered me dead ; that through the law Sin (personification for the third time) , " (personification again) "might make itself the greatest of sinners .

That is , si n , seized with admiration of the Law, wanted to try all things by it, but only established the fact that it is itself a Sinner beyond measure .

This is the first part, in which we learn that we are noth ing but corruption .

The second part contains the battle of the flesh and the spirit .

There follows, therefore [cf. Rom . 7: 1 4-25] "For we know that the law is spiritual : but I ,

" to come back to myself, whom I had begun to set before you as an illustration , "am carnal, sold under si n , " like some Kap am , i . e. , poor, mean slave, who, like the enslaved Cappadocians, knows h ow to be nothing but a slave .

For, that you may understand my bond age, n ow that I have turned to Christ I see so much of the old disease still remaining that when I begin to do anything faults immediately so assail me on all Sides that there comes out a work contrary to what I desire through faith .

And SO it hap pens that "that which I do, I know n ot, " n or approve .

For what I had determined upon according to the counsel of faith , "that I do n ot ; but, on the contrary, I rather do that which I hate .

Now notice whether I accuse the Law at any point .

When , as I have said ,

"I do that which I would not, I Silently consent unto the law , and bear witness to it that it is good .

For I had myself determined to do what the Law bids, for the

reason that it seemed to me good .

When , therefore, I deter mine one thing according to the teachings Of faith , but do a widely different thing, "it is no more I that do it, but Sin that dwelleth in me , that is , the disease to which we are all subject .

For I know that in me , that is, in my flesh , dwelleth n o good thing .

-And think not that I mean here the flesh that we have in common with the cattle ( for who does not know that there is no good thing in Or what of importance would he have said who proclaimed that no good is in it ? That

The Works of Huld reich Zwing li

i s true and right, but when I try to follow it am dragged else where by this unclean way, * or rather impotence and death , of the flesh ! What God will grant me deliverance from this body,

"which Should more properly be called death than body ?

"v :

Thus far, dear brethren , I have been showing the discord ance between the Law and the Old man , and , rising from the Law and the old man to the old man and the new , I , have made of on e man two, the inward who obeys the Spirit and the old wh o never varies from his own law , that is, from self-love and -estem .

Between these you will ever find war .

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit , and the Spirit against the flesh self "

[Gal .

Hence continual battles . Sometimes the flesh wi ns and though it does not rout all the forces of the Spirit, it yet brings it about that we do not what we would .

As a result, W

Jr1 hough nothing may happen to him from external things, the life of a Christian 13 yet a continual battle .

And this so often saddens and troubles me and disturbs my pious vows , that, as I have just said, I frequently cry out in impatience and on the brink of despair :

"O wretched me ! who will free me from this misery ?

But now , in the third place , that you may have the Whole matter, I will Show you what conclusion comforts me in such straits .

Know, therefore, that when I have battled and sweated long and much within myself in this fashion , nothing inspires me with a more grateful sense of relief than the remem brance of Christ .

Laying hold on Him , I , who was very near shipwreck , joyously make land .

For I say to myself :

"The God who gave His Son for you can refuse nothing, and knows your weakness [cf. Rom .

Since , when you were once much farther away from Him , in fact His enemy, He took

you back into favor , much more will He save you now that His " Rom .

Then my fevers and fears begin to abate , and my soul to be at rest and my whole being to revive .

And when this takes place I gird myself Son has come to life again , for the thanksgiving I would make to God , my Father, through Christ Jesus our Lord [ cf. Rom . 7

But there are further battles— and this I mention that you may not in security and carelessness after one or two battles fall unawares into danger om : th e readi ng of the first and s econd editions and of the Egl i "m '

"power .

Fi nsler text, which Schuler and S chultes s sil ently chang e to vim , "

O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R eligio n

and after these still others , so that the life of a Christian seems to me just like a ship that is tossed hither and thither by a great storm , which the sailors now steer for a little with the rudder, and now are compelled to let run before the fierce gale .

And this I , if any man , have experienced in myself ; for, in spite of what I am , I find myself servi ng sometimes God and sometimes the flesh .

My heart persists in meditating upon those deeds which the Law of God commands ; it loves God, trusts in His mercy, is eager to please Him in all things .

And the flesh persists , nor changes its nature any more than does a fox or a wolf .

It at last makes me si n against my will , though my heart be unwaveringly fixed upon God in unchanging hope .

And I doubt not that, as what can happen to anyone can hap pen to everyone , your experience is the same as mine .

For as no one is exempt from this disease , so , of course , none is exempt from the battle .

In this matter , therefore , the sacred anchor , as it were , to which we must hold fast is in spite of everything by no means to let ours elves fall from the hope and glory of the sons and heirs Of God .

If we hold fast firmly to this [ cf. Rom . 8 : 1 -1 1 ] — to put the finishing touch to this problem— no condemnation can touch us ; but only on condition that we walk after the Spir

't and not after the flesh .

But, that you may understand what if ' is to walk after the Spirit , as far as that is granted to us while we sojourn in this world , note this : The Spirit of life in Christ, which by contrast may be called the law of the Spirit if on e pleases, through which I feel in my inmost heart that I am free

through Him from the just vengeance of God and made His co-heir , that Spirit, I say, has made me free from the law

. e. , from the power and necessity of si n and of death .

For when on account of the weakness of the flesh we could not be saved through the works of the Law, God sent His Son , clothed in flesh like unto our di seased flesh in every respect except the di sease ; and He condemned the disease which daily called out so many sins in us ; and He condemned it with His own flesh , that is , by Himself enduring death for us according to human weakness, that the righteousness of the law , which no man could fulfil , might through His help be fulfilled in us .

For all that He di d or bore He bore for us .

Hence, also, His

1 48 The Wo rks Of H uld reich Zwing li righteousness is our righteousnes s , if only we walk n ot after the " fles h , but after the Spirit .

