Of The Holy Catholic Church

Of The Holy Catholic Church

Of the Holy Catholic Church

INTRODUCTION

YHE SERMON ''OF THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH''

is the first of the fifth decade of sermons in Bullinger's series on the main aspects of Christian doctrine. The first two decades had appeared in one volume in 1549. The third and fourth constituted a second volume in 1550, and the fifth and concluding decade was published in 1551. A folio edition of the completed series was prepared in 1552, and translations were made fairly quickly not only into English but also into German, Dutch and French.

It is of particular interest to note the close interconnection between the Decades and the Reformation in England. The ninth sermon of the second decade was translated and published in the year of its appearance, and the translation carried a dedication to Edward VI.! Bullinger himself dedicated the two parts of the second volume to Edward, and the translation of the first of these was set in hand at once.? The third volume also had an English dedication, this time to Lord Grey.

The translation of the whole series was not completed until later in the century, but there were three successive editions of this translation, in 1577, 1584 and 1587.3 The work stood so high in the estimation of the Elizabethan leaders that at the instigation of Whitgift it was granted a quasi-authoritative position as the theological text-book of unlicensed ministers.

The question of the exact status of the Decades has been much 1 This was the sermon concerning magistrates and obedience. The translation was by Walter Lynne. See Zurich Letters, I, p. 396, n. 1.

2 Ibid., p. 415. The work was done by Thomas Caius.

3It is not known who the translator was, but Strype says that it was a 'person of eminency in the Church," Annals, II, 2, p. 144.

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controverted, usually for polemical purposes, but the following appear to be the true facts of the case.

In Whitgift's Register there may be found a record of certain orders drawn up for the better increase of learning amongst inferior ministers. These orders were apparently introduced into the Upper House of Convocation on December 2, 1586.4

The first of them lays down that all ministers "under the degrees of Master of Arts or Batchelor of Law, and not licensed to be a public preacher, shall... provide a Bible, Bullinger's

Decade in Latin or English, and a paper-book.'"? Each day they were to read a chapter of the Bible and each week a sermon of the Decades, and they were to summarize the contents in the note-book. Provision was made for the inspection of the note-book by authorized preachers, and for the punishment of those who did not regularly perform these beneficial exercises.

The whole scheme was undoubtedly an attempt to meet the vociferous Puritan objections against the many clergy who lacked suitable qualifications for a full preaching ministry.

It seems unlikely that these orders were ever formally passed by Convocation,* but there can be little doubt that they were approved, for in the seventh session on March ro the prolocutor of the Lower House "'prayed that the articles agreed on by the bishops for the increase of learning in inferior ministers might be read; which was done. And then the Archbishop exhorted all the clergy to do their duty.''® Again, on November 1, 1588, in a letter to the Bishop of London (probably designed as a circular) Whitgift reminded his reader that at the synod of 1588 "it was thought fit and necessary to me and to the rest of my brethren then present in that synod, although not as a judicial act or conclusion by the authority of the convocation, that the articles of the tenor of the copy herein enclosed should be put in execution by your lordship and all the rest of my said brethren the bishops of this province; forasmuch as it is like it will be looked for at this next parliament, how the same articles have been accordingly used," etc.? In the margin of the Register there is a copy of the articles which makes it clear that they are identical with the orders already quoted. From 4 Tom. I, fol. 131a. See Cardwell's Synodalia, II, p. 562.

5 The earlier records of Convocation were destroyed in the fire of 1666 (Cardwell, op. cit., Preface p. i).

6 Strype, Whitgift, I, p. 499.

7 Whitgift's Register, Tom. I, fol. 151a. Strype (Whitgift, I, p. 531) says that the letter was addressed to the bishops, Wilkins (Concil., IV, p. 338) that it was to the Bishop of London.

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this letter it seems evident that although the Decades were not legally imposed upon the Church, they were at least so highly esteemed that they could be recommended and accepted as a sound and reliable text-book for the purpose required.

The general structure of the Decades is not unlike that of the more famous Institutes of Calvin, and the fifth and final decade, like the fourth book of the Jnstitutes, is devoted to such doctrinal themes as the Church, the ministry, prayer, and the dominical sacraments. There are two sermons on the Church, the first and more important on its nature and characteristics, the second on its unity as the body or bride of Christ and the mother of all true believers. In the latter sermon it is noteworthy that Bullinger, like Calvin, has a high sense of the dignity of the Church and a keen awareness of the dangers of schism. With an evangelical interpretation he approves the Cyprianic dictum that outside the Church there is no salvation, and he insists most emphatically upon the essential unity of the Church and the necessary expression of that unity in external fellowship. The break from the mediaeval Church is defended on the ground that the upstart church of Rome has neither the inward nor the outward marks of the true Church.

In his discussion of the nature and characteristics of the Church Bullinger follows for the most part the orthodox line of Reformation teaching already laid down by Zwingli. He distinguishes between the invisible Church of the elect and the visible Church which comprises all professors of the Christian faith. He explains that the Church of the elect is invisible in the sense that it is known only to God. The two marks or notes of the visible Church are the preaching of the Word of God and the administration of the two evangelical sacraments.

Although the Reformed churches cannot trace an episcopal descent, their apostolicity is defended on the ground that they teach apostolic truth. But Bullinger shows how foolish it is for any church to claim inerrancy either in life or doctrine.

In all these matters he gives a clear and adequate exposition of the general teaching, but obviously he has nothing very new or striking to say.

Yet there are some interesting features in Bullinger's treatment. In the first place he preserves the traditional distinction between the Church triumphant and the Church militant. The Church triumphant consists of true believers already in heaven, and it is a single not a twofold body. The Church militant

'consists of Christians upon earth, and it is this Church which

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may be regarded under the two aspects of the visible and the invisible Church, the former being the totality of those who profess the Christian faith, the latter being the inner company of the elect or true believers. Again, it is to be noted that Bullinger does envisage exceptional circumstances in which true believers may be separated from the fellowship of the visible Church. Hence he cannot believe that membership of the outward body is in every case necessary to membership of the body of Christ. On the other hand he lays the usual stress upon the value and indeed the necessity of the external fellowship in all normal circumstances.

A further point is that in addition to the two notes of the visible Church Bullinger sees three marks or tokens of the invisible: the fellowship of the Spirit, a sincere faith and twofold charity. In the last analysis it is true that the Church of the elect is known only to God, but this does not mean that there are no signs by which true believers may be discerned. As a good tree is known by its fruits, so the genuine believer is known by the quality of his life and conduct.

The attitude of Bullinger to the Roman church is in a sense equivocal. In so far as Rome has preserved the forms of the Church, the Word of God and the sacraments, he finds it difficult to deny it all claim to be counted as a true Church.

But in so far as it has perverted the true faith he has no option but to indentify it as the church of the devil rather than the Church of Christ. The champions of the papacy are hypocrites in the sense that the Pharisees were, that is, they trust in their own righteousness of works rather than in the righteousness imputed by faith in Jesus Christ. In this they are to be distinguished from those hypocrites who feign an attachment to the evangelical doctrine, but without any inwardness of personal understanding. The papal claims to inerrancy, overlordship and apostolicity are flatly rejected.

By modern requirements the work suffers from the disproportionate attention to problems raised by the Romanist assertions, but in the circumstances of the time Bullinger could hardly avoid those serious and pressing issues. On the wider points, his introduction of the distinction between the Church triumphant and the Church militant is probably a source of confusion rather than of strength. In itself it is, of course, an obvious and a true one, but it has the disadvantage of obscuring the essential unity between the company of the elect on earth and the company of the redeemed in heaven. On the whole,

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it would appear to be preferable to include all the elect in the one Church of Christ, of which some are still members of the external churches, while the rest have already passed to their transfiguration.

Again, it may be questioned whether Bullinger has sufficiently grasped that unity which persists in the Church in spite of its twofold nature as an external and an internal body.

The point is that while true believers may temporarily or even permanently be deprived of their continued fellowship with fellow-Christians, the cases are almost non-existent where they are not in some sense members of the visible and organized

Christian community, even if only by baptism or the confession of their faith. Therefore although it is true that there may well be an external membership without an internal, it is virtually impossible that there should be an internal without an external.

The Church has its two aspects or natures, but there is only the one Church, and the point of unity is the common membership of all genuine believers. With all his insistence upon the high dignity and value of the external organization, Bullinger is in constant danger of conceiving of the true Church as in the last analysis a purely spiritual fellowship. On the other hand, the point is a good one that the elect must give perceptible evidence of their faith, for it enables Bullinger to avoid the twin dangers of fatalism and antinomianism, and it brings the invisible

Church into more living touch with everyday life and experience.

Although the sermon obviously suffers from its verboseness and inordinate length, it is well-composed and pleasantly phrased, and it is not marred by that harshness and jerkiness which characterize so many of Zwingli's writings. In fact, we have here a competent and quite readable introduction to the general teaching on the Church as found in Reformed circles in the sixteenth century. And since the issues raised are for the most part living issues of the present time, the treatise has still something more than a merely historical value and interest.

The present translation follows fairly closely the Elizabethan translation of 1587 as reprinted in the Parker Society edition

(1852). At certain points, however, the English has been brought up to date, and where there are divergences from the Latin, the Latin has usually been preferred, the Elizabethan versions being indicated in the footnotes.

Of the Holy Catholic Church THEstTExr The order and course of things so leading us,! next after God, the workman and author of all things, we come to speak of his most excellent work, that is, the Church. For so great is the goodness of our good God and most loving Father, that he does not desire to live happily and blessedly alone, but rather to bestow and pour upon us men, his beloved creatures, all kinds of blessedness;2 and that we should enjoy his goods in every possible way. And to that end he chooses to himself men who live in this world, that he may sometime translate them to himself: in whom also (even while they live here) he may dwell, whom he may enrich with all his goods, in whom he may reign; and that they should be called by his name, that is, a people, a house, a kingdom, an inheritance, a flock, a congregation or Church, of the living God. Of which Church (being aided by your prayers) I will speak such things as the Lord of the Church shall grant unto me to utter.

The word Ecclesia, which signifies a church or congregation,} is a Greek word, used and received among the Latins, signifying, as I said, a congregation, communion, or assembly

(in German ein Gemeind), or a people called together to hear matters of the common good; for that is how St. Luke is found to use the word in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts.

But it was translated to a holy use, and began to be called a congregation, assembly, or company of the faithful, calling (1) upon the name of the Lord. St. Paul says that he persecuted the congregation or Church of God, and in another place he says:

"T received authority from the high priests to bind all those 1 Lat. rerum cohaerentium.

2 The Lat. adds et bona sua omnia.

3 This clause is not in the Lat.

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that call upon the name of Christ."" Those whom in the first passage he terms the Church in the second he describes as those that call upon the name of Christ. Elsewhere the word

Ecclesia, the church or congregation, is indicative of a calling forth together; for in the Greek tongue éxxaAéw means to call forth. For God calls forth from all parts of the wide world, and from all the congregation of men, all believers and their seed,4 that they may be his peculiar people, and he again may be their God; that is to say, that they may be the Church of the living God. In times past the congregation or assembly of the Jewish people, being God's flock, was called a synagogue; for this word synagogue has the same meaning as Ecclesia, the congregation. But because of the stubbornness of the Jews, and the unappeasable hatred which they bear towards the Christian religion, this word synagogue is not highly regarded and has mostly gone out of use. But we will keep to our proper order and not discuss the churches of the Jews or the Turks, or other alien churches of the Gentiles,' of which we know that there are many sorts and kinds.(2) We will speak of the Christian Church and congregation of the faithful: that which the Germans call Die kirch, in allusion perhaps to the Greek word xvpiaxy. For the Greeks call Kuptaxyv anything which belongs to the Lord, that is, a house or a people, and similarly the Germans call die kirchen both the people of God themselves, and also the place where they assemble together to worship God. But first of all we will describe a little more simply* what the church or congregation is.

The Church is the whole company and multitude of the faithful, as it is partly in heaven and partly remains still upon earth: and as it agrees plainly in unity of faith or true doctrine, and in the lawful partaking of the sacraments: for it is not divided, but united and joined together as it were in one house and fellowship.

This Church is usually called catholic, that is to say, universal. For it sends out its branches into all places of the wide world, in all times and all ages; and it comprehends generally all the faithful the whole world over. For the Church of God is not tied to any one region, nation, or kindred; to condition, age, sex, or kind: all the faithful generally and each one in particular, wherever they may be, are citizens and members of this Church. St. Paul the apostle says: ""There is neither Jew

4 The Lat. adds ex hoc mundo.

5 Lat. vel aliarum exterarum Gentium.

6 Lat. paulo rudius.

Z.B.—-19

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nor Greek, neither bondman nor free, neither man nor woman: for ye be all one in Christ Jesus."

The Church is distinguished into the two parts, the Church triumphant and the Church militant.(3) The Church triumphant is the great company of holy spirits in heaven, triumphing because of the victory which has now7 been won against the world, and sin and the devil, and enjoying® the vision of God, in which there consists the fulness of all kinds of joy and pleasure, and concerning which they set forth God's glory and praise his goodness for ever. St. John the apostle graphically 9 describes this Church in his Revelation: "After this I saw, and behold, a great company which no man was able to number, of all nations, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in the sight of the Lamb, clothed in white garments,!9 and palms in their hands: and they cried out with a loud voice, saying: Salvation belongeth to him that sitteth on the throne of our God,!! and to the Lamb." And shortly after he says: '"'And one of the elders answered and said unto me: These which are clothed in white garments, who are they? or from whence come they? And I said unto him. Thou knowest, Lord. And he said unto me, These are they that have come out of great affliction, and have washed !2 their garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.!3 And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell over them. They shall neither hunger nor thirst henceforth any more: neither shall the sun shine on them, nor any heat; because the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall govern them, and bring them to the living fountains of waters.

And the Lord shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

Brethren, you have here a notable !4 description of the Church triumphant in heaven, triumphing truly through the blood of Christ, by whom they conquered and do now reign. For Christ is that Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, by whom all that are sanctified are and shall be sanctified and do live, from the first creation of the world unto the end of all times. And in a certain place St. Paul too gives us a notable description of this Church, telling us that we who 7 Omitted in the Elizabethan versions (E.V.).

8 E.V. add "still."

9 Lat. graphice.

10 E.V., 1584 and 1587, "'raiments."'

11 So Bibl. Lat. Tigur, 1544, and Tyndale, 1534.

12 E.V. "spread forth.'

13 E.V. add "holy."

14 Lat. elegantissimam.

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are still busied 15 in the Church militant shall sometime be translated into it, being made fellows with the holy angels of God, received among the orders of the patriarchs, and placed in the company of the blessed spirits, with the most high God himself and the mediator our Lord Jesus Christ.

For preaching the greatness of the grace of God brought to us by the Gospel, and exhorting us to receive the same with a true faith, he says: "Ye came not unto Mount Sinai, to a fire, to a whirlwind, a stormy tempest, and darkness; but unto mount Sion, to the city of the living God, to heavenly

Jerusalem, and to the innumerable company of angels, and to the church or congregation of the first-begotten which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the perfect just, and to the mediator of the New Testament,

Jesus Christ, speaking better things than the blood of Abel spake."

!¢ And therefore all the saints in heaven belong to our company, or rather, we belong to their fellowship; for we are companions and fellow-heirs with the saints from Adam unto the end of all worlds, and God's household. And this contains the greatest comfort in all human life, and moves above all things to the study of virtue: for what more worthy thing is there, than to be of God's household? Or what may be thought more sweet to us, than to think ourselves fellows with the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, of all angels and blessed spirits? This benefit, I say, Christ has bestowed on us. To him therefore be praise, glory, and thanks for ever and ever. Amen.

The Church militant is a congregation of men upon earth, professing the name and religion of Christ, and still 17 fighting in the world against the devil, sin, the flesh and the world, in the camp and tents and under the banner of our Lord Christ.

This Church again must be taken in two ways.(4) For either it must be taken strictly, in which case it comprises only those who are not only called but are in actual fact the Church, the faithful and elect of God, lively members, knit unto Christ not merely with outward bands or marks but in spirit and faith, and often by the latter without the former, of which we shall speak later. This inward and invisible Church of God may well be termed the elect bride of Christ, known only to God, who alone knows who are his. It is this Church especially which we confess when we say as we are instructed in the Apostles'

15 Lat. qui versamur.

16 Lat. loqguebatur, as in Bibl. Lat. Tigur, 1544.

17 E.V. "continually."

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Creed:18 "T believe in the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints." In these few words we understand that there is a Church, what that Church is, and what kind of a Church it is.

For first we confess that there always has been and is a Church of God, and that it shall continue for ever. Then, professing what it is, we add: ""The Communion of Saints.''(5) That is to say: We believe the Church to be simply the company of all those saints who are and have been and shall be, both in this present age and in the world to come, who enjoy in common all the good things granted to them by God. And we also express what is the nature of this Church, that is, holy, the bride of Christ, cleansed and blessed. For St. Paul calls holy those who are cleansed with the Spirit and blood of our God, of whom a large number have received crowns of glory,!9 and the rest labour here upon earth, hoping to receive them in heaven.

