Part 22 (1/2)
Nevertheless, since but fe this glory of baptism and the blessedness of Christian liberty, and cannot know them because of the tyranny of the pope, I for one will clear ainst the pope and all his papists: Unless they will abolish their laws and traditions, and restore to Christ's churches their liberty and have it taught auilty of all the souls that perish under this dom of Babylon, yea, of very Antichrist! For who is ”the man of sin” and ”the son of perdition” [2 Thess 2:3 f] but he that with his doctrines and his laws increases sins and the perdition of souls in the Church, while he sitteth in the Church as if he were God? All this the papal tyranny has fulfilled, and uished faith, obscured the sacraments and oppressed the Gospel; but its ohich are not only iious, but even barbarous and foolish, it has enjoined and multiplied world without end
Behold, then, our miserable captivity; how the city doth sit solitary that was full of people! How the mistress of the Gentiles is become as a : the princess of provinces made tributary! There is none to comfort her, all her friends have despised her [Lament 1:1 f] So many orders, so many rites, so many sects, so many professions, exertions and works, in which Christians are engaged, until they lose sight of their baptism, and for this swarm of locusts, cankerworms and caterpillars [Joel 1:4] not one of thes his baptisht him We should be even as little children, newly baptised, who are engaged in no efforts and no works, but are free in every way, secure and saved solely through the glory of their baptism For we are indeed little children, continually baptised anew in Christ
[Sidenote: Infant Baptism]
In contradiction of what has been said, sorasp the promise of God and cannot have the faith of baptism; so that either faith is not necessary or else infant baptism is without effect Here I say what all say: Infants are aided by the faith of others, na them to baptism[104] For the Word of God is powerful, when it is uttered, to change even a Godless heart, which is no less deaf and helpless than any infant Even so the infant is changed, cleansed and renewed by inpoured faith, through the prayer of the Church that presents it for baptiss are possible [Mark 9:23] Nor should I doubt that even a Godless adult ed, in any of the sacraments, if the same Church prayed and presented him; as we read in the Gospel of the h the faith of others [Matt 9:1 ff] I should be ready to admit that in this sense the sacrarace, not only to those who do not, but even to those who do most obstinately, oppose a bar[105] What obstacle will not the faith of the Church and the prayer of faith remove? Do we not believe that Stephen by this powerful means converted Paul the Apostle? But then the sacraments accomplish what they do not by their oer, but by the power of faith, without which they acco at all, as has been said[106]
There reht to baptise an infant not yet born, with only a hand or a foot presenting Here I will decide nothing hastily, and confess iven by some is sufficient,--that the soul resides in its entirety in every part of the body; or it is not the soul but the body that is externally baptised ater Nor do I share the view of others, that he who is not yet born cannot be born again, even though it has considerable force I leave theseof the Spirit, and meanwhile per)]
[Sidenote: Vows and the Baptisht persuade all to do it!--viz, completely to abolish or avoid all vows, be they vows to enter religious orders, to es or to do any works whatsoever, that we may reious and rich in works It is ireatly that widespread delusion of voers baptise of Christian liberty; to say nothing now of the unspeakable and infinite peril of souls which thatvows and that ill-advised rashness daily increase O most Godless pontiffs and unhappy pastors, who slue your evil lusts, without pity or this ”affliction of Joseph,” [Aht with peril!