For they that are fleshly do mind , medi tate, pursue, fleshly things ; but they that are spiritual meditate and pursue the things of the Spirit ; though faults often intervene, so that our life does n ot come out as we had fashioned it in the inward man .

The citadel must be stoutly defended, that we may not surrender ourselves wholly to the desires of the flesh .

Even though we understand that, against the will of the Spirit, we are frequently drawn by it into Sin ning, yet we must ever deny its sway, and ever open our eyes again , even though we have been blinded by the mists of the flesh seven times in the day, and ever look afresh to the Law, i . e. , the will of God, and struggle anew for blamelessnes s .

We must, therefore, be on our guard vigorously against scorning the desires of the Spirit and following the flesh ; for the desires and counsel of the flesh bring Speedy death , whereas the counsel of the Spirit brings forth life and peace .

The desires and thoughts of the flesh are enmity against God ; for it in no wise obeys the law of God, nor can it be made to obey .

Hence you can easily see what it is to live carnally and what spiritually .

To live carnally is to be wholly given over to the sway of th e flesh and to be averse to the Spirit ; to live spiritually is to obey the Spirit, never to abandon faith , even though the flesh some times is not free from the infection of si n .

They, then , that are in the flesh cannot please God .

But ye are n ot in th e flesh , but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you .

And it dwells in you if you trust in the Son of God, although for the time being you are enveloped in the flesh .

Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His .

But when Christ is in you ( to Speak with perfect clearness) , the body is dead because of the disorder of si n ; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness , n ot yours but His who h as been made your righteousness .

Such is the Christian that with respect to the body he is ever dead ; but when his heart clings to God, with respect to the Spirit he is ever living .

By these words of the Apostle I think the very perplexing problem with which we are struggling is cleared up , namely , how it happens that a blamelessness is demanded which we

cannot possibly offer, and yet Christ is the efficient guarantee

1 50 The Works of H uldreich Zwing li

si n , yet comes out vi ctorIOus because he does n ot surrender himself to it, but as often as he falls always rises again , sure that He who said to Peter that one must be forgiven seventy times seven times [M t. will Himself grant the full measure of pardon that He taught .

We see , to us e an illustra tion , that something not unlike this occurs in the grafting of trees .

The husbandman digs up a wild pear, and transplants it to rich , cultivated ground .

As soon as the stranger tree has taken root in the new soil , its top is cut off, and shoots of culti yated trees are grafted upon it, which then grow along with the trunk .

But see what different fruit they put forth !

The superior graftings bud, and render the farmer branches loaded with pears in due season .

But the trunk arms itself with thorns and with , rough shoots, which if not pruned away ven ture to produce fruit of their own ; and the more you suffer them to grow, the more strength is taken from the true culti vated graft .

We men are wild pears ( for I do not wish , after the fashion of Paul , Rom . 1 1 : 1 7-24, to talk of the olive, a tree unknown to the Germans and nearly so to the French) , and when we are imbued with the heavenly teachings we are planted in new earth .

For he that would follow Christ must deny

. himself [cf. Lk . 9 : 23] and listen only to what He orders or suggests .

And what is this but being transferred from the forest to the rich soil of a garden , transplanted from the earth to heaven ?

But see what great and hard things must be done here, or we essay this planting in vain .

The top must be cut off, i . e., our desires, wisdom , thoughts , designs , and in their place must be grafted heavenly shoots , 73

. e. , the knowledge and hope of things divine .

We are , therefore , grafted from on high ; and as the trunk grows along with the grafts, so our body retains its own nature, even though the heart be changed through the heavenly Spirit .

Then does the Spiritual heart bring forth the fruits that Paul describes in Gal . 5 : 22 .

And the flesh puts forth its vicious growths, just as the trunk does Shoots and thorns .

Yet, just as these are constantly cut away, so also must the faults that spring forth from the trunk of the flesh be continually and assiduously pruned off, that they may not grow to such dimensions as to be able to smother the cul

Now, the tivated fruit or to dwarf it by drawing away the sap

O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i on thorns are sometimes allowed to flourish on the stem that they may keep off the destructive goat until the tree grows high enough to avoid his harmful tooth .

S O, too , in us , when the heart is pious the sins that spring up perform some service ; for "we know that to them that love God all things work together for good , " Rom . 8 : 28.

But they do not render such service that they ought to be tolerated permanently, but only till the accomplishment of the purpose which the Lord wishes effected through them . David [II Sam . 24 : 1 0] had committed as shameless a Sin as was ever done among the Jews , but the Lord made use of his recklessness to keep him all his life from being puffed up .

S O also pious men who in their hearts cling to the Lord learn through the frequent springing up Of thorns, i . e. , through the flood of their Sins, to recognize their own weakness and to be humble , lest, puffed up with their own fancied blamelessness , they fall into the snares of the Devil .

Christ weaves this idea beautifully into an allegory in John 1 3 : 1 0, when He teaches Peter thus :

"He that is bathed needeth n ot save to wash his feet , but is clean every whit .

But , most wise Master , how is he clean or bathed who h as such dirty feet that they have need of washing ?

Ar e not the feet a part of the body ?

How then is he clean every whit whose feet are still unclean ?

Christ adds , therefore :

"And ye are clean , but not all .

" says the evangelist, "

"For he knew, "him that should betray him .

They were all clean save on e, because they had remained steadfast in faith .

Christ bears witness to this in Luke 22 : 28 :

"Ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations .

But Judas was unclean ; for he had already covenanted with the Jews to betray Him .

The rest of the Apostles still had defects , but these could not harm them as long as the citadel of faith was held .

When , therefore , the Apostles are pronounced clean , because they had not fallen

away from their faith , even if some dust had clung to them from walking in this high road of corruption , it is quite evident that if faith in God is safe and its power unimpaired nothing that can happen can destroy .

It is all washed away by that constant repentance of which I have spoken and by faith in Christ .

Paul deals with the same idea in Rom .