And certainly, in our consideration of the Church, the most important thing is that through the grace of God we are members of Christ's body and partakers of all heavenly gifts with all the saints;2° for we confess none more than ourselves to be holy.

Or the Church in the wider sense comprises not only those who are truly faithful and holy, but also those who although they have no true or unfeigned faith and are not clean and holy in the conversation of their lives do acknowledge and profess true religion together with true believers and holy men of God, approving and accepting virtues and reproving evil, and not as yet separating themselves from the unity of this holy

Church militant. From this standpoint not even the wicked and hypocrites (as we find that there were in the Church of the time of Christ and the apostles, such as Judas, Ananias and Sapphira,

Simon Magus, and also Demas, Hymenaeus, Alexander and many others) are excluded and put out of the Church, which Church may well be described as the outward and visible

Church. But this Church again must be thought of either in respect of its individual parts or the whole. It has to be considered both generally and in particular. And the particular

Church is that Church which consists of a certain number and is known by the name of some definite place: for it takes its name from the place, being called by the name of some city, like the churches of Zurich and Berne, etc. The Greeks called these

18 Lat. Hanc in primis confitentes symbolo edocti apostolico dicimus.

19 Lat. omits "'of glory."

20 E.V. "'with the angels."

21 E.V. '"'for we confess none to be more holy than our own selves.""

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particular churches zaporxias,(6) or as we commonly say, parishes.2? We call that a parish in which there are houses and streets joined together in a single locality. But both in town and country 23 the various districts are each allotted a church and parish priest to serve them, and the particular circuit is then called a parish,(7) in German, Ein barchi, oder pfarkirch, oder ein kirchhory.

And formerly the parish priest was a provider, for he provided and distributed necessities to strangers, chiefly salt and wood. By some he is called the maker of the feast, by others the provider of virgins.24(8) Therefore because the pastors of churches are as it were preparers of virgins for the redeemer and head of the Church, which is Christ, bringing to him a virgin chaste and undefiled; in short, because they themselves provided things most necessary for the people of God, preparing also heavenly feasts and banquets, the pastors of the Lord's flock are very well called parish priests, or the curates of souls.(g) Now it is of the particular church that the Lord speaking in the Gospel says: "If he that offendeth the church will not regard when he is warned, complain unto the church."

For the universal Church throughout the world cannot assemble and come together that the rebellious and obstinate should be brought before it: hence judgment is referred to be given to the stubborn by the individual churches. To conclude, the universal Church consists of all individual churches throughout the whole earth, and of all the visible parts and members of them. It is this which we sketched a little while ago when we spoke of it more fully.

But as we began to say, the catholic Church of God has continued with us 25 from age to age from the very first, and at this very time it is dispersed throughout the whole world, both visibly and invisibly; and the Lord's people and God's house shall remain upon the earth to the world's end. For there has never yet been any world,?° neither shall there be any age, in which God has not sanctified or will not sanctify some men to himself, in whom he may dwell, and that they shall be his flock and holy house; for the testimonies of the old-time prophets also record that the Church is perpetual. For it is written in the 132nd Psalm: "The Lord hath chosen Sion, he hath chosen her for an habitation for himself. This is my restingplace for ever and ever; here will I dwell, because I have chosen

22 Lat. Vulgas dicit parochias, alii et rectius dixere paroecias.

23 Lat. et in agro; E.V. "In cities and towns."

24 Lat. paranymphum.

25 Lat. ad nos usque decurrit.

26 E.V. Lat. seculum.

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her." And again: "I have sworn unto David in my holiness, his seed shall remain for ever, and his seat shall continue before me as the sun." But who is not aware that we have to understand all this of Christ, the Son of David, and of his throne and spiritual Sion, which is the Church? And he too, speaking of the continuance of the Church, says in the Gospel:

"T will remain with you continually to the end of the world."

And again: "I will ask of my Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, that he may abide with you for ever." To the same context there belongs that other saying in the Gospel: "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church"; a saying which is indeed a great comfort to the faithful in so many and so great persecutions intended to the utter destruction and overthrow of the Church.

But as Christ has always had his Church here upon earth, and still has, and shall have for ever, so too the devil, as long as the world continues, shall never be without his people in whom he may reign. This church of the devil had its first beginning with Cain, and shall continue to the last wicked person, comprising all those evil peoples that have been in the meantime and shall be between the beginning and the end.

But even while they live here upon earth, these have society and communion with those who are tormented in hell. For just as all the goods are one body under the one head Christ, so all the wicked are one incorporate body under one head

Satan. This may very well be described as the wicked church,

Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon, the congregation of Chora, Dathan and Abiram, a synagogue, school and stews of the devil, the kingdom of antichrist, or something similar. In this church are reckoned all the wicked and unbelieving, who separate themselves from the society of our holy mother the Church, or forsake its communion: and especially those who are mockers of God and his holy Word, blasphemers and persecutors of Christ and his Church. Of this number today are the heathen,

Turks, Jews, heretics, schismatics, and in general all those who are professed enemies of the Christian religion. And to these we may also add hypocrites: for that is no small offence which the Lord himself so earnestly persecutes and blames in the holy

Gospel.28 Amongst other things he says: ""The Lord of that servant shall come in the day wherein he looked not for him, and in an hour that he shall not know of, and shall divide him, and shall give him his portion with hypocrites, where shall

27 Lat. ecclesia malignantium.

28 E.V. "in every part of the gospel."

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be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Beyond all doubt he signifies the greatness of the offence by the sharpness of the punishment. This church follows the motions of the devil, and the devices and imaginations of its own heart, and is busied and exercised in all kinds of blasphemy and wickedness, in which it excels; and at the last it sinks down to hell, that it may be nowhere separated from that head to which it has so diligently or rather obstinately joined itself.

I know quite well that you will object that I have reckoned hypocrites to be of the outward communion and fellowship of the Church militant, and now number them with the company of the devil's church. And you will say that it is impossible that the same hypocrites should take part in two churches so different from each other,?° seeing that the Lord says: "Either make the tree good and the fruit good, or else the tree naught and the fruit naught." And St. Paul also says, that there is no fellowship between Christ and Belial, between light and darkness, between truth and lying; and that hypocrisy is lying and darkness.

Here, then, I see a suitable place to show by what means and to what extent I may reckon hypocrites to be of the congregation of the Church. First, we make a distinction or difference between hypocrites. For there are certain hypocrites who put their confidence in their human justice and equity, doing all their works openly that they may be seen of men, firmly trusting and stiffly standing to the traditions of men. To these it isa custom and property not only to fly from the Church which teaches the righteousness of Christ, but also to curse, detest and persecute it with all cruelty. Such were the Jews and Jewish

Pharisees with whom our Lord Jesus Christ had much contention, and with whom even today the Church contends and makes wars. These are the plain and visible members of the devil's church, and they are not to be reckoned with the outward Church,3° indeed they are not once worthy to be named in the Church of God. Again there are those hypocrites who are dissemblers, not putting any confidence in their own righteousness and justice, nor greatly regarding the traditions of men. (10)

Such people neither hate the Church, nor fly from it, nor persecute it; but outwardly they agree with it, professing the same faith, and participating in the very same sacraments; but inwardly and in mind they neither believe unfeignedly and sincerely nor do they live holily. Of these, some for a season will

29 Lat. diversissimis inter se.

30 Lat. vel exteriors.

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cleave to the fellowship and company of the Church; and then when the pretext arises they will fall from it as heretics and schismatics do and those who instead of friends become enemies. There are others who never fall from the Church, but keep themselves in the fellowship of the Church all their lives, outwardly pretending and feigning religion, but inwardly giving themselves up to their own errors, faults and wickedness: to whom the outward behaviour and fellowship is undoubtedly not of the slightest benefit. For those who desire to live for ever, and to participate in all heavenly blessings, must join in fellowship3! with the Church of God not only by an outward and visible society, but by inward communion and fellowship, in which there consists life and salvation: but of this we shall speak in the proper place. Such hypocrites or dissemblers, hanging 32 on to the ecclesiastical body, are called members of the body, and are said to be of the Church. And in order that you may all understand this the better, we will expound it in parables.

E We say that the wicked or hypocrites are in the Church in the same way as chaff is in the corn, although it is different by nature and is not corn. Again there frequently hang on the human body members which are dry or rotten or feeble.

Although these members have no society and do not take part with the living members in the vital spirit, yet they are attached and cleave fast to the living members, so that they too are called by men members and parts of the body. But in order that they may not infect the other parts, men cut them off, or sometimes they let them alone lest by cutting them off the whole body should be endangered. Now in the same way 33 we say that hypocrites are in the Church of Christ, although they are not united to the Church either by the bond of the Spirit or of faith and love, and they cannot be counted living members. But they are tolerated lest some worse mischief should befall the whole body of the Church. And frequently they are cut off in order that better health may come to the body ecclesiastical.

But let us hear what the evangelical and apostolic testimony says. The Lord says plainly in the Gospel that cockle grows up in the Lord's field, being sown by a wicked man, and he forbids it to be plucked up, lest the corn should be plucked up also.

31 E.V. "For we ought to live for ever and to participate all heavenly gifts with them that desire them, to join in fellowship," etc.

32 Lat. adds adhuc.

33 Lat. ratione ceria et suo quodam modo.

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Behold, cockle sown by an evil man (I say) by the devil himself, which is not corn, and yet it increases and it is in the Lord's field. Again, the Lord says in the Gospel: ""The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, which, being cast into the sea, draweth all manner of things up with it; and when it is filled, it is brought to the shore; and there men sitting reserve that which is good in a vessel, and that which is evil they cast away."

Behold again, how you may see both good and bad drawn in one and the same net, and therefore both good and evil are to be reckoned in one and the same kingdom. Also in another parable there enters in among the guests one who has not on his wedding-garment. He is tolerated for a time, but finally is expelled by the lord of the feast. In another place it is said that he has a fan34 in his hand and cleanses the floor and burns the chaff with unquenchable fire. For this reason35

St. Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians distinguishes between the professed and open enemies of Christ's Church and those impure men who are not as yet absolutely repugnant and adversaries to the name of the Church and of Christ. "'If any man

(he says) that is called a brother be a thief or a whore-monger, or a covetous person, etc., with such a one see that you eat no meat. For what doth it belong unto me to judge of them that be without? For God judgeth them that be without."

Without, that is to say, without the bounds of the Church, he places those who are not called brethren, that is, those who do not acknowledge the name of Christ or of the Church: within, that is to say, in the society of the Church (I mean of the outward Church) he reckons those who still acknowledge the name of Christian, and do not yet withstand ecclesiastical discipline, but who themselves are all the time defiled and spotted with much mischief.3¢ Of all men St. John the apostle spoke the most plainly, saying: ""They went out from us, but they were none of us; for if they had been of us, they had tarried still with us.' This seems to be a new kind of speech. For if those who go out of the Church had not been in the society of the Church, how could they go out of the Church? Therefore if hypocrites and evil men are gone out of the Church, surely at one time they were in the Church, that is, when they had not yet gone out of it but showed plainly of what sort they really were. Again, in that they went out of the Church, they show clearly that they were never really the true and living members of Christ and the Church, but they were numbered for a time

34 Lat. vannum aul ventilabrum, 35 E.V. omit.

36 Lat. sceleribus,

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amongst the members of the Church. The apostle gives us the reason; it is the disposition of the true members of Christ never to forsake Christ and his Church, but to continue and also to prosper and increase daily more and more. The saints and holy men do indeed offend or fall, but they do not forsake Christ utterly.(11) David having committed adultery and manslaughter, cries out, saying: ""Make me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. O give me the comfort of thy help 37 again, and stablish me with thy free

Spirit."38 St. Peter denies the Lord, and the weak flesh overcame a good spirit: but immediately (the Lord stirring up his heart) he repented, and departing from evil company, he adjoins himself to the good fellowship of the Lord, who foretold him of this great fall, and then added the words: "I prayed for thee that thy faith should not fail; and thou, when thou art converted, confirm thy brethren."' The same Peter also in another place when many fell away from Christ, being asked whether he also purposed to depart, answered: '"'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and know that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."

Hence St. John says very truly: ""They went out from us, but they were none of us."" He adds the reason: "If they had been of us, they had still tarried with us.' Therefore because they did not continue with us in the society of Christ and the Church, they showed by their defection and falling away 39 what they had previously been: we reckoned them to be members of the Church, but they by their falling away showed that they were chaff in the Lord's corn. For as chaff when it is not 4° stirred or fanned seems to be heavy with a grain of wheat in it, but when it is fanned it is seen to be empty and light and is separated from the corn, so hypocrites, by their light defection,+! prove clearly that they were never heavy with the seed of God's

Word, and that they were never the true corn of Christ.

From this we may gather the general and orthodox 4? opinion that all who are said to be the Church and adorn themselves with the title of the Church are not straightway the Church. For St. John plainly adds: "But that it may be evident, that all be not of us."43 We read how St. Paul says to the 37 Lat. salutaris tut.

38 Lat. spiritu principalt.

39 Lat. adds a nobis.

40 Lat. nondum.

41 E.V. "being light by reason of their defection."

42 E.V. "ancient."

43 Lat. inserts unde.

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Romans: '"They are not all Israelites which came of Israel; neither are they all children straightway, because they are the seed of Abraham: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called."

Therefore the faithful are the true and lively members of Christ and the saints. In the meantime, so long as hypocrites or wicked persons do not put off their visors 44 and declare by their sayings and doings what they are, so that they may be lawfully cut off from the Church, so long as they do not break away of their own accord and forsake Christ in the open field and fly to the tents of antichrist or the devil, they are known and taken to be inhabitants of the Church, and are called the Church and members of the Church, although God who sees the hearts of all men judges otherwise concerning them.45 Once again I will make the matter plain by an example. So long as Judas, the betrayer of Christ and manslayer, did not utter his crafty or rather most wicked device, either by open word or deed, so long as he did not forsake the company of Christ and the apostles, but preached and provided necessary household things for Christ, he was reckoned an apostle and steward of Christ, and indeed a member of the apostolic Church. Yet the same

Judas was described by the Lord as a devil, and when he spoke about the elect and his true and lively members Judas was most plainly excluded, so that there is no reason to doubt that he was not a member of the inward and holy Church of God, even though he was a member of the outward Church, being reckoned as of the number of the saints. Therefore those who said that there is one visible and outward Church of God and another invisible and inward did not speak unadvisedly.(12)

The visible and outward Church is that which is outwardly known by men to be a Church, by hearing God's Word, and partaking of his sacraments, and by public confession of their faith. The invisible and inward is so called, not because the men are invisible, but because it cannot be seen with the eye of man, but appears before the eyes of God, who are the true and unfeigned believers. For the true believers are the true and lively members of this inward Church, which I earlier called the Church militant in its stricter sense: but the other and visible

Church comprises both good and bad, and has to be taken in a wider sense.

Now since we have said that the Church militant upon earth is marked by God with certain tokens and marks by which it

44 Lat. necdum deterso fuco.

45 E.V. "do well enough discern them."

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may be known in this world, it follows that we must now speak of those outward marks of the Church of God. And there are two particular and principal marks, the sincere preaching of the Word of God, and the lawful partaking of the sacraments of Christ.(13) There are some who add to these the study of godliness and unity, patience in affliction, and the calling on the name of God by Christ, but we include these in the two already mentioned. St. Paul writing to the Ephesians says:

"Christ gave himself for the congregation, that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it in the fountain of water through the word." In this testimony of the apostle you have the marks of the Church, that is, the Word and the sacrament by which Christ makes to himself a Church. For with his grace he calls, with the blood of Christ he purifies: and he proclaims this by his Word to be received with faith, and seals it with sacraments, in order that the faithful should have no doubts concerning their salvation obtained through Christ. Now these things properly belong to the faithful and holy members. If hypocrites are not purified, the fault is in themselves and not in God or his holy ministry: (14) they are certainly sanctified visibly, and for that reason they are counted holy amongst men; but these

E things do not properly belong to them. On this point St. Peter does not differ in the least from St. Paul, for when he preached the Word of God to the people of Jerusalem, and they demand what they should do, Peter answers: ""Repent, and be ye every one baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.' Therefore St. Peter conjoined baptism with doctrine, the sacrament with the Word.(15) He had learned this from our Saviour himself in the Gospel written by St. Matthew, saying: '"Teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."? So that in the Acts you do not read of any other tokens of the Church than those of the Word and sacraments as in the words: ""They continued in the doctrine of the apostles, and in doing almsdeeds,#® and in breaking of bread, and prayer': where you can see the Supper of the Lord, another sacrament, adjoined to the sacrament of baptism, and also the desire and study of unity and love, and calling upon the name of God.

These things are clear and firm enough, but I will add other testimonies out of the Holy Scriptures. Concerning the token of God's Word, or the preaching of the Gospel, the Lord himself speaks by Isaiah the prophet saying: "I will make this covenant i 46 Lat. beneficentia. a

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with them, My Spirit that is come upon thee (the Church), and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall never go out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed,47 nor out of the mouth of thy children's children, saith the Lord, from this time forth for evermore.'' For in the Gospel, too, the Lord

Jesus says: ""He that is of God doth hear the word of God," and again: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and I give to them everlasting life; and they shall not perish for ever," and again: "'He that loveth me will keep my commandments; he that loveth me not will not keep my commandments," and again: ''Whoso is of the truth will hear my voice."