Vows should either be abolished by a general edict, particularly such as are taken for life, and all ently recalled to the vows of baptism, or else everyone should be warned not to take a vow rashly, and no one encouraged to do so, nay, periven only with difficulty and reluctance For we have vowed enough in baptisive ourselves to the keeping of this one voe shall have all we can do But noe compass earth and sea to make many proselytes [Matt 23:15]; we fill the world with priests,vows You will find those who argue and decide that a work done in fulfilher than one done without a vow, and is to be rewarded with I know not what great rewards in heaven Blind and Godless Pharisees, who reatness, number or other quality of the works! But God measures them by faith alone, and with Him there is no difference betorks except that which is wrought by faith
With such bombast these wicked men advertise their inventions and puff up hu populace, who are allitter of works to et their baptism and do despite to their Christian liberty For a vow is a kind of law or requirement; therefore, when vows are multiplied, laws and works are necessarily uished and the liberty of baptism taken captive Others, not content with these wicked allureious order is a new baptism[107], as it were, which may afterward be repeated as often as the purpose to live the religious life is renewed Thus these ”votaries” have appropriated to thelory, and let to those who areto compare with them Nay, the Roman pontiff, that fountain and source of all superstitions, confir bulls and dispensations, while no one dee pomp (as we have said)[108] they drive the easily led people of Christ into certain disaster, so that in their ingratitude toward baptiss by their works than others achieve by their faith
Therefore, God again shows Himself froward to the froward [Ps 18:26], and to repay the ratitude and pride, causes theious labor; to rerace of faith and baptism; to continue in their hypocrisy unto the end--since their spirit is not approved of God--and at last to becohteousness and never attaining unto righteousness; so that they fulfil the word of Isaiah: ”The land is full of idols” [Isa 2:8]
I a any one who may desire to take a vow privately and of his own free choice; for I would not altogether despise and conde up and sanctioning the h that every one should have the private right to take a vow at his peril; but to co of vows as a public mode of life--this I hold to be most harmful to the Church and to simple souls And I hold this, first, because it runs directly counter to the Christian life; for a vow is a certain ceremonial law and a human tradition or presuh baptism For a Christian is subject to no laws but the law of God Again, there is no instance in Scripture of such a vow, especially of life-long chastity, obedience and poverty[109] But whatever is without warrant of Scripture is hazardous and should by no means be commended to any one, much less established as a coh whoever will must be permitted to ht by the Spirit in a few men, but they must not be reatly fear that these s which the Apostle foretold: ”They shall teach a life in hypocrisy, forbidding to marry, to abstain froiving” [1 Ti to Sts Bernard, Francis, Dominic and others, who founded or fostered monastic orders Terrible and marvelous is God in His counsels toward the sons of men He could keep Daniel, Ananias, Azarias and Misael holy at the court of the king of Babylon [Dan 1:6 ff], that is, in the midst of Godlessness; why could He not sanctify those uide the it to be an example to others? Besides, it is certain that none of theious” life; they were saved through faith alone, by which all men are saved, and hich that splendid slavery of vows iselse in conflict
But every one may hold to his own view of this [Ro now in behalf of the Church's liberty and the glory of baptism, I feel myself in duty bound publicly to set forth the counsel I have learned under the Spirit's guidance I therefore counsel the nates of the churches, first of all, to abolish all those vows, or at least not to approve and extol them If they will not do this, then I counsel all men ould be assured of their salvation, to abstain froive this counsel especially to all growing boys and youths This I do, first, because this manner of life has no witness or warrant in the Scriptures, as I have said, but is puffed up solely by the bulls (and they truly are ”bulls”)[110] of hureatly tends to hypocrisy, by reason of its outward show and its unusual character, which engender conceit and a contempt of the common Christian life And if there were no other reason for abolishi+ng these vows, this one were reason enough, nahted and works are exalted, which cannot be done without harious orders there is scarce one in many thousands, who is not more concerned about works than about faith, and on the basis of thisthemselves, such as ”the more strict” and ”the more lax,” as they call theious order or the priesthood--nay, I dissuade everyone--unless he be foreare and understand that the works of monks and priests, be they never so holy and arduous, differ no whit in the sight of God frooing about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before Him by faith alone; as Jeremiah says: ”O Lord, thine eyes are upon faith” [Jer
5:3]; and Ecclesiasticus: ”In every work of thine regard thy soul in faith: for this is the keeping of the commandments” [Eccles 32:27]