For after having said that "the body i s dead because of si n ; but the

1 52 The ,Wo rks of Huld reich Zwing li

Spirit i s life because of righteousness found in Christ, he adds , to prove his point :

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you , he that raised up Christ shall quicken also . your mortal bodies through hi s Spirit that dwell eth in you . " But He will only so qui cken that the body be for ever dead .

For thus he speaks afterwards [Rom . 8 : 20

"For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will , but by reason of him wh o subjected it in hope , because it is itself delivered from the bondage of corruption and restored " into the liberty of the glory of the children of God .

For we know that the whole creation , " i . e. , all men ( for thus Christ also calls all men in Mark "Preach the gospel to th e whole creation ") "alike groan and are in pain as long as they are n ow, i . e. , in this present time , living .

Even ourselves, who are the chief apostles (because we were the first to receive the Holy Spirit) [cf. Rom . no on e ought to except from this groaning and pain , for on account of the rebelliousness of the flesh we groan just as much as the rest, desiring to be released and to be with Christ .

And a little later he explains the groaning and anguish more clearly [Rom .

26] "Like wise the Spirit also aids our weaknesses .

By " here he means the spiritual man , who is so raised to God through the "Spirit

Spirit of God that he looks up to Him alone .

This Spirit of ours, then , which is nothing else than faith i n and through God, constantly grieves for our weaknesses .

For we see not what we should pray for .

For it often happens that we pray to be saved from poverty, illness, humiliation .

Then the Spirit , that i s, the faithful heart, maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered .

For what great pain , think you , is begotten in the heart consecrated to God when it sees the flesh— i . e. , man , hopelessly subject as he is to the flesh , i . e. , to self -love— forever praying for those things only which it selfishly desires— vengeance, or the favor of man , or wealth ?

Groanings, therefore , Spring up in the heart from this constant folly of the flesh , groanings which only he knows who is caught in these straits .

That this is the true meaning of this passage of Paul is proved by what follows :

"For he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the counsel or meditation of the Spirit

[ Rom . 8 :

That Holy Spirit through which we all breathe

1 54 The Wo rks of Huld reich Zwing li are always a sinner you yet never cease to deplore the u nfor tun ate propensity to si n and are always trying to fashion your self anew .

On the other hand , where faith is not, there no account is taken of si n or of the fear of God .

Let on e mean time make whatever pretence on e will , murmur prayers, fast, feed the hungry ; if one has n ot faith in God , all these things are Shams and the price of vainglory .

It is , therefore , the utmost blasphemy against God n ot to trust in Him .

From this then proceed palpable slanders .

"For the impious man says in his heart, There is no God " [Ps . 1 4 : 1 ] and in saying this he blasphemes also against the work of God, as the hypocrites did in the aforesaid passage in Matthew 1 2 : 23 -37 .

They seemed to the simple people most ardent worshippers of God, when they were His fiercest foes ; hence they blasphemed against the work of God .

For when Christ by divine power had driven the devil out of his human habitation , they slander ously said it was done by the power of the prince of the devils .

And this slander coul d have emanated from nothing but lack of faith .

For their n ot believing that Christ i s the Son of God was the reason why they spoke slanderously of His work .

And the fact that they were absolutely i . e., without God, was the reason why they did not believe in Christ .

For if they had trusted in God they could n ot have helped recognizing God .

It is, therefore , lack of faith alone , which we call i nfidel ity or disbelief, that is never forgiven ; for it never lays hold

of or worships God, never fears Him , never orders itself accord ing to His wi ll , never avoids si n i n order not to offend Him .

Piety, on the other hand , does so .

It clings constantly to God as its on e treasure , cleaves to Him alone , worships Him alone , hangs upon His nod , is on its guard against the things that offend Him , and when from weakness it h as been guilty of them bewails its error with troubled tears .

Here there is no careless indifference to si n , but watchful and faithful guard to prevent si n from creeping in anywhere .

There is n o watchman , there fore , so diligent in guarding you against sinning as faith . What

John says , I John 5 : 1 6 , about a si n unto death refers to noth ing else than disbelief, as is easily apparent to on e who looks at it closely .

" he says , "If, "any man see his brother sinning a si n n ot unto death , he shall entreat, and h e shall obtain and

. O u Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i on Shall give life to him , and , indeed , to all them that sin not unto death .

There is a Sin unto death : concerning that I do not command that one should pray .

But there is other sin that is n ot unto death .

Concerning this , therefore , you ought to pray .

For instance, when anyone wrongs another it i s a serious thing ; but the more serious it is, the more should we who are members one of another pray God to forgive an offence so great .

But, that the sin against the Holy Ghost and the watchfulness of faith may be more clearly understood , he adds

' know that whosoever is born of God si n neth not .

How is it, disciple beloved of Christ, that he does not sin who i s born of God , when you yourself say that no one is clean ?

Is no one born of God ?

For we all si n and ofl : 1 8] "We [I John 5

'end in many things , all of us .

Are we born of God , then ?

And you who have received the first fruits of the Spirit groan [ cf.

Rom . 8 :

Is it sin you groan for ? How, then , are you born of God ?

See, therefore , how the divine man answers and explains himself .

He says [I John 5 : 1 8] "He that is born of God g uardeth himself, and an evil demon toucheth him not .

Behold the watchfulness and care not to si n , and , when you have sinned , the anxiety to wash the Sin away with tears and not to sin again !

This anxi ety the unbelieving do not share .

Many persons may want much more said about the si n against the Holy Ghost, because the men of old involved them selves in so many ambiguities and sinuosities on the subject that they could hardly see what its character was ; but I am

content with the above .

For n ot even an angel from heaven by teaching otherwise [cf. Gal . 1 : 8] could make the faithful mind believe that there is any si n that is n ot atoned for through Christ .

This is what solid faith in Christ means .

It remains , therefore , that disbelief is the only thing that is denied pardon .