Now concerning the marks and tokens of the sacraments St.

Paul speaking of holy baptism says: "Through one Spirit we are all baptized in one body.''48 And speaking of the Lord's

Supper he says: ""Though we be many, yet are we one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of the same bread. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless partaking of the blood of Christ?"? Therefore being approved 49 by testimonies of Holy

Scriptures, it is most certain that the outward marks and tokens of the Church are the Word and sacraments. For these bring us into the society of one body ecclesiastical, and keep us there.

Now properly (as I said earlier) all these testimonies belong to the elect members of God, who are endued with faith and true obedience. They do not properly belong to hypocrites who are without faith and due obedience. Yet because these too hear the voice of the shepherd outwardly, and ensue virtue, and openly or outwardly are annexed to the elect and true believers in the partaking of the sacraments, indeed, to the true body of Christ, for the sake of the outward signs they are reckoned to be in the Church so long as they do not depart from it. On this point, for the sake of perspicuity, having treated of the marks of the Church, we must now add that it is as a common rule? that these marks declare and note the members of the Church. For there are certain special members who although they lack these marks are not excluded from the society and communion of the true Church of Christ. For it is most certain that there are many in the world who do not hear the ordinary preaching of God's Word, or come into the company of those that call upon God, or receive the sacraments: not because they despise them, or find pleasure in being absent from sermons and the preaching of God's Word,5! but because

47 E.V. omit this clause.

48 Lat. in unum corpus.

49 Lat. traditum.

50 Lat. lege communi.

51 Lat. omits ''and .

. God's Word."'

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through necessity, such as imprisonment or sickness or the constraint of other evils, they cannot attain to that which they earnestly desire; and yet for all that they are true and lively members of Christ and of the catholic Church. In times past the Lord instituted or appointed to 52 the people of Israel a visible Church which he established by a certain law and set forth by visible signs. If any man despised this Church, or refused when he was able to hear the doctrine of the Church, or to enter in among the holy company and do sacrifice, or railed at it, or instead of the appointed order of worshipping

God embraced some other kind, he was certainly not reckoned to be of the order and number of the people of God. And yet it is certain that there was an innumerable company of men dispersed throughout the whole world among the Gentiles who never did or could communicate with this visible company and congregation of God's people, and yet they were still holy members of this society and communion, and the friends of almighty God. There were a great many of the children of God with Joachim and Jechoniah taken prisoners by Nebuchadnezzar and brought captive to Babylon, to whom it was no prejudice or hurt that they were separated from the people of God, who still had the temple and visible worship at Jerusalem under Zedekiah: just as indeed it was of little value to a great many to be in the visible companies and congregations with the people of God in God's temple, when their minds and hearts were not sound and perfect. In these days we may find a great many of the faithful dispersed on the seas, condemned to the galleys for the profession of the true faith. We may find many held in captivity under antichrist, of whom we will speak in the next sermon. We may find also a great many in Greece, Natolia, Persia, Arabia or Africa, who are the servants of Jesus Christ and worthy members of the catholic

Church of Christ, but excluded and debarred from the holy mysteries 53 of Christians through the impiety and cruelty of Mahomet. Yet we shall find them most closely joined together in one spirit and one faith with all the members of the Church who are also marked with the visible signs. Therefore the Word and sacraments are by common decree the marks of the Church, but they do not separate or mark off from the communion and society of the faithful those believers who by some necessity are shut out from the visible company of the faithful. (16) 52 Lat. in populo.

53 Lat. a sacris.

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But to the perfect understanding of the marks of the Church there belongs this also, and principally: that it is not enough to brag about the Word of God or about Scripture unless we also embrace and retain and uphold the true sense and that which agrees with the articles of the faith. For if you corrupt the sense of Scripture and urge the same in the Church, then you do not bring forth genuine Scripture itself, but your own opinion and the fancies which you have devised in your own mind. The church of the Arians did not refuse the Word of the Lord, but rather laboured to adorn and defend their own blasphemous errors by the testimonies of Holy Scripture. That church denied our Lord Jesus Christ to be of one substance with God the Father, which the sense of Scripture and the orthodox faith both affirmed and urged as one of the principal points of our faith. Hence it did not allege the sincere and pure Word of God, however much it boasted of it, but an adulterated word, thrusting in and defending its own heretical opinion instead of the true and perfect meaning of Holy Scripture. Therefore it did not have the true mark of the Church and it was not the true Church of God. By this one unhappy example we may judge all other heretical churches, for although they may not seem to be without the testimony of God's Word, yet in fact they have no purity of God's Word in them.(17)

What we have said concerning the Word of God has necessarily to be understood of the use of the sacraments as well: for unless they are used orderly and lawfully, in the order in which the Lord himself instituted them, they are not marks or signs of the Church of God. Jeroboam sacrificed truly, indeed he sacrificed to God, but because he did not sacrifice lawfully he was reckoned a stranger and an apostate from the true

Church of God. Indeed, David himself brought the ark of the Lord with great devotion and much joy and melody, but because he did not carry it lawfully on the shoulders of the priests, at once instead of great joy the great sorrow which followed declared that it is not enough to use the sacraments and ordinances of God unless you use them lawfully; and if you do, God will acknowledge you as his. Moreover those who formerly were baptized by heretics were not baptized again by the old catholics, because the heretics did not baptize into the name of any man, or into the society of their errors 54 or heresies, but baptized ''in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and they did not invocate

54 Lat. ignorantiae.

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their own name or the name of arch-heretics, but of Jesus Christ. It was not the baptism of heretics which they did not refuse, but the baptism of the Church administered by heretics.

Therefore they did not allow that the churches of heretics may be recognized as true by true signs, but they acknowledged that heretics use things which properly 55 belong to the true

Church. And it does not in any way derogate or take from a good thing simply because a wicked or evil man administers it.(18) Today we do not acknowledge the upstart Romish church of the pope (we are not speaking now of the old apostolic Church) to be the true Church of Christ, but we do not rebaptize those who were baptized by priests imbrued with popish corruption, for we know that they are baptized with the baptism of Christ's Church and not of the pope, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to the articles of the catholic faith, not to errors and superstitions and papistical impieties. Finally we confess that today the unworthiness of the minister cannot derogate at all from the service of God.5¢ Similarly we do not refuse the Lord's Prayer or the Apostles' Creed or finally the canonical Scriptures themselves simply because the Romish church also uses them, for that church does not have them of itself, but received them from the true Church of God. Hence we use them in common with it, not for the Romish church's sake, but we use them because they came from the true Church of Christ. (19) Apart from these outward marks of the Church which true believers have in common with hypocrites, there are certain inward marks which belong specially to the godly alone: or if you prefer, call them rather bonds or peculiar gifts. It is these which make the outward marks to be fruitful and make men worthy and acceptable in the sight of God if for some necessary cause the outward marks are absent. For without them no man can please God. Therefore in them we have the true mark 57 of God's children. They are the fellowship of God's

Spirit, a sincere faith, and twofold charity, for by these the faithful, as true and lively members of Christ, are united and knit together, first to their head Christ, and then to all members of the body ecclesiastical. And the consideration of this point belongs chiefly to the knowledge of the true Church of God, which although it tolerates rotten members is not defiled by them through their outward conjunction, for by continual study it labours by all means to keep itself undefiled to God. And 55 Lat. peculiariter, 56 Lat. ret divinae.

57 Lat. typus.

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first of all the evangelical and apostolic doctrine teaches us that Christ is joined to us by his Spirit, and that we are tied to him in mind or spirit by faith, that he may live in us and we in him. For the Lord cries out in the Gospel saying: "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth in me (as the scripture saith) shall have streams of living water flowing out of his body." To which saying the evangelist at once adds: "'But this he spake concerning the Spirit, which they should receive that believed in him.' Again, in his Gospel, promising his Spirit to his disciples and indeed to all his faithful, who was to abide with them for ever, he says: "In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you, that is, by the Holy Ghost'': John the apostle expounding and saying: "'By this we know that he dwelleth in us, by the Spirit that he gave unto us', and again; "By this we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given of his Spirit unto us."' St. Paul, the vessel of election, does not differ from St. John, writing and saying to the Romans: "If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his. And whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God." Now as touching true faith, which binds us to the Lord, St. Paul says: "I live now, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. But the life which I now live in the flesh, I live yet through the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.' And again he says: "'Christ dwelleth in our hearts through faith." In agreement again with these sayings, St.

John the apostle says: ''Whosover confesseth that Jesus Christ 58 is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." For earlier in the Gospel the Lord himself said: ''He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him"; and it is he who believes who eats the flesh of Christ and drinks

Christ's blood. Therefore Christ our Lord is joined unto us in spirit, and we are tied to him in mind and faith, as the body to the head. Therefore those who lack this knot and bond, that is, who have not the Spirit of Christ, nor true faith in Christ, are not the true and lively members of Christ, the Lord himself in the Gospel again witnessing and saying: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and withereth; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they burn."

In imitation of these words of our Saviour the apostle (as we have just quoted) says: "He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his.'' But those who are not destitute of the Spirit

58 Lat. omits ''Christ''.

Z.B.—20

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of Christ are inflamed with the love of God. Nor do we separate love from faith,(20) for the same St. John teaches us the second time and says: "'God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." For the Lord says in the Gospel: "If a man love me, he will keep my word; and my

Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and will dwell with him."

But although, strictly, faith joins us to our head Christ, yet it also knits us to all Christ's members upon earth. For since there is amongst them only one faith, and therefore the same

Spirit, there can only be the same mouth, the same mind and the same sentence, even though faith be understood not only as a confidence in the mercy of God through Christ, but also as an outward confession of faith. For as we all confess one faith and one and the same head, with one spirit and mouth we also profess together that we are all members of one and the same body. Nor is there anything in the world that more unappeasably dissevereth the minds of men than the diversity of faith or religion; and therefore there is nothing that can more closely join us together than unity of faith. (21)

We now come to speak of love, which, I said, joins together the members of the body ecclesiastical mutually among themselves. The Lord says in the Gospel: ""A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." There is therefore no doubt that after faith the only mark of the Church is love, a bond which most firmly knits together all the members. It grows from the communion of Christ and unity of the Spirit. For since Christ, the king, the head and high bishop of the catholic Church, enduing us all with one and the same

Spirit, has made us all his members, the sons of God, brethren and fellow-heirs, whom without doubt he tenderly loves, the faithful man can only with fervent love embrace the members and fellow-heirs of their king, their head and their high bishop.

For John the apostle says: "Every one that loveth him that begat, doth love him also that is born of him. If any man say,

I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for how can he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, love God whom he hath not seen?" Paul, in order most properly to express for us and as it were to set before our eyes this unity and agreement of the members, uses a parable taken from the members of a man's body, saying: "For as we have many members in

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one body, and all members have not one office; so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one one another's members." In the twelfth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians he expounds more fully and plainly the conjunction of the heads and members, and that mainly by the same parable of the members of a man's body, expressing it very eloquently,

5° and witnessing that between the highest members of the Church and the lowest there is a great and fitting agreement, and also a diligent care, and assistance which is both continual and most faithful. From all this it appears that the marks of the true and lively Church of Christ are the communion of the Spirit of Christ, sincere faith, and Christian charity, without which no man is a partaker of this spiritual body. And by these things you may easily judge whether you are in the fellowship of the Church or not.

Moreover, from what we have already discussed concerning the marks of Christ's Church we gather what is the source of the Church and how it is planted, propagated and preserved.

Its source is heavenly, for St. Paul speaking of the Church says:

"Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Therefore he calls the Church heavenly, not because it dwells completely in heaven, but because although it is on earth it has a heavenly beginning. For the children of God are not born of flesh and blood, but from heaven, by the renewing of the Holy Spirit, who through the preaching of God's

Word plants faith in our hearts, by which faith we are made the true members of Christ and his Church. For Peter says:

"Ye are born anew, not of mortal seed, but of immortal, by the word of God, which liveth and lasteth for ever.'' And Paul says: "I begat you in Christ Jesus through the gospel." And in another place the same apostle says: 'Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing cometh by the word of God."

Therefore since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, and that distinctly, the Church cannot possibly spring up or be built up by the decrees and doctrines of men.

Hence we affirm that only the Word of God is apt for the building up of the Church of God. The doctrines of men set up the churches of men, but Christ's Word builds up the Christian

Church. For the doctrines of men proceed from flesh and blood.

But Peter, confessing Christ with a true faith, and therefore grounded upon Christ who is the foundation of the Church, heard these words from Christ himself: "'Flesh and blood hath

59 Lat. elegantissime expoliens.

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not revealed these things unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.' And therefore Paul says: ''When it pleased God that I should preach his Son among the Gentiles, I conferred not of the matter with flesh and blood," etc. And obviously excluding all doctrines of men from the setting up and establishing of faith and the Church, and commending only the Word of God, he says to the Corinthians: 'My word and preaching stood not in the enticing speech of man's wisdom, but in plain evidence of the Spirit, and of power; that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The following testimonies of Christ are also relevant: "He that is of God heareth God's word." Again: "He that is of the truth will hear my voice." And again, more plainly, he says: ""The sheep will follow the shepherd, because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.'' But under the voice of strangers we include all the decrees of men which differ from the doctrine of Christ. To these the apostle Paul attributes the shape of wisdom, but he denies to them the truth, and calls them superstitious. For our Lord himself in the Gospel quotes from the prophet Isaiah that immutable °° saying: ""They worship me in vain, teaching for doctrines men's precepts." Therefore let us hold that the Church is not built by man's decrees, but founded, planted, assembled and built only by the Word of Christ.

We add that the Church of God is undoubtedly preserved by the same Word of God, lest at any time it should be seduced or should slip and perish, and that it can never be preserved by any other means. To this Paul again witnesses, saying: "Christ hath given some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the gathering together of the saints, for the work of the ministry (that is to say, to teach and preach the word), and for the edification of the body of Christ; till we all meet together in the unity of faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, and unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children, wavering and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the deceit of men (I ask you to note how the doctrines of men are again condemned with great and inviolable authority) and with craftiness, whereby they lay in wait to deceive. But let us follow the truth in love, and in all things grow up into him which is the head, that is,

60 Lat. irrefragabile.

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Christ; by whom all the body being coupled and joined together by every joint, for the furniture thereof (according to the effectual power which is in the measure of every part) receiveth increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." These words of the apostle are so plain that they do not need any better exposition than that which they have in themselves.

In this place, too, we ought properly to state the order and directing of the Church by the Word of God, that which many describe as the ministry of the Word or the Church: but we will speak of this (God willing) in the third sermon. In this place it will be sufficient to defend the truth that having given teachers to the Church our Lord God founds, builds, maintains and enlarges the Church by his Word and his Word alone.

Two things now call for consideration. The first is that by reason of the continual and constant study of the Word of God the Church of God is called prophetic and apostolic, and also orthodox. For it is called prophetic and apostolic because by the labour of the prophets and apostles it was first built, and by their doctrine it is preserved even to the present time and shall be propagated even to the end of the world. It is called orthodox because it is sound of judgment, opinion and faith. For without the Church there is no true faith, nor perfect doctrine concerning true virtue and felicity. The faith and doctrine of the Church was revealed from heaven by God himself through Adam and the patriarchs, through Moses and the prophets, through Christ and the apostles. For that reason the Church is also called a mother, of which we shall treat in the next sermon. (22) Second, the succession of doctors or pastors of the Church does not prove anything of itself without the Word of God.

The champions and defenders of the papistical church boast that they have a most certain mark of the apostolic Church, that is, in the continual succession of bishops which derives from Peter by Clement the First, and so to Clement the Seventh, and to Paul the Third who died recently, and so continuing to Julius the Third, who has only just been created pope.(23)

Moreover they add that all those members are cut off which separate themselves from that church in which alone that apostolic succession is found. And we do not deny that the right succession of pastors was of great weight in the primitive Church.

For those who were then called pastors were pastors indeed, and executed the office of pastors. But what kind of pastors those have been for some time who out of the rabble of cardinals,

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mitred bishops and sophisters have been called pastors of the church of Rome, only those are ignorant who are altogether without understanding. The prophet Zechariah heard these words spoken to him by the Lord: '""Take to thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd; for lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not look for the thing that is lost, nor seek the tender lambs, nor heal that that is hurt, nor feed that that standeth up: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their hoofs in pieces. Woe be to the idol ®! shepherd that forsaketh the flock," etc. Therefore by their continual succession of bishops who do not teach the Word of God sincerely or execute the office and duty of pastors, these men do not prove any more than if they were to set before the eyes of the world a company of idols. For who dare deny that many, indeed the majority of bishops of Rome since Gregory the Great were idols and wolves and devourers like those described by the prophet

Zechariah? I ask then, what can the continual succession of such false pastors prove? Indeed, did not the later ones fill almost the whole Church with the traditions of men, and partly oppress the Church of God, and partly persecute it? In the ancient church of the Israelites there was a continual order of succession of bishops, without any interruption from Aaron to Urias, who lived under Ahaz, and to other wicked highpriests who also fell away from the Word of God to the traditions of men, and indeed to idolatry. But for all that, that succession did not prove the idolatrous high-priests, with the church which adhered to them, to be the true high-priests of God and the true Church of God. For the true prophets of God, the sound and catholic fathers,®2 who preached the Word of God alone apart from and indeed clean against all the traditions of men, were not able to reckon up any succession of priests to whom they themselves succeeded. Yet in spite of that, they were most excellent lights, and worthy members of the Church of God, and those who believed their doctrine were neither schismatics nor heretics, but even to this day are acknowledged to be the true Church of Christ. When Christ our Lord, the blessed Son of God, taught here on earth and gathered together his Church, the succession of high-priests ranged itself with his adversaries: but that did not mean that they were the rulers of the true Church of God, and Christ of the heretical church. The apostles of our Lord could not per oi 61 E.V. have "'idle"', an error which is no doubt due to sheer carelessness.

62 Lat. virt.

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gil allege for themselves and their doctrine an unbroken succession of high-priests: for they were ordained by the Lord, who was also himself created of God the High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek, outside the succession of the order of Levi. Yet the Church which was gathered by them is acknowledged by all to be the true and holy Church. The apostles themselves would not allow any to be counted their true followers ®3 and successors but those who walked uprightly in the doctrine and way of Christ: for the saying of Paul is notable and manifest: "Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ."

And though he speaks these words to all the faithful, and not only to the ministers of God's Word, yet he would have the latter his followers like all other Christians, that is to say, every man in his vocation and calling. The same apostle, speaking at Miletum to the bishops of Asia, says amongst other things:

"T know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Moreover, of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things, to draw disciples after them." It is from the apostolic Church itself, indeed from the company or assembly of apostolic bishops and pastors, that Paul the apostle fetches out the wolves and devourers of the Church. But do you not think that these could have alleged the apostolic succession for themselves and their most corrupt cause, that is, that they were descended from apostolic pastors? But since forsaking the truth they have fallen from the faith and doctrine of the apostles, their derivation and apostolic succession does not in any way help them. Therefore we conclude that of itself the continual succession of bishops does not prove anything, but on the contrary that succession which lacks the purity of evangelical and apostolic doctrine is not valid.

And therefore Tertullian, although he greatly esteems (and rightly) the continual succession of pastors in the Church, yet he requires it to be approved by the sincerity of apostolic doctrine, indeed, he accepts as apostolic churches those churches which are instructed with pure doctrine and yet cannot make any reckoning of a succession of bishops. If any one wants the words of the author they are as follows: "But if there be any churches that dare presume to plant themselves in the very age of the apostles, that therefore they may seem to have been planted by the apostles, because they were under the apostles, we may say thus: Let them bring forth the first beginning of their

63 Lat. imitatoribus.

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churches, let them turn over the order of succession of their bishops, so that by successions going from the first beginning that first bishop of theirs may be found to have for his author and predecessor some one of the apostles and apostolical sort of men, and yet such an one as continued with the apostles.

For by this means the apostolic churches give their judgment: as the church of Smyrna testifieth that they had Polycarpus placed there by St. John; and as the church of Rome sheweth that Clemens was appointed by St. Peter; and as in like sort also other do shew for themselves, who have their offspring of apostolic seed, placed in their bishoprics by the apostles.

Let heretics feign some such matter (for after their blasphemies, what is unlawful for them?) but albeit they do feign, they shall not prevail. For their own doctrine being compared with the doctrine of the apostles, by the diversity and contrariety thereof shall shew that it had neither apostle nor apostolical man for the author; because, as the apostles taught nothing that was contrary among themselves, even so apostolical men set forth nothing contrary to the apostles; but only such as fell away from the apostles, and taught other doctrine."'(24) In this manner therefore may those churches appeal who although they cannot bring for their author any apostle or apostolic man, like those which are of a much later date and are even now being daily erected, yet agreeing in one faith they are still counted apostolic, for the likeness of the doctrine.

The same author, speaking of the ancient church of Rome, and gathering the sum of what it either taught or learned, said:

"Happy is that church to which the apostles have uttered all their doctrine with their blood: where Peter in suffering is made like to the Lord: where Paul is crowned with the like end that John had: where the apostle John, after that he was plunged in hot scalding oil, felt no pain, and was banished into the isle. Let us see what it learned, and what it taught, and how it doth agree with the churches of Africa. It acknowledgeth one God the maker of all things, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the creator, born of the Virgin Mary; and the resurrection of the flesh: it joineth the law and the prophets with the doctrine of the evangelists and apostles, and from them drinketh that faith; baptizeth with water, clotheth with the Holy Ghost, feedeth with the Lord's supper, exhorteth with martyrdom; and contrary to this institution receiveth no man. This is the institution."'(25) Thus far Tertullian in the book which he entitled Of the Prescription of Heretics.

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The last thing that is to be noted is this: that not only of old and up to the present time, but in these days too the Lord

God gives doctors and pastors to the Church: doctors, I say, and not leaders 64 and captains of hosts, not princes, not soldiers, not crafty men using deceitful means which nowadays they call practices. For by no other means and manner, by no other instrument than by the doctrine of truth and sound and simple godliness, 5 is that holy and catholic Church of God built up, fenced and preserved, of which at the beginning simple men and Christ's apostles laid the foundation. Paul therefore sets aside all worldly wisdom and says: "I was among you, Corinthians, in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling; neither stood my word and my teaching in the enticing speech of man's wisdom, but in plain evidence of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The same apostle also banishes all crafty counsel with all kinds of deceit when writing to the Thessalonians he says: "Our exhortation was not by deceit, nor by uncleanness, nor by guile. But as we were allowed of God that the gospel should be committed unto us, even so we speak; not as they that please men, but God, which trieth our hearts. Neither yet did we ever use flattering words, as ye know; nor coloured covetousness, God is record; neither sought we praise of men," etc. Therefore that man is greatly deceived and foolish who thinks that the Church can either be gathered together, or being gathered can be maintained and preserved, by practices, that is, by crafty counsels and the subtle deceits of men. The common people say truly that "that is overthrown by man's wisdom which was first built by man's wisdom."' Besides this, the Lord himself removes force and arms from the building of the Church, since he forbids his disciples the use of the sword, and to Peter who was ready to fight he says: "'Put up thy sword into the scabbard." Nor do we ever read that the Lord sent any as soldiers to bring the world into subjection with armed force, but rather Scripture witnesses that the great enemy of God, antichrist, shall be destroyed with the breath of his mouth. Hence there is no doubt that all those things which are read in different places in the prophets, and especially in the twelfth chapter of Zechariah, about wars to be made against all nations by the apostles and apostolic men, ought to be expounded figuratively.

64 Lat. doctores, quidem, non ductores.

65 Lat. guam doctrina veritatis et pietatis sincera et simplici.

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For the apostles according to their manner fight as apostles, not with the spear and sword and bow of physical warfare, but of spiritual. The apostolic sword is the Word of God.(26)

Meanwhile no one denies that the weapons of physical or corporal warfare have from time to time been of advantage to apostolic men and the Church, and do good even today. (27)

No one denies that God does frequently use the help of soldiers and magistrates in defending the Church against the wicked and tyrants: on the contrary, everyone will confess that the good and godly magistrate has his duty ®* to the Church of God. For not without great cause does the worthy °7 prophet of God, Isaiah, call "kings nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers." Paul, when he is oppressed by the Jews in the temple at Jerusalem for preaching the Gospel among the Gentiles, is taken away and rescued by the army of Claudius Lysias, the tribune. And not long after the same tribune sent with the apostle no small company of soldiers, that is, a troop of horsemen and certain companies of footmen, by whom he was brought safely to Antipatris and Caesarea before Felix the proconsul of Judea: as Luke recalled, not hastily, but with much diligence and in great detail in the Acts of the Apostles. Ecclesiastical history recites many instances of holy princes who have defended and succoured the Church of God. But I have in some manner dealt with these things elsewhere, in the seventh and eighth sermons (as I remember) of the second decade.

Thus far concerning the origin of the Church and its increase and preservation.

It seems to me that in this context we may not inappropriately handle or briefly expound the famous question, Whether the Church of God may err? In order that it may be better understood I will briefly discuss the parts of this question.

I have taught that the catholic Church of God comprises, first the blessed spirits in heaven, then all faithful Christians here on earth: to whom I said that the wicked or hypocrites belong in that they feign faith for a time. Now, therefore, if we understand by the Church the blessed spirits in heaven the Church can never err. But if we understand the wicked or hypocrites joined and mingled with the good, and the wicked alone, they do not do anything else but err, but as they are joined unto the good and faithful and follow them, they either err or do not err. For the Church of the good and the faithful on earth both errs and does not err. This we will declare when we have

66 Lat. operam suam.

67 Lat. clarissimus.

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weighed the diversities of errors and gathered them all together in a bundle. There are some errors in doctrine and faith, and some in life and conduct, and what they both are, everyone knows. Let us see then whether the Church of the faithful on earth does err or not, and if so, in what point and to what extent. As concerning the manners and life of the Church, it cannot wholly and clearly acquit itself of errors, that is to say, of sin.(28) For always, as long as it is living here on earth, it prays heartily: ""And forgive us our trespasses, as we do forgive them that trespass against us."" And God for his mercy's sake always purges in his saints all dregs and infirmities as long as they live in this world, the elect being continually renewed and defiled.

I am not unaware of your difficulty, faithful reader.

If the Church, you say, is not holy and pure, how does the apostle call it holy, without spot and wrinkle? I answer, If you will not acknowledge any Church upon earth but that which is completely without blemish, then you will not be able to acknowledge any. For there never will remain any such Church upon earth, where the most righteous God, as Scripture testifies, hath shut up all things under sin, that he might take mercy on all men. Therefore St. Paul calls the Church pure, without spot or wrinkle, on account of the benefit and sanctification of Christ. It is not that while it is in the flesh it is without spot in itself, but that those spots which might otherwise cleave to it, by the innocency of Christ are not imputed to those who embrace Christ by faith, and finally that in the world to come the same Church shall be without spot or wrinkle. For when it has put off the flesh and cast off all miseries, it will at length be in the position where it has no lack of anything.

Moreover the Church is said to be without spot because of the continual study with which it labours and travails by all means to have as few spots as it possibly can. And by that means, and above all by the benefit of imputation, the Church does not err but is most pure and as it were without sin. (29) Moreover, as touching doctrine and faith, the Church of Christ does not err. For it hears only the voice of the shepherd but does not know the voice of strangers: for it follows the one shepherd, Christ, who says: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' Paul also says to Timothy: '""These things hitherto have I written unto thee, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground

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of truth." But the Church is the pillar and ground of truth because being established upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Christ himself, which is the everlasting truth of God and the Church's only strength, by the fellowship which it has with him it is granted to be with him the pillar and foundation of the truth. For the truth of God is in the Church, it is spread abroad by. the ministry of the Church, and being assaulted and warred against by its enemies it abides fast and is not overcome, in so far as being made one body with Christ the Church perseveres in the fellowship of Christ, without whom it can do nothing. Again, the same Church does err in doctrine and faith whenever it turns from Christ and goes after men and the counsels and decrees of the flesh; for it forsakes the thing which has hitherto prevented it from erring, which is the Word of God and Christ. I do not think that any man will deny that the great congregation of the people of Israel in the desert was an excellent Church of God, with which the Lord made a covenant and bound himself to it by sacraments and ordinances. And yet we all know how shamefully it erred when it neglected God's Word, and because Aaron the high-priest of religion did not constantly and earnestly resist, it both made a golden calf and worshipped it as a god. For this reason it shall surely be necessary °8 more diligently to examine and mark the whole number of the Church, for when many in the Church err, it does not follow that none at all is free from error. For as in the church of Israel the Lord reserved to himself a remnant, I mean Moses, Joshua and undoubtedly many more, both in that congregation and elsewhere, so there is no doubt that although many do err in the Church the Lord by his mercy preserves to himself a certain number who both understand aright and by whose faith and diligence errors are destroyed and the wandering flock of the Lord are brought back again into the holy fold.

Therefore the Church is said to err when a part of it has lost the Word of God and errs. And it does not err wholly or altogether, for certain remnants (by the grace of God) are reserved, by whom the truth can flourish again and be spread abroad again in every place. St. Paul called the churches of the Corinthians and the Galatians the holy churches of God; yet these erred greatly in doctrine, in faith and in manners: but who doubts that among them there were many who were most sincere followers of the pure doctrine preached by St.

68 Lat. opportunum erit. a

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Paul? Therefore that holy Church erred in so far as it did not continue steadfastly in true doctrine, and it did not err in so far as it did not depart from the truth delivered by the apostles.69 Hence it may plainly appear to the whole world that those men are vain liars who commend to us churches which are not built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, but on the decrees of men, and which they shamelessly commend as most true churches and such as cannot err. David cries out: "Only God is true, and every man a liar.' And Jeremiah cries: ""They have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?" Therefore those churches do err and they are not the true churches of God. The true Church is grounded upon Jesus Christ and governed by his Word alone.

The discussion of the power of the Church of God on earth, and of its duties as directed according to the Word of God, amounts to much the same 7° as a treatise on the Word of God, which is the only rule by which everything is done in the Church. But before I give my own judgment, that is, the judgment delivered by the Scriptures, I will briefly rehearse the sum of those things which the papists have committed to writing in this matter and undoubtedly maintain as sound doctrine.

John Gerson (who does not go far astray unless he has a bad interpreter) has defined ecclesiastical authority as a "'power supernaturally and spiritually given of the Lord to his disciples and their lawful successors unto the end of the world, for the edification of the church militant according to the laws of the Gospel for the obtaining of eternal felicity."(30) But Peter de

Aliaco, the cardinal, says that this authority is sixfold, covering consecration, the administration of the sacraments, the appointing of the Church's ministers, preaching, judicial correction, and the receiving of things necessary to this life.(31)

That which they call the authority of consecration is the power by which a rightly ordained priest can consecrate the body and blood of Christ on the altar. They say that this power was given to the disciples by the Lord when he said: "Do this in remembrance of me." But they think that in these days it is given to priests by the bishop when he gives them the bread and the chalice and says: "Receive ye power to offer up and consecrate Christ's body both for the quick and the dead."

They also call this a power of orders, and a mark or character which cannot be wiped off. The power of administering the 69 E.V. Lat. apostolum.

70 Lat. affinis est.

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sacraments and above all the sacrament of penance, is what a they call the power of the keys. As they see it there are two kinds of keys: the keys of knowledge, that is to say, the authority of knowledge when a sinner makes his confession; and the keys of pronouncing sentence and judgment, or of opening or shutting up heaven, or forgiving or retaining sins. They say that this power was promised to Peter in Matthew when the Lord said:

'Unto thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven"'; but also that it was given to all the disciples in John when

Christ said: ''Whose sins soever ye forgive, they are forgiven to them," and nowadays it is given to priests by the bishop when at their consecration he lays his hands on the heads of the priests who are to be ordained and says: "'Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins soever ye forgive, they are forgiven them." What they call ecclesiastical jurisdiction is the power of placing ministers in the Church, and it consists of prelacy: hence in the full sense it belongs only to the pope in respect of the whole Church. For it belongs to the pope alone to appoint rulers and prelates in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, because to him it was said: 'Feed my sheep." Moreover, they say that all ecclesiastical jurisdiction comes from the pope to inferior rulers either directly or indirectly, the authority being limited according to the pleasure of him who has the fulness of authority, for a bishop has authority only in his own diocese, and a curate in his parish, etc. The power of apostleship or the preaching of the Word of God they call the authority of preaching, which the Lord gave to his disciples when he said: "'Go ye into all the world, preaching the gospel to all creatures."

But in these days doctors affirm that no one ought to be sent to preach except by Peter, that is, his successor, either directly or indirectly, etc. They say that the power of judicial correction was given to Peter by God, when he said: "If thy brother shall offend or trespass against thee,"' etc., for the words of the Lord are known well enough in Matthew, chapter 18. Therefore they say that God gave to the priests the power not only of excommunicating, but also of determining, judging and establishing commandments, laws and canons, because in that place it is said: ""Whatsoever ye bind upon earth, it shall be bound in heaven." To conclude: they say that the power and authority to receive things necessary for this life, in reward of their spiritual labours, was given in the words of the Lord:

**Eating and drinking such as they have."

Now these things are taught by them concerning ecclesiastical

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power not only foolishly but falsely. Of the power of consecration and sacrificing, we have often said before in other places how vain and foolish it is, and perhaps will say more

(if God grant life) at the proper place and time. The power of the keys we will discuss (God willing) towards the end of the next sermon, and we have already contributed something in our discussion of penance and auricular confession. What they babble about ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the fulness of the plenary power (that is to say) of the bishop of Rome are only foolish and shameless trifles, which I have no doubt the whole world has known for some time, and later in these sermons we shall give some arguments in confutation. In so far as they usurp to themselves the office of teaching and cry out that no man can lawfully preach unless he is ordained by them, they try in that way to overthrow the Word of God and to defend and assert their own errors: which we shall also treat of in the proper place. The power of excommunicating they have abused so filthily and shamefully that by their negligence and wicked presumption the Church has not only lost true discipline but for the bishops of Rome excommunication itself has for a long time meant nothing but fire and sword, with which they have raged generally against the true professors of God's

Word and persecuted the innocent worshippers of Christ. That there is no power given by God to the ministers of the Church to make new laws we shall also show in the right place. The authority and power to receive the means of life they have executed to the uttermost, but in recompense for their temporal harvest they have not sown spiritual things, but rather, being asleep, they have allowed him that is our enemy to sow cockle in the Lord's field, and that solely by their own means. For not being content with things necessary for this life, have they not under that pretext subtly invaded kingdoms and most shamefully and cruelly possessed them? Therefore if there are any who do not see that ecclesiastical authority as affirmed and practised by these men is simply a tyranny over simple souls, it is plain that they see nothing at all.