Now as to those impostors who, not to keep SIl en ce when they cannot endure that all sins shoul d be washed away through the grace of Christ ( for they would rather, though they cannot make atonement, yet for pay received seem to do so) — wh o, I say, not to keep Silence assert that Christ made atonement for original si n only, or for the sins merely of those who were before Him .

Their error mi ght be at once over

The Wo rks Of H uld reich Zwi ng li

thrown by that single proclamation of the Baptist [John "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the si n "

; for original sin is n ot the only si n in the world , and Christ takes away all the sins of the world .

Yet I would by no means pass over the veryclear testimony of I John 2 : 1 of the world -2 , that they may n ot be able to plead any excuse .

"Little chil dren , " he says, "these things write I unto you , that ye may not si n .

And if any man sin , we have an advocate with the Father , Jesus Christ, the righteous : and he is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only , but also for ' the Sins of the whole world .

With this testimony, then , I shall here be content, since it has been abundantly proved abovethat Christ i s the means of salvation to all .

The true religion of Christ, then , consists in this : that wretched man despairs of himself and rests all his thought and confidence on God, sure that He can refuse nothing who h as given His Son for us ; and that the Son , who is equally God with the Father, can refuse nothing, since He is ours . But false religion merely juggles with the name of Christ, having its hope elsewhere .

For, to wash away his Sins, on e man hires drunken singers , another monks to engage in empty psalmody ; one thinks to purchase blessedness by building pretentious churches, another by having costly raiment made for some saint ; on e rests on his own works, another on those of some body else .

In short, there are as many gods as there are cities , for each has some special saint to whom it entrusts its salvation .

So also Jeremiah laments , 2 : 28 :

"According to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah .

Almighty God , grant that we may all recognize our blind ness, and that we who have thus far clung to creatures may henceforth cleave to the Creator, that He may be our only treasure and our heart abide with Him [cf. Mt . 6 : 21 ]

So much on the chief and essential point of the Christian religion ; for I think this , such as it is , is enough to enable the pious to see where they should fix their hopes and from what keep them away .

The W o rks ' of Huldreich Zwing li

. But let us not laugh when piety hears shameless impiety speaking so wantonly .

This , then , I once said of the Keys : die when the body is destroyed . * "The word keys , in the sense it h as here, was transferred from keys that unlock to the setting free of the mind, because things that are hidden away and fastened keys "open and uncover .

In the same way one 's con 's self .

AS , therefore, things that are locked up cannot be got at without the proper key, so one sci ousn ess is closed and unknown to all but one

's consciousnes s cannot be released and made free unless it be done with the appropriate key .

This would be clear from the mere fact that God alone can release the mind, if we had to treat the matter by argument and illus trati on .

But let us hear what the mouth of the Lord our God says .

When , as we read in Matthew 1 6 : 1 5 -1 9 , Christ asked Of the disciples wh o they thought He was, Peter answered in the name of all, as also all had been asked :

"Thou art the Christ , the Son of the living God .

And Christ said to him :

"Blessed

art thou, Simon Bar -Jonah : for flesh and blood hath n ot e vealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven .

And I R say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will bui ld my church ; and the gates of hell shall n ot prevail against it .

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whats oever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven .

" Here the first thing is to examine the way in which they wh o trot out false and counterfeit keys , wondrously and artfully wrought, defend themselves with a " they ' club .

It is, indeed , just this :

"We see, sort of Hercules "more plainly than day that Peter alone made answer to Christ, and that Christ spoke to Peter alone .

Hence the Keys can belong to no on e but Peter and him with whom he may have shared them . say,

We must Observe , therefore , that as Christ had asked the question of all the disciples , so also Peter answered in the name of all , although the Evangelist makes no mention here of any other .

But John , 6 : 67-69 , makes men tion of all twelve when he records the same reply, thus :

"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Would ye also go away ?

Simon ' Under L eo X, the Fifth Lateran Counci l , i n December , 1 5 13 , con demned those who deny the i mmortal ity and i ndividuali ty of the soul .

O n True a nd Fal s e R elig i o n Peter answered him , Lord , to whom Shall we go ? "

( Notice that he said in the name of all , " not shall I "shall we g o,

"Thou hast the words of eternal life , and we believe and know that thou art that Christ, the Son of God .

" Now , if the answer , " deserved the promise of the Keys, as they certainly did , then the Keys were promised to all ; for all proclaimed Christ to be the Son of God , as we have "Thou art Christ, the Son of God , n ow seen here in John 6 : 69 .

And it is characteristic of the Evangelists that they sometimes attribute a speech to all the disciples in common , as Luke , "Lacked ye anything ?

And they said , Nothing sometimes to on e disciple , as here in Matt . 1 6 : 1 6 and in John 6 : 68, where both represent only

Peter as replying , but the latter manifestly in the name Of all .

Again , you will find that on e of them attributes to some par

ti cul ar one what another attributes to the di sciples in general .

So Luke " i . e. , Christ, "said unto them , Give ye them to eat .

And they said , We have no more than five loaves and two fishes .

"But he , "We have , were said by all ; though John 6 : 9 expressly assigns them to Andrew , the brother of Simon "

We see here that the words ,

att . and Andrew, He says :

Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men .

And a little later the Evangelist says of John and James [Matt .

4 :

"And he called them .

"Follow me where He adds nothing about the function of fisher, and yet they were all made fishers of souls .

So , too , in our passage no one "

So in Matt . 9 : 9 :

can doubt that what was said to Peter was said to all , especially as they all had the same idea in regard to Christ, as I have proved from John .

Mark 8 : 30 and Luke 9 : 21 also contain something that contributes to the matter, the second saying :

"He charged them , and commanded them to tell this to no man "

"And he charged them that they Shoul d tell no man .

; and the first saying, "

He commanded all to keep silence , because, Of course , all had confessed Him .

From all this it is evident that Christ promised the Keys not to Peter alone, but to all who on being aske recog n l z e that He is the Son of

1 60 The Wo rks of Huldreich Zwing l '

themselves believe what they preach to others .