We will now append a true, simple, plain and evident doctrine of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Power is defined as a right which men have to do things. The Greeks call it *Egovoia and Avvayis, the first word signifying right and power, and the second ability to execute authority or power, for it often happens that a man has the authority to do a thing but has not the ability to perform it. But God

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can do both, and he has given both to the apostles against those that were possessed with devils, as Luke testifies, saying:

*éSwKev adtots Svvayw Kal e€ovaiav: "He gave them power and authority over all devils," etc. And there is also one kind of power which is free and absolute, and another which is limited, which is also called ministerial. Absolute power is that which is altogether free, and is neither governed nor restrained by the law or will of any other. Of this kind is the power of Christ as he himself speaks of it in the Gospel, saying: "'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them" etc.

And speaking again of this power in the Revelation made to St.

John the apostle, he says: "'Fear not; I am the first and the last; and I arn alive, but was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore. And I have the keys of hell and of death." And again:

"These things saith he that is holy and true; which hath the key of David, which openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." The power which is limited is not free, but subject to the absolute or greater power of others. It cannot do all things of itself, but only those things which the absolute or greater power allows to be done, and allows under certain conditions: and of this kind surely is ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which may rightly be called ministerial power, for the Church of God uses the authority committed to it for this purpose by its ministers.

St. Augustine, acknowledging this distinction, and referring to baptism in his fifth treatise on John, says:

"Paul baptized as a minister, and not as one that had power of himself; but the Lord baptized as he that had power of himself. Behold, if it had pleased him, he could have given this power, but he would not; for if he should have given this power unto his servants, that it should also have been theirs which was the Lord's, then there should have been as many sundry baptisms as servants" etc.(32) In the Church Christ reserves that absolute power to himself, for he continues the head, king and bishop of the Church for ever: and that head which gives life is not separated from his body at any time: but it is the limited power which he has given to the Church. And that is what it ought to acknowledge, that is, an ecclesiastical jurisdiction which is hemmed in by definite laws and which proceeds from God. That is why it is effectual and in all things its primary regard should be for God. And that ecclesiastical jurisdiction is given to the Church in order that it might be

— So put into practice for the profit of the Church. For St. Paul says:

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"The Lord hath given us power, to the intent we should edify, and not for the destruction of the church."' And therefore the power which tends to the hindrance and destruction of the Church is a devilish tyranny, and not an ecclesiastical power which proceeds from God. And it is necessary that we should take note of this purpose of ecclesiastical power and keep to it.

But the limited power of the Church consists very closely in the following points: the ordaining of the ministers of the Church, doctrine and the discerning between doctrines, and finally, the ordering of ecclesiastical matters. We will now say something about all these points in order, showing what is the nature of the Church's authority and to what extent it is limited in every part.

The Lord himself appointed the first doctors of the Church, the apostles, in order that all men might understand that the ecclesiastical ministry is the divine institution of God himself, and not a tradition devised by men.(33) And for that reason when the Lord had ascended into heaven, St. Peter called the Church together and spoke from the Scriptures of appointing another apostle in the place of the traitor Judas, thus showing that power was given to the Church by God to elect ministers or teachers. The same Church shortly afterwards, being persuaded by Peter and the apostles under the undoubted inspiration of the Holy Ghost, chose seven deacons. The church of Antioch, being obviously instructed by the Holy Ghost, ordains and sends Paul and Barnabas, although they had already been assigned to the ministry for many years. We also read in the Acts of the Apostles that the churches by the commandment of the apostles ordained doctors for the sacred ministry whenever the need arose: yet in spite of that they did not ordain anyone without selection, but only those who were suitable for that office, that is to say, those whom they themselves later described in express rules, to wit, "If any man were faultless, the husband of one wife, watchful, sober" etc. The rule set down by the apostle is well enough known as it appears in I Timothy 3. But (God willing) we will speak of the ordaining of ministers in the third sermon of this decade. But if the Church has received power to appoint suitable ministers for the Church, I do not think that there are any who will deny that it has the authority to depose the unworthy and wicked deceivers, and also to correct and amend those things which if they are lacking may appear to be necessary for this purpose.

And since ministers are chosen chiefly to teach, it follows Z.B.—21

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necessarily that the Church has power to teach, to exhort, to comfort and such like by means of its lawful ministers: yet not the power to teach everything, but only that which it received as delivered from the Lord by the doctrine of the prophets and apostles. ""Teach them (says the Lord) that which I commanded you." "'Go ye, and preach the gospel to all creatures."' And St.

Paul says: "I am put apart to preach the gospel of God, which he promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures."

But this ministry and office of preaching is simply the power of keys received by the Church: the office (I say) of binding and loosing, of opening and shutting heaven. In another place, too, the apostles received power from the Lord over all; over all, I say, not absolutely, but over all devils, and not over all angels and men: and even the authority and power which they received over devils they did not receive absolutely, for it was added that they were to expel them and cast them out.

Therefore they were not able to deal with devils according to their own fancy, but only as he would have them do who has absolute power over all devils, so that they could cast devils out of men but could not send them into men, however much they might have desired to do so. Similarly in the case of diseases they could not please themselves: otherwise Paul would not have left Trophimus sick at Miletum when he might have been very useful to him in the sacred ministry. If the two disciples had been able to do what they pleased they would have commanded fire from heaven to fall down upon Samaria, thus taking vengeance on the discourteous and barbarous people of Samaria because they refused to welcome the Lord. In the same way the same apostles received keys, that is to say, power to bind and loose, to open and shut heaven, to forgive and retain sins, but always with a clear limit, for they could not loose that which was bound in hell, nor bind those who were living in heaven. For he did not say, '""Whatsoever ye bind in heaven," but, '""Whatsoever ye bind upon earth''; nor did he say, '"'Whatsoever ye loose in hell,"' but, ""'Whatsoever ye loose upon earth." Again, they were not able to bind and loose those whom they themselves desired, not even upon earth.

For they were not able to loose, that is, to pronounce a man free from sin, if he had no faith: again, they could not bind, that is, pronounce condemned, a man who was lightened with faith and truly penitent. And surely those who teach any other doctrine concerning the power of the keys deceive the whole world: a matter with which we shall deal more fully in the

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proper place. Similarly the Church has received from Christ the power to administer the sacraments by its ministers, but not according to its own will and pleasure, but according to the will of God and the form and manner set down by the Lord himself. The Church cannot institute sacraments, nor can it alter the ends and use of the sacraments. (34)

Furthermore, that the Church has power to give judgment on doctrines appears from the one sentence of the apostle

Paul: "Let the prophets speak two or three, and the other judge." And in another place he says: '"'Prove all things, and keep that which is good." And St. John says: "'Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God." But there is also a fixed order in this power to judge.

For the Church does not judge according to its own pleasure, but according to the sentence of the Holy Spirit and the order and rule of the Holy Scriptures. (35) And here too order, moderation and charity must be observed. Therefore if at any time the Church of God, according to the authority which it has received of the Lord, calls together a council for some weighty matter, as we read that the apostles of the Lord did in the Acts of the Apostles, it does not incline there to its own carnal judgment, but surrenders itself to be guided by the Spirit, and examines all its doings by the rule of the Word of God and of twofold charity. Therefore the Church does not make any new laws, for the church of Jerusalem, or rather the apostolic Church, says "that it seemeth good both to the Holy Ghost and to the church, that no other burden should be laid upon"' faithful Christians, but only a few and those very necessary things, and not either outside or contrary to the Holy Scriptures. (36)

Now ecclesiastical matters of which the Church has power to dispose for the well-being of men are of many different kinds, as for instance those which concern the time and place of outward worship, or prophesying, or the interpretation of tongues, or schools. The Church also has power to judge in matrimonial causes: and above all it is charged with the correction of manners, admonitions, punishments, and also excommunicating or cutting off from the body of the Church: for the apostle also says that this power is given to him but in order that he may edify and not destroy. For all the things which we have remembered and others like them are limited by the rule of the Word and of charity, and also by holy examples and reasons deduced from the Holy Scriptures, of which we will perhaps speak more fully in the right context.

324.

BULLINGER

That is what I have to say about ecclesiastical power. And I have already shown how blatantly our adversaries declare the contrary. But they handle these matters so grossly that even children may see what it is that they really seek or try to defend, that is, not ecclesiastical power, but their own covetousness, lust and tyranny. Canonical truth teaches us that Christ himself holds and exercises absolute or full power in the Church, (37) and that he has given ministerial power to the Church, which executes it for the most part by ministers, and religiously executes it according to the rule of God's Word.

Having considered these things, we shall not have any great difficulty in knowing the duties of the holy Church of God.

For (as I have just said) it executes the power which it has received of God most carefully and faithfully, in order that it may serve God, and be holy, and please him. And to reckon up the sum of its duties in particular: first, it worships, calls upon and serves one God in Trinity, and does not take anything in hand without having first consulted the Word of this true

God. For it orders all its doings according to the rule of God's Word: it judges by the Word of God: and by the same Word it frames all its buildings, and when they are built maintains them, and when they have fallen down repairs or restores them.

It fervently assists and loves the assemblies and congregations of saints upon earth. In these assemblies it listens diligently to the preaching of the Word of God, it partakes devoutly of the sacraments and with great joy and delight of heavenly things. It prays to God by the intercession of our only mediator

Christ with a strong faith, fervently, continually and most attentively. It praises the goodness and majesty of God for ever, and with great joy it gives thanks for all his heavenly benefits. It highly esteems all the institutions of Christ, not neglecting any of them. But above all it acknowledges that it receives all the things which belong to its life, salvation, righteousness or felicity, from the only Son of God, our Lord

Jesus Christ, as the one who alone chose it, and then by his Spirit and blood sanctified it and made it a Church, that is, a chosen people, who is its only king, redeemer, high priest and defender, and without whom there is no salvation. Therefore it rests alone in God by our Lord Jesus Christ; him alone it desires and loves; and for his sake it rejoices to lose all the things that belong to this world, and indeed to pour out its blood and its life. And therefore it cleaves inseparably to Christ by faith, nor does it hate anything more bitterly than apostasy

OF THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH

from Christ and desperation, for without Christ nothing at all in life seems to be pleasant. With Satan it has an unappeasable enmity as with a deadly enemy. Against heresies and errors it strives both constantly and wisely. The simplicity of the Christian faith and the sincerity of the doctrine of the apostles it keeps most diligently. As far as possible it keeps itself unspotted from the world and the flesh, and from all carnal and spiritual infection. And therefore it flees from and in every way detests all unlawful congregations and profane religions, and all wicked men, and willingly and openly confesses Christ both in word and deed, even at the risk of its life. It is exercised with afflictions, but never overcome. It keeps unity and concord carefully. It loves all its members most tenderly. It does good to all men, as much as power and ability allow. It hurts no man. It forgives willingly. It bears with the weak as a brother until they are advanced to perfection. It is not puffed up with pride, but by humility is kept in obedience and moderation and all the duties of godliness. But I ask who can recite all the specific duties of the Church 7! even in a long discourse, much less in this short recital? And who would not desire to be a member of so divine and heavenly a congregation?

And now, lifting up our minds to heaven, let us give thanks to the Lord our God, who through his beloved Son has purified us and gathered us together, to be a chosen people to himself, and to be heirs of all his heavenly treasures. To him therefore be all praise and glory, world without end. Amen.

71 Lat. sanctae ecclesiae.

NOTES ZWINGLI

Or THE CLARITY AND CERTAINTY OR POWER OF THE WorD oF Gop

1. The title as given on the title page is: Of the Clarity and Certainty or Infallibility (unbetroglische) of the Word of God. In this context "'infallibility' does not denote inerrancy in content but an absolute certainty of fulfilment. Gwalter omits altogether the second title, in which "'power"' (kraft) is substituted for "'infallibility,"" and introduces a subsidiary heading: De imagine Dei, etc.

2. Zwingli seems to become aware of the danger of digression and returns to the theme of the divine image.

3. Melito of Sardis (active c. 150-170) was leader of the sect known as the Anthropomorphites, whose error was to ascribe to God a corporal existence. Melito's work on the subject is no longer extant, but it is attested by Origen (on Gen. 1:26) and Eusebius,

Hist. eccles., IV, 26.

4. Zwingli has to allow that God assumed bodily form at the incarnation, but he points out that this took place subsequent to the creation of man in the divine image.

5. Cf. Augustine, De Trinitate, IX, 11; X, 10, 18; XV, 7, etc.

6. The so-called Athanasian Creed, art. 35, Nam sicut anima rationalis et caro unus est homo, ita Deus et homo unus est Christus.

Zwingli does not think that this defines the divine image: it is merely a useful comparison.

7. The argument now begins to lead up to the main theme.

8. Sardanapal was an Assyrian king noted for his luxurious mode of life. He committed suicide after the siege and capture of Nineveh in 883 B.c. Nero and Heliogabal were the dissolute Roman emperors of the 1st and 3rd centuries A.D. g. Zwingli assumes that the author of the Epistle of Jude was

Lebaeus, the apostle Judas, brother of James, son of Alphaeus.

10. The passage which follows is a typical example of Zwingli's detailed exegesis.

11. From this important statement we may see that Zwingli did not regard regeneration as a completely new creation but as a

NOTES reconstitution in the divine image. The divine image had not been destroyed by sin—otherwise there would be no universal desire for God. It had been obscured and weakened, but could still be renewed and restored.

12. This is a significant qualification: original sin is a proneness to sin, but is not guilty in itself. In this respect it resembles the scholastic (and Tridentine) concupiscence, which is not sin, but gives rise to sin and may become sin.

13. In spite of this sentence Zwingli proceeds to give several fresh illustrations: indeed these form the whole section.

14. A reference to the Greek myth. Zeus condemned the human race to destruction, but Deucaleon and Pyrrha were spared, and when they cast stones behind them a new race sprang up. See

Ovid, Metamorph., I, p. 253.

15. It may be noted that no power is ascribed to the external action.

16. Although this passage is incidental, explaining apparent delays in the fulfilment of the Word, it is of great importance for an understanding of Zwingli's theology. As Zwingli points out, the sovereignty of God involves independence of time, and it is in the light of this absolute transcendence that we must understand the divine operations in providence, election and effectual calling.

It is of interest that in spite of the biblical basis the form in which Zwingli states the doctrine owes much to the philosophy which is later condemned. There is a similar passage in the didactic poem,

The Labyrinth, C.R., I., p. 58.

17. This explanation of the parabolic method has a strangely modern ring. Zwingli makes it clear that the ultimate aim of the parable is positive, i.e., to teach, and it accomplishes this by making the path of learning attractive and interesting. But at the same time the parable makes a moral demand on the hearer, for only those who are fundamentally concerned will penetrate to the true meaning.

18. Zwingli cannot allow that parables conceal the truth—otherwise the Word would not be clear. The truth is obscured by the blindness or wickedness of those who hear without faith.

19. Cf. Hilary, In Matthaeum comm. can. XIII.

20. At this point Zwingli makes a first appeal to his hearers.

Since he knew that many of the nuns were deeply opposed to evangelical teaching there is no doubt that the address is personal.

21. Zwingli cannot describe the Word itself as destructive, for if he did his opponents would at once argue that it ought not to be given to the people without careful explanation.

22. Cf. Josephus, Antiguitatum Judaicarum, lib. II.

23. The example of Micaiah is particularly valuable, since it illustrates the trustworthiness of inward conviction even in the face of majority decisions. The point is taken up again later.

NOTES

24. We now come to the main theme, that the Word is to be understood from the Word itself and not from human commentaries upon it. On this grounds Zwingli demands an open Bible and rejects the Church's claim to be the interpreter of Scripture.

25. Zwingli now gives an example to show how easily the Word can be understood apart from official interpretation. It may be noted that in this case the understanding seems to be rational comprehension, and only the literal sense is in question. Many of the obscurities arose directly out of the complicated mediaeval scheme of exegesis.

26. The pretended interpreters of the New Law are here ranked with their counterparts under the Old, i.e., men like Annas and Caiaphas.

27. An even more pointed reference to those who were opposed to the message.

28. Zwingli is here alluding to the external splendours of church dignitaries, which he regards as obstacles to inward religion.

29. Zwingli now tackles the decisive question of authentication.

He rejects all outward tests and relies upon the inward testimony of the Spirit.

30. The confusion resulting from reliance upon human opinions is contrasted with the certainty given by the Word itself when illuminated by the Spirit.

31. The Carthusian order was founded by Bruno in 1084, the first house being at La Chartreuse, in Grenoble. The Carthusians were noted for their extreme austerity.

32. The Benedictine order was founded by St. Benedict in 529.

It was the oldest existing order in the West and a basis or norm for all the others.

33. Lit. Predicant: The Dominicans were an order of preaching friars founded by St. Dominic in 1215.

34. Lit. barefooted, probably in the sense of Franciscan (Gwalter has Franciscanus). There were many '"'barefooted"'? monks and friars in other orders (both calced and discalced), but Francis was the first founder of a barefooted order and the term was often used of the Franciscans at this period.

35. James the elder was traditionally supposed to have been martyred at St. Jago de Compostella in Spain, and his shrine was a famous place of pilgrimage. The knightly order of Compostella was founded by Pedro Fernandez in 1161 to protect the pilgrims.

36. A brief reminder in passing that free justification by faith is the essential evangelical message.

37. Zwingli takes it that the Magdalene is the same as Mary the sister of Martha, or Mary of Bethany.

38. A specific attack upon the monastic system and its inevitable misunderstanding of the Gospel.

NOTES 39. Zwingli now attempts more fully to free Scripture from the over-riding interpretative authority of the Church.

40. The need for supernatural illumination does not mean that the Scriptures do not have a plain sense. [Illumination is necessary because of our blindness rather than the obscurity of the text.

41. From this the opponents of Zwingli argue that tradition must supplement Scripture, and the way is opened up for all kinds of perversion. But Zwingli recognizes no authority apart from the Word given, and this is presumably enshrined only in Scripture.

42. Zwingli takes up again the defence of minority convictions, and he shows that exponents of the truth must often stand alone.

43. The past errors of church councils and leaders support his case. Anastasius II (496-498) attempted to resume communion with Acacius of Constantinople but was resisted by the Roman clergy. Gratian referred to him as a Pope rejected by the Church, and on that ground he was usually regarded as a heretic in the Middle Ages. Liberius (352-366) first supported Athanasius against the Arianizers and was banished (355), but in 358 he condemned

Athanasius and was allowed to return to Rome.

44. The point is that we can understand Scripture only when we allow God to speak through it. Otherwise we read into it our own prior beliefs.

5. The example draws attention to two evils, the perversion of the office of bishop, and the false exegesis of Scripture.

46. Hilary, De patris et filit essentia. Zwingli hastens to add that the patristic support, although useful, is neither necessary nor decisive.

47. With this statement Zwingli boldly asserts a Protestant individualism in the apprehension of truth. An obvious weakness is that he does not allow sufficiently for the value of exposition by godly men in times past. And he does not answer the difficulty that humble and sincere scholars often reach mutually exclusive opinions, although this could be explained no doubt by the continuance of some prejudice or self-will in either the one or the other, or both.

48. In point of fact, Zwingli's repudiation of his debt to the past (as also to Luther) is probably exaggerated, but his main point is the valid one that a straightforward reading of Scripture had given him an insight into its essential message which the existing systems had hitherto obscured, and he felt that he could ascribe the experience only to the Holy Spirit illuminating the Word.

49. Zwingli's opponents accused him of ignoring the counsel of others, but they themselves were more blameworthy in that they disregarded the counsel of God himself.

50. The opportunity is taken to condemn yet another abuse of episcopal authority.

51. It may be noted that Zwingli endorses the traditional doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture, but he goes on to assert the need for divine enlightenment in the understanding of it.

NOTES

52. Gwalter gives this closing section a separate heading: Canones quidam et certae notae, etc.

53. The somewhat fanciful application of Isaiah's words seems to indicate that Zwingli found it difficult to break away entirely from the mediaeval schema of exegesis.

OF THE UPBRINGING AND EDUCATION OF YOUTH IN Goop MANNERS

AND CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE: AN ADMONITION BY ULRICH ZWINGLI

1. Gerold Meyer von Knonau (b. 1509) was the son of Hans and Anna Meyer. His father died in 1517, and Zwingli married the widow, probably in 1522, although the marriage was not celebrated publicly until 1524. Gerold was killed at the battle of Cappel

(1531).

2. I.e., Baden-in-Aargau.

3. Glareanus (Heinrich Loriti of Glarus) was a noted Swiss humanist and musician and a friend of Zwingli until the latter's breach with Erasmus.

4. Hence the title of the first English translation of 1548.

5. An evident allusion to Horace:

Ars poetica v.

386-388, nonumque prematur in annum.

6. Perhaps a proverbial saying which Zwingli remembered from the Toggenburg.

7. Zwingli introduces the prayer as a reminder that we cannot follow Christ simply in our own strength.

8. As always, Zwingli insists that true faith is the work of the Holy Spirit. He quotes his favourite verse from John 6. g. Pericles was renowned in antiquity for his oratorical gifts.

10. It is worth noting that for Zwingli neither Word nor sacrament can accomplish anything apart from the inward work of the Spirit. ri 1. Zwingli does not reject the possibility of a natural theology.

Through external phenomena we may learn the existence and providence of God, and upon this basis the doctrines of revelation may then be erected.

12. The picture is probably that of the ordered family life which Zwingli himself had known at Wildhaus. The providence and fatherhood of God exclude all possibility of Deism.

13. Zwingli now turns to the doctrines of grace, summarizing the main evangelical teachings.

14. The universality of original sin is strongly asserted by Zwingli, although elsewhere he repudiates any idea of original guilt.

15. Nero ordered his tutor Seneca to be put to death, although he allowed him to fulfil the order in his own way. There was a (probably unreliable) tradition that the poet Ennius and Scipio were buried in the same tomb.

16. An allusion to the supposed redemptive work of Jupiter.

NOTES 17. Righteousness in the sense of innocence (innocentia).

18. Righteousness in the sense of justice (justztza).

19. There is an interesting thought here. Zwingli argues that the righteousness of Christ may be imputed to us by virtue of his self-identification with us in the incarnation.

20. Zwingli does not mean that the believer cannot commit sin, but as he goes on to explain, that the sin of the believer is not imputed.

21. This is the thought of Anselm in his Cur Deus Homo? Inasmuch as Christ is God, his merits are more than sufficient to make satisfaction for all the sins of men.

22. Zwingli now shows that justification by faith does not destroy the necessity of good works.

23. An "'entelechy"' is a complete and perfect being as opposed to mere possibility or potentiality. Both the word and the concept derive from Aristotle. Zwingli applies the notion of entelechy in a novel and interesting way. As the one who moves all things, God necessarily moves his people to service and good works.

24. Zwingli now considers the various aspects of the life of faith.

It may be noted that he reverses the scholastic concept of faith formed by charity, speaking of virtue formed by faith.

25. It is still insisted that true virtue comes from within. The fact that Zwingli speaks of helping and counselling others seems to suggest that he has at the back of his mind the thought of the ministry.

26. Zwingli himself had undertaken to learn both these languages, and he was most anxious to introduce them at Zurich, as the reform of September, 1523, reveals. The purpose of this study was to arrive at an exact understanding of Scripture, the Bible being essential to the proper nourishment of spiritual life and therefore to right conduct.

27. Zwingli probably has in mind that the mediaeval corruptions were developments of faulty teachings of the Latin Fathers. Yet he learned a good deal from the Latins, as his early annotations show.

28. The reference is to the Odyssey, XII, 37-54, 154-200. Ulysses blocked his sailors' ears with wax lest they should hear the voices of the syrens.

2g. A further reminder that for a true understanding of the Bible we are dependent upon God the Holy Spirit. go. Zwingli is thinking of the supposed order of Pythagoreans, whose novices were reputed to have taken a vow of silence for periods varying between two and five years. Cf. the lives of Pythagoras by Diogenes, Laertius and Iamblichus.

31. It may be noted that Zwingli gave much time to the development of his powers as a preacher.

32. Probably a reference to Pliny, Historia naturalis, VIII, 1, 3 (6).

NOTES

33. Zwingli does not advocate total abstinence, but he warns against the moral and physical dangers of intemperance.

34. The peasant days in the Toggenburg had taught him to value plain but wholesome food and to despise delicacies.

35. After Hippocrates, Galenus was the most famous physician of antiquity (second and third centuries A.D.).

36. Perhaps an allusion to the excessive fasting prescribed by monastic rule.

37. Milo of Croton was noted for his strength and was frequently a victor in the Olympic games. He belonged to the sixth century B.c.

38. A necessary warning in a century notorious for its extravagance.

39. E.g., Virgil, Aeneid, III, 57; Sallust, Cat., X.

40. Zwingli was probably thinking of the dynastic and territorial ambitions which caused constant wars in his day.

41. It need hardly be recalled that Zwingli had considerable musical interests and talents.

42. This is not merely an abstract definition of the just war, but a practical warning against mercenary service, which Zwingli had come to regard as completely unjustifiable.

43. The city of Marseilles was founded c. 600 B.c. and was famous in antiquity for its culture, commercial enterprise and sound morality.

_ 44. Seneca, Epistola, XCV, 52 f.

45. No doubt Zwingli recalled many many happy festivities in which he had taken part both in the Toggenburg and during his years at school and university.

46. Cf. Cicero, De officiis III, 29.

47. Perhaps Zwingli had at the back of his mind the occasion when his father and uncle prevented him from becoming a Dominican at Berne.

48. He is obviously thinking here of parents who refuse to accept the evangelical teaching.

49. By nature Zwingli inclined to prudence, and his reforming work was characterized by its caution and careful timing.

50. In the sixteenth century the Swiss were famous for their hardihood, which was demanded by their circumstances of life, both in war and peace.

51. A reference to Pontius Cominius, who swam the Tiber in order to give warning of impending attacks by the Gauls.

52. Chloelia also swam the Tiber, this time to escape from Porsena, who had taken her away as a hostage. She was handed over again, but later released, and other hostages with her.

53. As usual, Zwingli realizes that his work suffers from over haste, but he has neither the time nor the inclination to revise it.

54. Ovid, ars amator, III, 65 f.

jo4 NOTES 55. The exact meaning of the phrase is not clear. Many commentators suggest that it is a reference to the impersonal tone, or the general nature of the treatment. In other words, Zwingli felt that he ought to have been more personal in writing to a step-son, but either because the marriage was still secret, or because he wrote with a view to publication he had to adopt a different course. Others suggest that he is merely excusing the inadequacy of the work.

Strictly within the context, it may be that he is simply qualifying his previous statement: it is not a case of adding to the existing riches of birth, etc., but of attaining to the only true riches, which are spiritual.

Or BAPTISM

1. The full title is Von dem Touff, vom Widertouff und vom Kindertouff.

The text is preceded by the dedicatory letter to St. Gall, which is dated May 27, 1525. Owing to limitations of space this letter is not included in the present translation.

2. The image of the mountain torrent was probably suggested by early experiences at Wildhaus.

3. Like Luther, Zwingli saw the importance of concentrating upon the essentials of scriptural truth. One of his main charges against the Anabaptists was their intolerant preoccupation with things indifferent. But of course the Anabaptists did not regard their doctrine of baptism as a non-essential.

4. This was a clear instance where the Reformer had to appeal to Scripture against all existing tradition. Where possible, all the Reformers appealed to the earlier Fathers, but the ultimate authority was always the Bible.

5. The remembrance was a name commonly used by Zwingli for the Holy Communion.

6. It is perhaps worth noting that Calvin took up this thought, that the sacraments were instituted as a concession to human frailty.

7. Zwingli means that in the everyday speech of the age the word sacrament had lost its original meaning, being coloured by the false sacramentalism of scholastic theology.

8. I.e., a supporter of the Confederation, which now numbered 13 cantons and had the white cross as its badge. In the German the word is Eidgenosse from which the French Huguenot is thought to derive. g. The reference is to a famous victory in 1388 which the Swiss gained over the Austrians near Nahenfels in Glarus. On the first

Thursday in April a memorial pilgrimage was made there every year, and there was a procession past the eleven cairns commemorating the men of Glarus who had fallen in the engagement.

10. It is of interest that the Anglican article (28) condemns transubstantiation on the ground that "'it overthroweth the nature

NOTES

of a sacrament," i.e., if the body of Christ is there, the bread is no longer a sign.

11. The doctrine that the New Testament sacraments succeeded and replaced the two Old Testament signs was to be an important one in Reformed teaching. The exclusion of any possibility of a repetition of Christ's sacrifice should be noted.

12. The thought of God's sovereignty over the means of grace is a crucial one in Zwingli's sacramental doctrine. It links up with his strong doctrine of predestination.

13. Zwingli pleads for a dynamic conception of the sacraments, but he pleads also for a dynamic conception of the Word. Neither

Word nor sacrament can accomplish anything in itself, i.e., apart from the sovereign working of the Spirit.

14. This is an obvious dig at the existing hierarchy, which by and large was not distinguished for its activity in teaching.

15. The meaning is that others had baptized before John and therefore there was nothing unusual about the practice as such.

16. The discourse in John 6 played a great part in the development of Zwingli's doctrine, and he appeals to it constantly when dealing with the relationship between inward grace and the outward means of grace.

17. Augustine: De haeresibus lib. I cap. 1, et asserebat se esse Christum.

18. Zwingli was thinking of Jews who allowed themselves to be baptized for the sake of material advantage.

19. The description of Paul's work in Corinth as a form of baptism hardly seems to be warranted by the text.

20. The example of the dying thief was much used by the Reformers, partly to show the possibility of salvation without baptism, partly to prove that justification is by faith alone and not by faith and works.

21. Jerome: Epistola, LVIII, 1. Baptism in blood, i.e., martyrdom was a recognized equivalent for water-baptism, but as Zwingli points out there is no such baptism in this case.

22. The Anabaptists could not admit the accuracy of either term.

As they saw it, infant baptism was not valid, therefore they neither denied baptism when they opposed it nor did they rebaptize when they baptized adults.

23. Zwingli thus denies the absolute necessity of external baptism.

In making this point he was taking up the view of Augustine, that where water-baptism cannot be had, the lack of it may be supplied by internal conversion: a doctrine which is still the official teaching of the Church of Rome.

24. In this passage Zwingli goes rather far towards making baptism only an act of public testimony. This trend is in line with his almost complete separation between inward and outward baptism.

25. Suasoria: a word of counsel inclining in a certain direction.

NOTES 26. It will be remembered that the later theologians of the Reformed school did not follow Zwingli in his rejection of this view, but thought it part of the office of the sacraments to confirm faith.

27. Zwingli seems to realize that he has proved too much, for if no material things can confirm faith this rule must apply to miraculous signs as well as covenant signs. He fails to draw any true line of demarcation between the two.

28. An obvious slip for Ahaz. Gwalter corrected the mistake in his Latin version. Zwingli was probably quoting from memory.

29. This is in direct contradiction to the view of Luther that infants not only can but do believe. There is no reason to suspect any conscious opposition.

30. An admission of earlier doubts in the matter of infant baptism.

Cf. Grebel's Protestation and Defence, C.R., III.

31. Anabaptists variously attributed infant baptism to Pope Nicholas II and the devil. The falsity of the former legend was exposed by Zwingli in the third section, but it still persisted in Anabaptist circles.

32. It is difficult to prove that the majority of Anabaptists were perfectionists in the strict sense, but from this statement it certainly seems that they believed in the possibility of perfection.

33. This is the first of a number of illustrations taken from the disputations at Zurich. According to Bullinger the incident took place during the disputation which began on March 25, 1525.

34. Zwingli's meaning is that just as the monks and nuns regarded themselves as superior because they were under the monastic rule, so the Anabaptists regard themselves as superior because they are under the baptismal rule. In both cases the inevitable result is legalism and hypocrisy. The Anabaptists were perhaps building upon Luther's view that all monastic vows are superfluous because they are comprehended in the common Christian vow of baptism.

35. Zwingli preserved a proper sense of the fact that the true understanding of Scripture is a spiritual understanding of its message. The detailed study of the text is profitless unless it is directed to that ultimate goal. Therefore he disputes about words and order only to expose the hollowness of his opponents' claims.

36. Theologi: Zwingli is thinking especially of the schoolmen, but in this context the term could refer to the Fathers as well.

37. The meaning is that if only the Anabaptists will resist the spirit of contention they will quickly come to a true understanding of Scripture. As he sees it, the problem is primarily a spiritual one rather than an intellectual.

38. Only the children of Christians have a right to baptism: therefore children are always presented by those who have already received some instruction.

39. It was commonly held by the Church that in Matthew 28 Christ was laying down a form of words which must be used when

NOTES

baptism is administered. Zwingli does not wish to vary the formula, but he disputes this interpretation, on the ground that Christ was really teaching the true meaning and significance of the sacrament.