Therefore, since He was about to send them forth to preach , Hewanted the point brought out clearly, n ot in order by asking to learn something He otherwise would n ot have known ( for He searches the hearts and reins) , but as an example to us n ot to lay hands hastily upon any man [cf. I Tim .

— He wanted the point brought out, I say, whether they held the right view of Him ; for it is especially conducive to the advance ment of the word, that is, of the Keys, if he wh o administers the word is no hypocrite .

And altogether He did in the promise of the Keys what everybody does in his own affairs .

Suppose you have twelve sons and ask them how they are minded towards the commonwealth ; and suppose they, delegating or according to custom yielding the office of answering to the eldest, promise to endure all things in its behalf ; very likely you will promise Cato ( for suppose that is the name of your first born) that for this judicious answer so worthy of your sons you will seek for him a wife who shall be of good char acter , beautiful , noble , rich , so that he may have the hope of an unenfeebled posterity .

Well , do you not propose to do the same for the others ?

Of course you will secure wives and dowries for all ; n or have you set up the first-born as lord of the others . So , neither was Peter by this promise of the Keys set over the others .

The right of the first-born , "Be lord over thy brethren " [Gen . 27 came to an end in Christ .

For He , being the only real Lord and Son , took away all mastery from us , and commanded that he who is elder be as the younger, and the superior as a servant .

Now I think it is firmly established that the Keys are not Peter 's as sole possessor or as lord of them .

And if anyone desires more, let him wait till we come to the section , "What the Keys are and when they were given " then it will be easily manifest that they were given to all alike .

The name of Peter was n ot bestowed upon Simon for the first time here , but at that first meeting in which his brother

Andrew had brought him to Christ, John 1 : 42 .

For then Christ said to him :

"Thou art Simon the son of John : thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation

Hence it is also probable that he was afterwards often called by

1 62 T h e Wo rks of H uld reich Zwi ng l '

of Peter in his first epistle , 5 : 1

-3 , they might have understood "The elders among you I exhort , who am a fellow-elder h ow rashly they scorn and corrupt the truth .

He says :

" (he is the colleague of the elders, not their lord or head : where , then , are those who fancy that the Christian Republic must fall to pieces unless some Single one be set over all ? )

"and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that Shall be revealed .

I exhort you , I say, feed the flock of Christ entrusted to you, being attentive and watchful , n ot of con straint, but readi ly and willingly ; n ot from desire for filthy lucre , but from kindness and inclination of heart ; neither as oppressing with lordship God 's heritage , but as being pat terns and examples to the flock .

Behold the grandeur of the Christian shepherd ! He feeds the flock with painstaking watch fulness does not us e constraint except so far as the word itself constrains ; looks not at profit, but does all things of a ready mind, i . e. , wi th faith and love of God ; claims n o lordship for himself, but aims at this on e thing, to be a blameless example to the flock .

The next thing would be to speak of the gates of hell , on which some have said much that I do not disapprove ; but I want to hasten on to other things, satisfied with this one observation , that the gates of hell signify the force and power of hell . For cities are usually so built that the towers , moats , ramparts , and all the fortifications about the gates shall be exceedingly strong .

Christ adopted this fashion of speech , wishing to teach that all the power of hell , all i ts fortifications and defences , were demolished by the advent of Christ , and that this same power of hell can do no harm to them that are in Christ Jesus .

For the Devil has been led captive in the triumph of Christ and his authority torn from him [cf. Col .

2 :

The gates Of hell , therefore , i . e. , its force and power , can do nothing against those that trust in Christ the rock , much less against Christ .

"For the prince of this world came and he had nothing in Christ, " John 1 4 : 30

For his hope to destroy Him and win the victory was vain .

There follows , therefore [M t.

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven .

Some contend that the keys were delivered here , than which nothing more

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

foolish can be said ; for He says , I will give , not I give , nor " as some of the Popes , falsifying the words , have had engraved on coins . * The Keys , therefore , are promised here , not bestowed .

Although some of the learned schoolmen openly proclaimed this , it was not laid up against them ; but "LO, take , now a man is declared a heretic who asserts this thing which " they say, "Christ said it, and what He said must have taken place .

Thank God that they have come to the point of attributing so much to Christ ; but I am afraid their wish to seem to attribute it to Him is not genui ne , and that it does not come from the heart but from contentiousness, which turns every possible thing into a weapon , even if it wounds itself .

For when they say,

the words so undoubtedly express .

But,

"Christ said it, and therefore it must have taken place , " they immedi ately tack on this :

"But we nowhere read of the Keys having been bestowed ; therefore they were given here .

They are right, then , when they say ,

"Christ said it, therefore it took place "

; but their weapon shall now be turned against them selves .

For, "We do not read of their having been given , there fore they were not given except on this occasion , " does not follow .

It can easily happen that a man who has been present at some business agreement or contract is absent later when the "He did not see the goods transferred or the money counted out ; there transfer is made .

Does this on that account follow : fore it was not counted out or else was counted out at the time of the agreement " ?

So also these persons , not knowing what the Keys are , know n ot when they were given ; for even if they had been present when they were given , they simply would n ot have un derstood what it was that was given .

They should , therefore, argue thus :

Christ said , 'I will give them

; therefore they were given .

Then we must see when they were given , instead of arguing thus :

"We do not know that they were given anywhere ; therefore they were given when they were promised .

But suppose we were so blind as not even to know Christ, much less the Keys ?

Here those who are so hard pressed on account of the future tense of the verb are at vari

"Coi ns of Paul II , Al ex ander VI , and Juli u s II bear th e l eg end, "Accipe cl aves regni ca el orum .

M any other i s s ues of papal coi ns Show cros sed

keys , or Chri st del iveri ng the keys to Peter, or Peter with a key or keys .

1 64 Th e Works Of H uld reich Zwing l '

ance .

Some of them say that the Keys were given to Peter at the time when Christ said , Luke "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail n ot : and when thou art converted , strengthen thy brethren .

How, I ask , is on e to deal with per sons of thi s kind ?

Christ

's only Object here was to teach the self -confident Peter that human powers are such that unless the Lord strengthen them all that we ourselves enjoin wi ll go to pieces .

Therefore He says :

"I have prayed for thee , that thy faith fail not .

For if He had not prayed, Peter would have fallen from the faith .

And this n ot only woul d have hap pened to Peter , but would happen every day unless the Lord with His hand upheld our weakness, so that we should not for even a moment halt in the faith .

But is this equivalent to saying, " ?

Christ is strengthening the wavering faith of Peter, n ot offering the Keys ; for they could n ot well be handed over then on the eve of the final struggle . But they say, "Receive the promised keys 'When thou art converted , strengthen they brethren ' shows clearly that he was set over the others .

That is the way contentiousness goes to work .

I am diligently trying to discover when the Keys were given , and you intrude , where you should n ot, new mention of precedence .

But see b ow out of place this is .

Scarcely has the sound of the words died away in which Christ utterly does away with all ambi tions aiming at superior place [Lk .

22 : 24 and do you venture to reassert what He had just forbidden ?

Peter was going to deny Christ more shamelessly than any other .

In order that this might not cause him harm by making impos sible his restoration to his former position ( for there was great pride in these things) , He foretold that he should be a prop to the rest, not because he alone remained steadfast in faith , for he did not, but because he was perhaps the only one who , on account of his inconsiderate promptness in promising , needed that Christ should point out the remedy before the diseas e which nev ertheless had to come actually came .

In fact, the faith of S t. John the Evangelist— i n my opinion , that i s— as far as we can infer from the Gospel writings , was far and away ahead of Peter 's .

For he went in , and b e secured for Peter an opportunity of going in [Jn .

Nor can the fact that he was known to the High Priest weaken my view ; for,

1 66 Th e Wo rks of Huld reich Zwi ng li of Apostle, thrice denied Him at the time of the Passion , n ow a triple confession Of love is properly asked of him , that the triple denial may be balanced by a similar triple confessIOn .

Thus the sin committed wi th words is cured with words , etc .

"Thes e men S O these writers .

But our opponents will perhaps say :

's testimony does not at all prevent the Keys from havi ng been "bestowed on this particular occasion ; for the reason why

Christ demanded the love was that He might be able to place the Keys in a worthy place .

To make plain , therefore , h ow these devotees Of darkness invariably becloud the light and

obscure its brightness , I will ask, in the first place (granting for the moment that the Keys were given then)

When Christ says, "Feed my sheep , what do you think the Keys are ?

Here they will no doubt be just as much puzzled as the Jews were when Christ asked them directly :

"The baptism of John , was it from God , or from men ?

" [M k .

If our friends say, "The Keys are feeding , inasmuch as He says , 'Feed my sheep , ( for what they say about dominion was demolished above by the words of Peter himself from I Pet . 5 : 1 -9) — if, then , the Keys are feeding , as they certainly are , h ow will it afterwards be made clear where the dominion and primacy rest, since the office of feeding with the word was entrusted

to the other Apostles equally with Peter, as is plain from John 20: 21 -23 ?

Therefore the Keys were not given on this occa sion , but before .

If, on the other hand , you say that "feeding "

" with the word , "refreshing is n ot used here in the sense of -time error of taking away the natural meaning of words and forcing upon them a new one which they cannot possibly bear .

This is plain from the fact itself and from Peter you will again fall into your old 's exampl e— from the fact, because the soul is n ot fed except with the word of God , as has been Shown above , and because man lives "by every word that proceedeth " [M t . from Peter out of the mouth of God 's example , because by "feed " with the word , as is shown by his insisting so stoutly on the word as to hold with the rest of the Apostles that "it is not fit that we should lay aside the ministry of the word to serve tables,

Acts 6 : 2 .

Also, because we nowhere read that Peter inaugurated anybody by " he understood "refresh

his own power or authority, but was rather sent out by other

O n Tru e and Fal s e R elig i on Apostles , as in Acts where he is sent to Samaria with John to aid Philip .

Furthermore , Peter did not understand by feeding " the making of regulations ; for in Acts the vi ew which Peter had advocated did not prevail .

But why do I tal k so long with these chatterers , when I see that all they utter they utter for no other reason than not to seem to get the worst of the argument by keeping Silent ?

This disease was depicted by some heathen writer who said a certain man

's object was just to talk , without caring what he said .

Christ was in the habit of dealing with the disciples as faithful instructors do ; hence they called Him Master and Lord , John

1 3 :

1 3 .

Though an instructor desires to train fitly all who are entrusted to his care , yet he draws out and questions or examines different ones at different times and places , and sometimes teach es a par ti cul ar one in the hearing of all , that all may learn together .

So Christ took Peter , though it was certainly the disciples whom Christ wished to teach two definite things .

First, that his triple denial of Him might not tend to Peter 's detriment, He asked him in the presence of his fellow disciples whether he loved Him , that when the disciples heard him doing this they might understand that Peter had regained Christ

's favor and was restored to his place , as h as been made plai n .

The other thing was that al l should learn by the example of Peter ( for all were sent forth to feed the sheep) that God demanded this on e thi ng in a shepherd , that he shoul d love Him and n ot hi m self, assured that he who loves God wi ll faithfully do His work .

Thus it is manifest that the Keys were presented neither here n or to Peter alone .

However , they were pres ented at the time when Christ , the li fe of the soul , having overcome death , rose again , as we see in John 20: 23 .

We shall here kil l two birds with one stone , as the saying is ; for first we shall Show what the Keys are, an d when that h as been done it will also appear when they were given .

Christ, then , metaphorically called Keys the delivering and comfortin g of the soul ; and these take place when under the illumination of the Holy Spirit we under stand the mystery Of Christ and trust in Him .

To loose , there fore , is nothi ng else than to raise to sure hope the heart that

is despairi ng of salvation ; to bind is to abandon the obstinate heart .