40. Apart from that countered by Zwingli other explanations were that the name of one person of the Trinity includes the whole

Trinity, or that the apostles baptized in the name of Jesus by special revelation.

41. Kuntz hinderm Ofen: the proverbial simpleton.

42. Zwingli repeats again that he has no wish to alter the form.

He is obviously afraid that his exposition will be misunderstood.

43. This appears to be rather a precarious claim. The most that can be said is that there is no proof that John did not baptize infants.

44. Zwingli himself seems to realize that his earlier statement demands qualification—the matter is one which cannot be proved either way.

45. Attention is here drawn to the abnormal sensitiveness of the Anabaptists upon the point at issue: a characteristic which has persisted in many of their spiritual descendants.

46. Zwingli seizes upon an essential point, that rebaptism, or even adult baptism, involves a sectarian view of the Church. In combating this Zwingli was not merely defending an institutionalized church but the Reformed doctrine of the Church.

47. l.e., St. John the Baptist.

48. The stress is again placed upon the sovereignty of the inward work of the Spirit, and the consequent hiddenness of the true baptism to anyone but God and the individual believer.

49. The possibility of an inward work of the Spirit even in infancy cannot be ruled out, for God is sovereign in respect of the time of his work as well as its subjects.

50. The text in Romans 6 was much used by the Anabaptists, who claimed that only adult believers could know the experience described. Zwingli boldly claims the passage for his own view.

51. This was the antinomian deduction urged against the Reformers themselves.

52. This Pauline understanding of baptism had been powerfully brought out by Luther in his sermon On Baptism.

53. We see here the characteristic Reformed stress upon the signification of baptism rather than its effects.

54. The word '"'engrafting'' is interesting, since it suggests a certain spiritual benefit. (Cf. the Anglican article 27.) Zwingli is thinking in terms of initiation or entry.

55Zwingli allows that there is need of discipline even within the Church, but he attacks the legalistic use of the ban as found in the Anabaptist churches.

56. It seems that some of the Anabaptists had already begun to affect distinctive modes of speech and dress. Cf. the Hutterians.

Z.B.—22

NOTES 57. The meaning is that the very severity of the rule defeats its object, since it causes a reaction in those who are subjected to it.

58. The Anabaptists despised the baptism which they had received in infancy, but their adult baptism was counted an important and indeed decisive experience.

59. Lit. Linmag, the old name for the river Limmat, on which Zurich stands.

60. The emphasis upon instruction in and with the sacrament is typical of the Reformed approach. All the baptismal services drawn up by the Reformers were designed to bring out the meaning of what is done. a 61. Zwingli is adopting already the more radical attitude towards ceremonial which was to mark off the Reformed from the Lutheran churches. After modest beginnings, full-scale reforms were already being carried out in Zurich.

62. Two points may be noted here: first, that the New Testament is taken as an absolute standard even in matters of liturgical practice; and second, that the blessing of the infants is equated with baptism.

63. I.e., original sin. Zwingli admits a universal corruption of the nature of man, but he does not admit that any guilt attaches to it, at any rate in the case of Christians and their children.

64. The damnation of unbaptized infants had been asserted from the time of Augustine, although usually with some mitigation of the sufferings. Zwingli rejects the doctrine absolutely.

65. Augustine: In Joann. evang. tract.

CX XIV, commenting on John 15: Accedit verbum ad elementum, et fit sacramentum, etiam ipsum e ea tanquam visibile verbum.

66. Like all the leading Reformers Zwingli had a great regard for Augustine, and had learned a good deal from his writings, especially the work quoted.

67. It may be noted again that Zwingli will not ascribe any more power to the external word than he does to the external sacrament.

68. Cleverly he seizes on the metaphorical use of the word "water" in other Johannine discourses.

69. Zwingli apparently takes it that the cloven tongues were literally of fire.

70. Not John 3:5 but John 3:22-26.

71. It is not known how Zwingli knew of such a practice in the Indian church. One suggestion is that he was thinking of the ofpayis mentioned in the Gnostic Acts of Thomas and erroneously took it to mean a literal branding. More likely he had heard of an actual practice for which there are parallels elsewhere, e.g. the Copts who sometimes tattooed a cross on their hands, or the Carpocrates who according to Irenaeus branded the lobe of the right ear, Adv. Haer.,

I c. 20, 4. If Zwingli had heard such a report it is impossible to judge whether it was correct or not.

72. Cf. the frequent quotation of John 3:5 as a proof-text for e e O er ne

NOTES

infant baptism. The thought is that the external baptism of water is essential for spiritual cleansing and therefore it must not be withheld.

73. Oswald Myconius (1488-1552) was the schoolmaster at the Great Minster, and a friend and later biographer of Zwingli. It was largely through the good offices of Myconius that Zwingli was called to Zurich as people's priest.

74. The psychological acuteness of this analysis is typically humanist.

75. This is a characteristic Protestant assertion, that the good works of a Christian are the natural fruit of faith, not the result ot a hard legal observance.

76. Zwingli now lays his finger upon the sectarian pride which was at the root of Anabaptism.

77. There is a reflection here, and perhaps a justification, of the sterner measures now being taken against the Anabaptists.

78. Note that Zwingli does not sanction an extravagant individualism in the interpretation of Scripture. The Church is bound by the Word of God, but the interpretation of the Word properly belongs to the Church.

79. This passage is very interesting in that it reflects Zwingli's own prudence in the carrying out of reform at Zurich. No reform was ever carried through until the people as a whole were ready.

80. For Zwingli Scripture itself is of course the final court of appeal.

81. Like Luther, Zwingli believed in the power of the Word as used by God. For that reason he thought that instruction must always precede action. Only when the ground has been prepared by faithful preaching can the work of reformation be carried through.

82. Zwingli means the outward calling by the congregation as a recognition of the inward calling by God. It may be noted that for Zwingli the minister was called to be a pastor. The words bishop and prophet were both applied by him to the pastor.

83. This was the disputation of March, 1525. Leo Jud had followed Zwingli at Einsiedeln and was now pastor of St. Peter's,

Zurich.

84. These discussions took place in August, 1524.

85. The main point of this section is to show that the baptism of John was the same as that of Christ, a position peculiar to the Reformed school.

86. There is possibly a slight allusion to Luther, who had never had to face a combined attack by the papists and Anabaptists on any single issue.

87. Zwingli means that showing the true origin of baptism he will make plain the identity of John's baptism with that of Christ.

88. The papist view was that the baptism of John is only preparatory, and has no power to effect that which it signifies.

89. A play upon the word "'shadow."

NOTES go. In the strictest sense even the papists would have to accept this, but they would reply that the Holy Ghost has guaranteed to work in Christian baptism, but there was no such work in the baptism of John. gt. Zwingli concedes that as the Son of God Christ could also baptize internally, but as far as the external form is concerned there is no difference between his baptism and that of John. g2. Although Christ was the supreme teacher, yet as man he did not teach anything different from others, nor with any greater effect.

93. Zwingli makes it clear that in these comparisons he is referring only to Christ after his human nature. The Christological teaching is fundamental to Zwingli's doctrine of both Word and sacrament.

94. Literally, this seems to be rather a far-fetched deduction.

It is true only inasmuch as repentance unto life came through the Gospel, i.e., the two are bound up together.

95. Zwingli does not take into account Matthew 11:11.

96. These closing verses of John 3 are all taken to be part of John's discourse.

97. This distinction is perhaps over fine.

98. The question of the baptism of the disciples was always a thorny one for the Fathers and schoolmen, since there is no record that they were baptized either by Christ or each other. gg. Zwingli means that Christ is always the true author and giver of baptism, whether through John or the disciples.

100. It is pointed out that John's baptism of Christ was Trinitarian in the sense that it involved the participation of all three persons of the Trinity.

101. The Greek form was fully recognized by the schoolmen.

102. Note again that the meaning is emphasized rather than the correct form of words.

103. It must be noted that Zwingli deliberately interprets this passage in the light of a position already established.

104. The illustration reminds us of Zwingli's strong musical interests.

105. Timotheus was the famous musician who performed at the marriage of Alexander the Great. The story of the double fee is told in Quintilianus, IJnstitutiones oratoriae, II, 3.

106. The reference is to Luther's New Testament of 1522, which has Warauff seyt yhr den toufft. This is followed by the Basle edition of 1524, and the English Authorised Version also has '"'Unto what," etc. The Zurich translation of 1524 has Worinn sind ir den toufft.

107. Zwingli means that there would have been nothing extraordinary in John's baptism simply as a baptism, for the Jews were already accustomed to ceremonial washings.

108. The text hardly seems to support the view that Apollos had only a defective knowledge of John's teaching, but Zwingli is forced to interpret it in this way because he will not allow that

NOTES

John's preaching of the Gospel was in any way deficient. The obvious interpretation is that Apollos had no full knowledge of the Gospel because he did not know of the death and resurrection of Christ (even if he did perhaps know that the Christ had come).

109. Apparently there were many who were willing to profess Protestant views in order to advance their own interests, and it is to these that Zwingli is referring.

110. Zwingli means that as Christ died only once, so we can die only once in baptism.

111. It is interesting that although Calvin agrees with Zwingli that the twelve at Ephesus were not rebaptized, he explains the incident quite differently. According to Calvin the twelve had already received the water-baptism of John, but at the hands of Paul they received only the internal baptism of the Spirit accompanied by the laying on of hands.

On THE LoRD's SUPPER 1. The Latin writings referred to were: 1. Ad Matthaeum Alberum de coena domini, epistola, Nov. 16, 1524, 2. De vera et falsa religione commentarius, Mar.

1525; 3. Subsidium sive coronis de eucharistia, Aug. 17, 1525; 4. Ad. Joannis Bugenhagit Pomerani epistolam responsio,

Oct. 23, 1525.

2. In point of fact Zwingli had given a German statement of his doctrine in the exposition of the theses. What he means is that he has not written a particular work on the subject.

3. For example, the Commentarius was written in response to requests from outside Switzerland, being dedicated to Francis I.

4. Zwingli's books were now proscribed in Uri, and also in the city of Nuremberg (by an order of the Council dated July 14,

1525).

5. The appeal to antiquity ought not to pass unnoticed. The primary authority was Holy Scripture, but like all the Reformers

Zwingli liked to think that the Protestant faith was also that of the early Church. The appeal also had good apologetic value.

6. This is a reference to the Lutherans.

7. This is the Roman Catholic view.

8. The reference here is to the views of Erasmus and his followers. g. Zwingli means here the Lutherans.

10. I.e., the Romanist doctrine of transubstantiation.

11. I.e., the Lutherans, who insist upon a literal interpretation of the words of Christ.

12. I.e., the followers of Erasmus.

13. As in the treatise on baptism Zwingli thinks it necessary to begin with a definition of the word ''sacrament''. The reason is that the original signification of the word had been lost as a result of false doctrinal associations.

NOTES 14. It may be noted that this is the doctrine of the Word which Zwingli himself had propounded in his sermon On the clarity and certainty of the Word.

15. This is the example which Zwingli himself uses in his sermon.

16. There can be little doubt that Zwingli knew that this argument was already being used against him in Zurich by his opponent

Joachim am Grit. Am Griit developed the theme in his reply to Zwingli, Christenlich Anzeygung, using as his examples Genesis

1, Psalm 119, and the reply of Gabriel to Mary.

17. What Zwingli means is: (a) that it is not Christ who now says the words, but the pope or priest; and (6) that as spoken by the pope or priest the word "'my"' does not refer to the body of Christ.

It follows, then, that we cannot ascribe power to the word of a mere man, and even if we could, the bread would become the body of the celebrant and not of Christ.

18. In other words, Christ accomplishes by the Word only what he himself means by the Word, and not what we think he ought to mean.

19. It will be noted that Zwingli will not allow a substantial presence which is not perceptible. Rather singularly, he does not try to destroy the usual distinction between '"'substance'' and ''accidents''—he takes it for granted that a substance cannot be present without its accidents.

20. This is the Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation, that the bread remains, but in and with it is the substance of the body of Christ.

21. Cleverly Zwingli shows that the Lutherans themselves do not abide by the simple words of Christ literally understood. If they did they would have to accept the doctrine of transubstantiation, which is at least more self-consistent.

22. This is an allusion to Luther's work, Wider die himmlischen Propheten, von den Bildern und Sakrament. Quoting I Corinthians 10,

Luther comments: ""That is, I think, a judgment, yes, an axe of thunder, upon the head of Carlstadt and all his sects.'' Carlstadt replied with an exposition of the passage.

23. Already the Lutherans were claiming the plain statement of Scripture: a foreshadowing of the intransigent position of Luther at the Colloquy of Marburg.

24. Zwingli here states what was to be a classical Reformed doctrine, that Scripture must always be compared with Scripture.

25. The canons are useful, not because they have any ultimate authority, but because they contain the truth and they have authority for those whom Zwingli wishes to convince.

26. Corpus juris canonici c. 42, Dist. II, de consecratione.

27. Berengarius of Tours (1000-1088) was the great opponent of Lanfranc in the matter of transubstantiation. In 1079 he was forced to recant by Gregory VII.

NOTES

28. Pope Nicholas II (1058-1061). It was this pope who was charged with initiating the baptism of infants.

29. The reference is to the Synod of 1059.

30. No reference to these supporters of Berengarius has been discovered.

31. In the Middle Ages the tabernacles were often built into the walls of churches and were therefore very damp.

32. This is perhaps a reference to the argument of Am Grit, who denied a literal eating in the strictest sense.

33. Cf. Ad Dec. Grat. P Ill, dist. 2, c. 1. Ego etc.

34. Rabanus Maurus (d. 856) was one of the scholars who had resisted the doctrine of transubstantiation in its earlier stages in the ninth century. He was supported by Ratramnus and John Scotus

Erigena.

35. Ad Dec. Grat. P III, dist. 1, ¢. 1.

36. Gratian belonged to the twelfth century. He was a monk of Bologna and was the first to teach Canon Law as a subject distinct from theology. Very little is known of his life.

37. Zwingli overlooks another possible interpretation, that it is dangerous to speak the truth concerning the sacraments because the truth can so easily be misunderstood.

38. Zwingli is thinking especially of Bugenhagen, who denied a literal eating with the teeth.

39. This is a reference to the book which developed out of Gratian's lectures and which formed the first volume of the Corpus juris canonict. It was originally known as the Concordantia discordantium canonici, but is now usually called the Decretum.

40. The canon consists of two quotations from Augustine: Tract.

XXV and Tract. XXVI, in Foannis evang.

41. Corpus juris canonict, c. 59, dist. II de consecratione.

42. De vera et falsa religione commentarius, and Subsidium sive coronts de eucharistia.

43. The main foundation of Zwingli's sacramental teaching is to be found in this sixth chapter of St. John. Zwingli was helped to his understanding of the chapter by the reading of Augustine.

44. The reference is to the controversy with the Anabaptists concerning the state of the believer between death and the final resurrection. The Anabaptists claimed that there is no consciousness, i.e., the soul sleeps, but Zwingli argued that the spirit still enjoys conscious life in the divine presence.

45. Zwingli means that it is not the flesh itself which is the ransom for sin, but the flesh as it is crucified, i.e., the death of the flesh.

46. In this context the distinction between a carnal and a spiritual understanding is that between an understanding in terms of flesh, i.e., that the eating is literal, and an understanding in terms of the spirit, i.e., that the eating is believing in Christ.

47. Corpus juris canonict, c. 44, Dist. II, de consecratione.

NOTES 48. The first part of the canon is from Augustine's Enarratio in Psalmum 54, the rest from his Tractat. XXVII in Foannis evangel.

49. The reference is to the Lutherans, and especially Bugenhagen.

EG At this point the question of the two natures of Christ is raised publicly by Zwingli for the first time. He had previously mentioned it only in a letter to Nuremburg.

51. The point may easily be overlooked that this fact does make possible a true presence of Christ in the Supper according to his divine nature—indeed this is almost taken for granted by Zwingli.

52. Zwingli maintains strongly the doctrine of the divine impassibility. mu The reference is to the Romanists.

54. A reference to the party of Erasmus.

55. Zwingli means that the true omnipotence of God is not merely his power to do anything, but his power to do what he wills to do: it involves choice as well as capacity.

56. A reference to Genesis 41. Zwingli returns to the same example below, and cf. C.R., IV, p. 496.

57. This is another example of rather fanciful exegesis on Zwingli's part.

58. I.e., the followers of Erasmus.

59. Theologi, meaning especially the mediaeval schoolmen.

60. Marcion of Synope (85-160) was the famous heretic of the second century, who amongst other things maintained a strongly docetic view of Christ. He was excommunicated in A.D. 144 and founded his own churches.

61. Cf. Tertullian, Adv. Marcionem, lib. I, c. 14, lib. IV, c. 40.

62. The sequence of the argument is as follows: We eat the body which was given for us. If then we eat it miraculously, it follows that it was given for us miraculously.

63. A playful reference to the arguments with which the exponents of this theory supported their case.

64. Corpus juris canonici, c. 44: a quotation from Augustine.

65. Am Griit disputed the rendering of veritas as Treue (faithfulness or fidelity). He did not agree that Zwingli had the right to go behind Augustine's Latin to the original Hebrew.