These things will be explained separately in the sequel .

1 68 The Works of H uldreich Zwing li The Keys , therefore, have a certain mark by which you can easily discover them when you look through the Gospel writ ings for them .

Christ gave a forewarning of this mark in Matt . 1 6 : 1 9, namely, that we are loosed and bound by them .

The first thing of the kind that occurs is in Matt . 1 8 : 1 7, when Christ orders him who sins with shameless persistence to be cast out like "a heathen man and a publican , at once adding :

"What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven .

It seemed to me at one time that the Keys were given here, as I taught in But since the question here is only about those who sin with shameless per sistence, and who having been cast out are taken back when they have mended their ways, I have been compelled to go further and to see if I could n ot somewhere find such Keys given as fit all cases alike .

But before we leave this point ( lest anyone should persist in dinning into our cars that the Keys were given here , as I have confessed that I once thought myself) , we ought to know that with faith itself as instructor we learn the Keys were n ot given here .

For the question i s simply about the casting out of the wicked and taking them back again ; while yet the Keys must be of such a character as to set free and comfort all consciences, and not those only who

have dared to sin openly with brazen face .

And if you ask , "Why, then , does Christ Himself put forth this law, the mark ,

" I reply that Christ uses it here as a sort of major premise , and then makes a descent, as the logicians call it .

For since by the word of God consciences that have n ot shamelessly prostituted them selves are loosed and bound, much more are those that have prostituted themselves to be bound , that is, to be avoided ; and again , when we see that by the pain of repentance they have been changed , they are to be taken back into the former as it were , by which the Keys are recognized ? fellowship .

It is, therefore , proved on the authority of Christ that this casting out, avoiding, excommunicating, of shameless sinners can righteously be done among Christians by the power and intent of the law of the Keys, in whose competence it is that unbelievers may be shunned, and just as much those who "S ee vol . I, p . 256 .

1 70 Th e Wo rks Of Huld reich Zwing li of the two wh o were going to Emmaus he says [24 : 1 3-35] that they set out on the very day on which the women had come and reported that they had seen the vision of angels . And after wards , when they were returning to Jerusalem , he says they

' i n the same hour in which Chri st had walked with them and they had recognized Him in the breaking of bread .

And when they had reached the city, they found, he says, the Eleven , who told them that Christ had risen and had left Emm auS appeared to Simon ; and the two in turn told also h ow He had appeared to them .

All these things are most clearly seen to have happened on the very day of the Resurrection .

There follows in Luke [24 :

"And as they thus spoke" ( notice "as they thus spoke , h ow clearly the words designate the time) ,

"Jesus stood in the midst of them , and saith unto them , Peace be unto you . he says, "

John does n ot mention the episode of the two going to Emmaus, but plai ntly indicates that the event*

"When therefore it was evening on that day took place on the very day of the Resurrection , saying :

" —the day, namely, on which He had appeared to the Magdalene , and she had told the news to the disciples [Jn . when those who after wards went to Emmaus had n ot yet started ; for when Christ was talking with them they told Him [Lk . they had been frightened by the report of the women who said they had seen a vision of angels, and these women could not have been other than the Magdalene and her companions, whose tale Mark [1 6 : 9 -1 4] describes vividly, at the same time men ti oni ng those wh o were going to Emmaus , and telling h ow, when they returned and said that Christ had appeared to them , some did not believe them .

" (afterward) Mark says, where our version has "Postea " ( finally) , as if that was the last appearance of Christ, though the Greek i s fla r epoy , which cannot possibly mean "novissime "— h e says , then , "afterward , "novissime , but "postea

" when the men returning from Emmaus had told what had happened to them , as the Eleven sat at meat on the very day Of the Resurrection .

For Luke says , "'As they thus Spoke , " and John "When it was evening .

Clearly it must have been quite dusky , for those who went to Emmaus had seen the day decline "i . e. , the event related i n Luke 24 : 36 -49 .

O n T ru e a nd Fal s e Relig i on "The di sci ples were glad , when they saw the Lord , with Luke 's words Next I will compare John 's

"But they were terrified and affrighted , and sup posed that they beheld a Spirit .

And he said unto them , Why are ye troubled ? and wherefore do questionings arise in your hearts ?

[24 : 37

John describes what took place after this that Luke describes , for Luke thought the behavior of the disciples when they first saw the Lord ought not to be passed over in Silence .

Therefore he says that at first they were troubled and began to question whether perhaps it was not the trick of some spirit that they saw .

Christ knowing this upbraided them .

See also Mark 's words [1 6 : 1 4] "He upbraided them with their unbe lief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen .

" And He said [Lk . 24 : 38] ( I return to Luke) :

"Why are ye troubled ?

And why do ye suffer your hearts to be filled with absurd questionings Then Luke adds :

"See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself handle me , and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones , as ye see me having .

And when he had said this , he showed them his hands and his feet .

And while they still disbelieved and wondered for joy , he said , etc .

Here is where John begins , saying :

"An d when he had said this , he showed them his hands and his Side .

Luke had said, " John added "his hands and his feet .

"side also , for Jesus certainly showed all the wounds He had received on th e cross , and Luke had said n othing about the side .

John continues :

"The disciples therefore were glad , when they saw the Lord , clearly explaining what Luke had

" namely , that, although they had been troubled in the beginning, yet as their "wondering for joy, said rather obscurely with recognition grew through his displayi ng his wounds their stupefaction changed to joy .

We will content ourselves with these notes , from which skeleton , as it were , it is clear that all three of these Evangelists are describing the same event of the same day .

Therefore , what John says [20:

"As my Father hath sent me , even so send I you , "

Mark expands in the words "GO ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation ,

" while Luke has It behooved that repentance and remission of Sins

" For this , should be preached in his name unto all the nations .

1 72 Th e Wo rks of H uldreich Zwing li finally, is the gospel , as has been Shown at length above . There

follows in John :

When he had said this, he breathed on them , and saith unto them , Receive ye the Holy Spiri t .

This Luke explained more ful ly, saying :

"Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the Scriptures ; and he said unto them , Thus a nd thus

( these words are to be understood deictically) it i s written .

And thus it behooved that Christ Should sufl

' er, and rise again from the dead ; and that repent ance should be preached, " etc .

And John , as usual , seeing that Luke had told with great fulness how and what Christ had taught the disciples through the Holy Spirit, con tented himself with saying :

"He breathed on them , and saith unto them , Receive ye the Holy Spirit .

But what else is it to open the mind or understanding than to inspire with the Holy

Spirit ? Moreover , they that were to spread Christ through all the world receive also the Spirit of Christ .

For as He had been sent, so also are they sent [Jn . therefore they had to have the same spirit, being engaged in the same work .

Now we are very near the mark by which we shall di scover the Keys .

For having inaugurated the disciples into the apostleship , and having given them His spirit , by which we might know forever that those who undertake to preach the gospel will labor in vain if they burn not with the Spirit of God , He presently discloses what they must bring to men to make them free , and says in Mark "Preach the gospel to the whole creation .

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not Shall be condemned .

"believe is used in this place and in many other places for It is not necessary to remind you that

Here , then , are the Keys which Christ committed to the Apostles , by which they unlocked the gates of heaven— they preached the gospel .

"trust .

They that believed the gospel when it was preached felt the deliverance and comforting of their consciences .

For the gospel , as I think has been said sufficiently, teaches us to embrace not only grace but a new life .

Furthermore , one does not begin a new life unless on e is disgusted with one 's previous life .

Hence Luke says -49] that Christ Opened the minds of the Apostles , that they might understand from the Scriptures "that it behooved that repentance and remission of

1 74 The Wo rks of H uld reich Zwing li ever shall not receive you , n or hear your words, as ye go forth from that man or that city, shake off the dust from your feet .

It appears here that to bind is simply to leave one to one

's error .

In this way Paul boun d, Acts 1 8 : 6 , shook off the dust against the Jews when they rejected the word, and went unto the Gen tiles .

So likewise Acts 1 3 : 46 .

To bind by the word is, there fore , nothing else than to abandon , according to Christ

's com mand, those who do not receive the word, and to have nothing to do with scoffers .

For the divine vengeance will be milder to Sodom and her companion cities than to those wh o, when the light has been Offered them , love the darkness better than the light .

The followers of the Popes still cry out that the Keys were delivered to the Apostles out and out, and that there fore the word cannot be the Keys ; for the word is n ot of the Apostles but of God, and what the word does, or God through His Spirit, cannot be bestowed upon man .

Moreover , since the Keys were delivered to the Apostles, clearly it is n ot the word that was delivered ; for the word is not of the Apostles , but of God .

I reply that throughout Holy Writ there are endless things that God has bestowed upon us which are so far from being ours except when communicated by His grace that they cannot possibly be in man 's power .

As when in Matt .

He says :

"Heal the sick , raise the dead, cleanse the lepers , cast "

Yet these things are as little in the Apostles ' out demons . power as it was in the King of Israel 's power to deliver Naaman from leprosy, II Kings 5 : 7.

And so, a little later on , when Jesus says [M t.

1 0: 1 4] "Whosoever shall n ot hear your words, " etc .

Yet they could n ot have committed a more serious sin than to have bestowed their own words upon men ; and blessed is he that heareth not the word of a man , for "in vain do they worship me , " he says, Matt . 1 5 : 9, "teaching the com " From these and countless other passages, I say, we see plainly that the most kind Father makes things ours which cannot be anyone else mandments and doctrines of men .

's at all than His ; but it is not strange that He so bestows them who gave us His Son to be ours .

How shall He n ot with Him give us all things [cf. Rom .

Now I think the real Keys have been pretty well cleared of the rust of human traditions , SO that anyone can see that they are nothing else than the administer

O n Tru e a nd Fal s e R elig i o n ing of the gospel , and the withdrawal of it where there is

"Would you catch a weasel asleep , or propose to teach your masters ?

I will not turn a hair, for He on whose word I rest is more ancient than the oldest and wiser than the wise men of today .

We know that though the human conscience can be set at rest by the faith with which we cling to God alone , yet it cannot be set at rest by human deliverance or absolution , as some have pro claimed .

We are taught by the word , administered , obstinate unbelief .

Let them snarl :

'tis true , by man , but we are not made sure by the word unless the Spirit of the Lord soften our hearts so that the word can be sown there and our hope planted in God .

It is , therefore , established that it is by faith , and not by absolution , as they call the made-up formula of Papal authority , nor by any sacrament whatever, that the inward man can be made secure .

For faith alone knows how much trust it has in God through Christ .

Away , therefore , and away quickly with these counterfeit Keys of the Popes from the Church of the faithful !

For by means of them nothing is sought but dominion over the conscience , and when this h as been acquired it Opens the way for greed to the treasures of all .

When it has Opened these , it takes all it wants , in order to have the wherewithal to minister to lust .

Hence a carnival of every kind of crime so unrestrained and so widespread that no tongue, no pen , can describe what a quantity of evils of every kind have been let out by these Keys .

Y ou committed adultery and then allowed your strong box or wallet to be entered wi th these Keys ; your adultery was noth ing .

You crushed the poor man wi th usury, and then gave something to the Keys ; your gains were holi er than a heri

's mother .

What but just before was usury , extor tag s from one ti on ate interest, and such an obstacle that you could n ot possi bly be saved ; what you had called poisoning, treachery , rob bery, perjury— all this the power of the Keys wiped away ; but hardly un less you firs t laid out a tidy sum of money .

Nay , the strange thing was that the more washi ng away they di d, the more efli caci ous for washing away they became, if only money was poured out unstintedly .

Wh o, by immortal God, is so blind as n ot to see that this folly could not have grown so ram pant without the wrath of God ?

But, thanks be to God , wh o

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