66. The passage is from Augustine's Tractat. XXX in JFoannis evangel.

67. Zwingli has in mind the works of Billican (De verbis coenae dominicae) and Urban Rhegius, which he answered March

1, 1526. Billican (Theobald Gernolt or Gerlacher, of Billigheim in the Palatinate, was a supporter of Lutheranism in Weil and Nérdlingen. After 1529 he inclined back to Romanism, but without definitely committing himself to either side. Rhegius was a pastor in Augsburg.) 68. The reply to Billican and Rhegius, which came out on March

I, 1526, only a few days after the present treatise.

NOTES

69. Cf. C.R., IV, pp. 484 f.

70. A reference to the works of Billican, Rhegius, Bugenhagen and possibly Schwenckfeld and Konrad Ryss.

71. Origen: In Leviticum Homilia XIII, 3, and cf. In Exodum homilia VII, 4.

72. Zwingli is thinking especially of Schwenckfeld and Ryss.

Cf. W. Kohler, Zwingli und Luther.

73. Cf. C.R. IV, pp. 500 f.

74. Zwingli will not allow that there is any guilt in respect of the body supposedly eaten in the sacrament, but only in respect of the body represented in the sacrament, the crucified body.

75. The book referred tois: Foannis Oecolampadit de Genvina Verborum Domini, Hoc est corpus meum, juxta vetustissimos authores, expositione liber.

Basileae Anno 1525.

76. This translation was the work of Ludwig Hatzer and was published in Zurich early in 1526.

77. Jerome, Commentar. in evangel. Matthaei, lib. IV.

78. Ambrose, Commentar. in epist. I ad Corinth.

79. Cf. Corpus juris canonici c. 50 dist. II, de consecrat.

80. This latter rendering is obviously more favourable to Zwingli's view and he regards it as the correct one.

81. The word for ''faith" is often used for "'creed,'? but in the present context it seems to have the wider significance of "'the faith" in general.

82. This interchangeability of the names of sign and thing signified was to play a prominent part in the later sacramental teaching of the Reformed school.

83. Cf. the exposition of the 18th thesis. Am Grit in his reply seized upon a slight difference between the statement in this thesis and the later teaching of Zwingli in the Commentarius, the Subsidium and this present treatise.

84. Corpus juris canonici, c. 51, Dist. II, de consecrat.

85. Augustine, Jn Psalmum XXJ, enarratio II.

86. Augustine, enarratio in Psalmum III.

87. The example of the marriage ring is taken from a letter of Cornelius Hoen. It was also used by Leo Jud in his book on the sacramental doctrine of Erasmus and Luther: Des hochgelehrten

Erasmi von Roterdam und Doctor Luthers maynung vom Nachtmahl.

88. Augustine, Epistola XCVIII.

89. Zwingli is reterring to the Reformed communion service then in use at Zurich. go. The reference is to the attempted separation between Zwingli and Oecolampadius on purely grammatical grounds. gt. I.e., "communion," not as "'partaking," but as ''fellowship" or "community."

92. Corpus juris canonici, c. 36, Dist. II, de consecrat.

93. The words of these two canons have not been found in

NOTES Augustine, but have perhaps been collected from tractates XXVI and XXVII on St. John.

94. Corpus juris canonici c. 62, Dist. II, de consecrat. g5. The reference is to an anonymous work, probably by Konrad

Ryss. The name Konrad Ryss is itself a pseudonym, but "'Ryss"' is thought to have been a disciple of Schwenckfeld.

96. Carlstadt (Andreas Bodenstein) was Luther's fellow-professor in Wittenberg. At this time he was under the influence of the Anabaptist extremists.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE FAITH

1. A fuller version of the title is: A Short and Clear Exposttion of the Christian Faith.

2. ad cotem et palum exercerent—the palus was a wooden stake which represented the enemy and was used for practice in close combat.

3. The reference is to false reports concerning the Swiss Reformation which were evidently in circulation at the French Court.

4. Either through ignorance or design Zwingli and his followers were being confused with the Anabaptists.

5. The reference is to the Apostles' Creed.

6. Zwingli's point is that a faith which derives from the one and true God is necessarily a reliable faith. He uses a philosophical argument to show that the God of Christianity is the one true

God, but he then bases his certainty of faith upon the Word and revelation of that God.

7. The meaning is that although we may reverence holy things we must not allow them to usurp the place of God as in much mediaeval thought and practice.

8. This distinction between employing and enjoying derives from Augustine. g. The text reads: Aatpeia adorari.

10. pediculari morbo or louse-disease.

Cf. Virgil, Georgica 3,564 and Josephus, Antiquities, XLX, 8, 2.

Il. per essentiam.

12. eucharistia—usually rendered by Zwingli either as thanksgiving or the Lord's Supper.

13. Lit.

"'like a reed''—a phrase which suggests rather a mechanical conception of inspiration.

14. In symbolo.

15. It is to be noted that although Zwingli clearly thinks of the atonement in terms of a reconciliation of the divine justice, he refers both justice and mercy to one and the same goodness in God, thus avoiding any suggestion of a division within the deity. And nowhere does he even hint that the justice is proper to the Father and the mercy to the Son.

NOTES

16. Two points stand out in this paragraph: first, the obvious influence of the scholastic presentation; and second, the necessity of the incarnation and death of Christ for the purposes of reconciliation.

17. The separation of the divine and human aspects of Christ's being and works is essential to Zwingli's theology, and in spite of his stress upon the unity it inevitably suggests a fundamental

Nestorian tendency.

18. This comparison derives from Augustine.

19. The reference is to the so-called Athanasian Creed.

20. in unitatem hypostaseos: hypostasis was the Greek term used to signify the individual person within the essence of the Trinity. Its

Latin equivalent was persona.

21. Zwingli is perhaps hinting at the perpetual virginity of Mary, which he seems never to have denied.

22. ddpatos.

23. avadynrtos.

24. Zwingli does not accept the view later propounded by Calvin that Christ tasted all the torments of hell, but he clearly links up the descent with the salvation of all who had died in faith or piety prior to the coming of the Redeemer.

25. A reference to Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. IV, 18, 5.

26. It is to be noted that the incarnation is vital to Zwingli's soteriology, since it makes possible the necessary identification both of Christ with the believer and of the believer with Christ.

27. The understanding of the incarnation is the key to a right understanding of the divine presence in the Supper.

28. mapadoyién. Cf. Acts, 26:24.

29. The quotation is from In Foannts evang. tract. XXX.

30. I.e., the papists and Lutherans.

31. Zwingli here accepts the title which was officially accorded to the Virgin at the Council of Ephesus in 431.

32. This verse clearly indicates a creationist doctrine of the origin of the soul.

33. sacramentaliter.

34. For a full list of Zwingli's writings on the subject, see G.

Finsler, @wingli-Bibliographie, 1897; for those of Oecolampadius, E. Staehelin, Ockolampad-Bibliographie, 1918. On the relations between the two see E. Staehelin, Das theologische Lebenswerk Johannes

Ockolampad, pp. 267 f., 598 f., 1939.

35. improprie, i.e., not properly, or strictly.

36. I.e., the Lutherans.

37. fides historica—an acceptance of the historical truth of the events proclaimed.

38. cevodyfeva—the reference is to the act of Solon in 594 B.c. when he remitted all debts and prohibited slavery for debt.

39. Zwingli returns to the example of the ring which he had used in his Treatise on the Lord's Supper.

NOTES 40. analogia.

41. By the body of Christ as redeemed from death he means the Church.

42. PETWVULLXds.

43. leberide sunt inaniores—a Latin proverb used by Erasmus, Adagia I, 1, 26. Leberide is a transcription of the Greek AcEnpidn.

44. The reference is obviously to Revelation 21:2, but Zwingli is no doubt quoting from memory and erroneously ascribes the verse to Paul. He was perhaps thinking of Galatians 4:26.

45. As Zwingli sees it the true Church consists of the whole company of the elect, the visible of all external confessors. The two are united in that the elect are themselves confessors and therefore members of the visible Church.

46. Zwingli is probably thinking of the Smaller Council at Zurich.

47. A further reference to the charge of Anabaptism.

48. avoTpempa 7 avcacw.

49. Strictly, the prophetic office, i.e., preaching.

50. Zwingli again uses the analogy of the twofold nature of man.

51. Cf. Jeremiah 29:7 and I Timothy, 2:2.

52. L.e., the apostle John.

53. It is to be noted that although Zwingli teaches a firm doctrine of assurance, the assurance is objectively based upon the grace and faithfulness of God inwardly attested by the Holy Spirit.

54. intellectus omnis.

55. The argument here used by Zwingli is a very acute one, that true good works are possible only where there is that radical change in disposition which takes place when a man has genuine faith.

That is why faith must always precede works, and yet is always necessarily accompanied by them.

56. zapaddéws.

57. The reference is presumably to acts or payments which are alleged to reduce the period of purgatorial suffering.

58. Zwingli's dependence on Augustine is very marked. He appeals to him here as a witness against the merit of works.

59. The thought of the power and "'busyness"' of faith is one which is found frequently in Luther, but Zwingli here argues it on more philosophical lines.

60. The works of faith are done spontaneously, not in fulfilment of an external law. They are the works of that new law which is written upon the heart.

61. Zwingli perhaps finds it necessary to stress that the law is not cast off by the evangelical churches. He finds for it a true office in the guidance of Christians and the restraining or condemning of evil-doers.

62. Especially Aristotle.

63. évreAéxerav. Both word and concept derive from Aristotle.

An entelechy is real activity as opposed to potentiality.

NOTES

64. This is the famous passage in which Zwingli claims the salvation of all the great and pious heathen. Luther attacked the idea as itself pagan (cf. his Kurz Bekenntniss vom heiligen Sakrament 1544), although he had hazarded a similar view in his sermon on Genesis

20 (W.A. XXIV, p. 364 f.).

65. Bullinger omitted the reference to Francis' ancestors.

66. The Valentinians were the disciples of the Egyptian Gnostic Valentinus. Cf. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. I, 6, 3.

67. The Eunomians were Arians. Cf. Gregory of Naz. Orat.

XXVII, 9 68. This charge is probably based on more than idle rumour, for some of the wilder Anabaptist sects practised polygamy, as for example at Munster.

69. The Christian Civic Alliance had been inaugurated in 1527 by Zurich and Constance, and had been joined in 1528 by Berne and St. Gall, and in 1529 by Biel, Mithlhausen, Basel and Schaffhausen.

It was on behalf of the Alliance that Zwingli was negotiating for a treaty with France.

70. Zwingli is here quoting a Latin proverb.

71. This is probably a reference to friends in Lyons and Paris who were well-disposed towards the reforming movement.

72. The kings of France bore the recognized title, Most Christian King, and it is on this that Zwingli bases his peroration.

73. It seems that Zwingli had hopes that if Francis could be won for the evangelical faith the whole of Europe might also be won.

That is why he was ready to use every device of rhetoric and flattery in this concluding appeal. Future events were to reveal the extravagance of his expectations.

BULLINGER

Or THE Hoty CaTHOLic CHURCH 1. In this thought there seems to be some play upon the root

"to call."" The Church is the company of those who call upon God as well as of those who are called by him.

2. The reference is to the organized religions of heathendom, not to companies of believers outside Israel or Christendom.

3. Bullinger here accepts the traditional distinction, but he applies it in the Reformed way. The Church triumphant consists of all the elect now in heaven. The Church militant consists outwardly of all professing Christians, but inwardly of all the elect upon earth.

4. It is in relation to the Church militant that Bullinger develops the distinction between the external and the internal Church. In this respect he opposes the Romanist idea that there is one visible

Church comprising both the good and the bad.

NOTES 5. It is of interest that the words "the Communion of Saints" are regarded simply as an amplification or definition of the previous article. There is no real doctrine of the Communion of Saints as distinct from the holy catholic Church.

6. Cf. Bingham's Antiquities, I, 11, 1.

7. Cf. Pacit Isagog. in Decretal., III, 29 De paroeciis.

8. Cf. Smith, Dictionary of Antiquities, p. 599. g. This thought seems to be taken from Polydor. Verg., De

Rerum Inv. IV, 9.

10. The distinction drawn here is between those who are hypocritical in the sense that they trust in their own righteousness and oppose the Gospel, like the Pharisees and Romanists, and those who are hypocritical in the sense that they adopt externally the forms and language of evangelical religion, but without an inward and personal faith.

11. The doctrine of election involves necessarily a doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints.

12. Bullinger is perhaps thinking of Zwingli, whose teaching on this matter he follows closely. Cf., too, the Helvetic Confession.

13. Here again Bullinger states the classical Reformed doctrine, that the two notes of the visible Church are the faithful preaching of the Word of God and the orderly administration of the two dominical sacraments.

14. The fact that the Word and sacraments have different effects in different persons does not mean that there is any change in the Word and sacraments themselves, i.e., the outward word of Scripture does not sometimes ''become'' the Word of God. The condition of effective reception is the operation of the Holy Spirit within the individual, not within the means of grace.

15. Hence the Reformed insistence that the sacrament must never be administered without the Word.

16. The meaning is that in certain circumstances it is possible to have true faith and yet not to be able to belong to an organized community of believers. It is only outside the invisible Church that there is no salvation. But in a true sense the visible Church is a "'mother'' of believers, and normally no true Christian will not be a member of it.

17. It is to be noted in this connection that Bullinger does not allow a right of private interpretation of Holy Scripture. The Church is bound by the Word of God rightly expounded. The mere possession of Scripture does not constitute a true Church.

18. Their firm grasp of the divine sovereignty enabled the Reformers to avoid what seemed to be the implication of Bullinger's argument, that since heretical churches have no purity of the Word and sacraments, they do not have the Word and sacraments at all.

This deduction seems to have been drawn by Huss, but the sixteenth century reformers all accepted the traditional view that there is

NOTES

a valid administration of the sacraments where the correct matter and form are preserved.

19. This was an argument which the Anglicans found most useful against the Puritans, who criticized many practices largely on the ground that they were used in the Romish church.

20. Bullinger maintains the vital interconnection of faith and love which underlies the whole Protestant understanding of the right and proper place of works.

21. In this as in other Reformed writings there is none of that unrestrained individualism which is supposed to characterize Protestant teaching. Even faith itself, which is the most personal thing, is regarded as a bond of fellowship.

22. The visible Church is highly esteemed, because it is through the visible Church that the revelation of God has been given to the world and is communicated to the individual believer.

23. Paul III died on Nov. 10, 1549. On Feb. 7, 1550, Jon Maria de Monte was elected to succeed him, and took the name of Julius III.

24. Tertull. De Praescript. Haeret., 32. Bullinger's point is not actually made by Tertullian himself, and although it is no doubt a valid inference, it may be doubted whether Tertullian would ever have envisaged any such possibility.

25. Ibid. 36.

26. Bullinger is probably protesting against the use of diplomacy and military force which had produced the difficult situation following the Augsburg Interim.

His criticisms are directed mainly against the Romanists, but he obviously repudiates also the policy of the Schmalkaldic League and even the later policies of Zwingli, against which he had openly protested at the time.

27. Bullinger refuses to draw the Anabaptist deduction that the use of force is always and necessarily wrong. He does not believe that force should deliberately be used to attain spiritual ends, but he does believe that God overrules the use of force as exercised by legitimate but not necessarily Christian rulers.

28. All foolish ideas of moral perfectionism are here set aside, probably in opposition to the Anabaptists.

29. A true understanding of justification and sanctification enables us to understand how a sinful Church can also be described as a holy and spotless Church. Without the doctrine of justification by faith the paradox is an absolute contradiction.

30. Gerson, De Potest. eccles. Opp. Tom. I, Col. 3, Par. 1606.

31. Petri de Alliaco, Tract. de ecclesiae auctoritate Opp. Tom. I, Col. 898, Par. 1606.

32. Augustine, Tract. V in Joann.

33. It is to be noted that with all the Reformers Bullinger accepts the divine institution and authority of the ministry.

34. It was on this ground that the Reformers would not accept as true sacraments the five observances of penance, etc.

NOTES 35. This is a clear insistence upon the supremacy of Holy Scripture over the Church.

36. By this rule Bullinger excludes all practices, doctrines or regulations imposed by the Church simply on its own authority.

He will not even grant to the Church the liberty (conceded by the Lutherans and Anglicans) to make laws in matters not covered by Scripture so long as nothing is done which is contrary to Scripture.

He claims that the Church must never impose any rule which is either outside Scripture or in opposition to it. The only power of the Church is in matters of external order (e.g., the time of services) and the individual application of the laws of Scripture (e.g., in excommunication).

37. The lordship of Christ himself over the Church is here clearly safeguarded. To that lordship the power of the Church and its ministers is in all cases subject.

( se

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ZWINGLI A. EpITIons Opera (Gwalter), Tiguri 1581 f. (4 vols).

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Keitgemdssige Auswahl aus Huldreich XKwinglis praktischen Schriften (R. Christoffel), 1843-1846.

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Z.B.— 23

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