Nay, he should know that the menial housework of a maidservant or manservant is ofttis and other works of a monk or a priest, because the latter lacks faith
Since, therefore, vows seelorification of works and to pride, it is to be feared that there is nowhere less of faith and of the Church than a the priests, monks and bishops, and that these ine themselves to be the Church or the heart of the Church, and ”spiritual,” and the Church's leaders, when they are everything else but that And it is to be feared that this is indeed ”the people of the captivity,” [Ps 64:1 (Vulg)] aiven us in baptism are held captive, while ”the people of the earth” are left behind in poverty and in small numbers, and, as is the lot of married folk, appear vile in their eyes[112]
[Sidenote: Papal Dispensations and their Inconsistency]
Frouilty of two glaring errors In the first place, he grants dispensations froh he alone of all Christians possessed this authority; such is the terant a dispensation frohbor or even to hirant a dispensation, neither can the pope by any right For whence has he his authority? Fro to all, and avail only for sins (Matthew xviii) [Matt 18:15 ff][114] Now they theht”
Why then does the pope deceive and destroy the poor souls of ht, in which no dispensations can be granted? He babbles indeed, in the section ”Of vows and their redee vows, just as in the law the firstborn of an ass was changed or a sheep [Ex13:13]--as if the firstborn of an ass, and the vow he commands to be everywhere and always offered, were one and the sa, or as if when God decrees in His law that a sheep shall be changed or an ass, the pope, a htway claim the same power, not in his o but in God's! It was not a pope, but an ass changed for a pope[116], that iously senseless and Godless is it
The other error is this The pope decrees, on the other hand, that e is dissolved if one party enter a monastery even without the consent of the other, provided the e be not yet consus into the pope's mind!
God commands men to keep faith and not break their word to one another, and again, to do good with that which is their own; for He hates ”robbery in a holocaust,” [Isa 61:8] as he says by the e contract to keep faith with the other, and he is not his own He cannot break his faith by any right, and whatever he does with himself is robbery if it be without the other's consent Why does not one who is burdened with debts follow this same rule and obtain admission to an order, so as to be released from his debts and be free to break his word? O reater; the faith commanded by God or a vow devised and chosen by man? Thou art a shepherd of souls, O pope? And ye that teach such things are doctors of sacred theology? Why then do ye teach them? Because, forsooth, ye have decked out your vow as a better work than s, but ye exalt works, which are naught in the sight of God, or which are all alike so far as any merit is concerned[117]
I have no doubt, therefore, that neither rant a dispensation from vows, if they be proper vows But I as that men nowadays vow come under the head of vows For instance, it is simply foolish and stupid for parents to dedicate their children, before birth or in early infancy, to ”the religious life,” or to perpetual chastity; nay, it is certain that this can by no means be ters which it is not at all in one's power to keep As to the triple vow of the er I consider it, the less I co this vow has arisen Still less do I understand at what age vows al and valid I areed that vows taken before the age of puberty are not valid Nevertheless, they deceive e and of what they are vowing; they do not observe the age of puberty in receiving such children, who aftertheir profession are held captive and devoured by a troubled conscience, as though they had afterward given their consent As if a vohich was invalid could afterward become valid with the lapse of tial vow should be prescribed to others by those who cannot prescribe thehteen years of age should be valid, and not one taken at ten or twelve years It will not do to say that at eighteen a man feels his carnal desires How is it when he scarcely feels them at twenty or thirty, or when he feels them more keenly at thirty than at twenty? Why do they not also set a certain age-lie will you say a reed and pride? Even the most spiritual hardly become aware of these e and valid until we have becoer have any need of vows You see, these are uncertain and perilous matters, and it would therefore be a wholeso, unhampered by vows, to the Spirit alone, as they were of old, and by noor life But let this suffice for the present concerning baptism and its liberty; in due tith Of a truth they stand sorely in need of it
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
We come in the third place to the sacraiven no little offence by my published treatises and disputations[119], in which I have amply set forth my views These I must now briefly rehearse, in order to unmask the tyranny that is rampant here no less than in the sacrament of the bread For because these two sacrareed of the shepherds rages in theh baptis adults and become the servant of avarice, as we have just seen in our discussion of vows
[Sidenote: The Abuse of Penance]
This is the first and chief abuse of this sacrament: They have utterly abolished the sacrae of it left For they have overthrown both the word of divine promise and our faith, in which this as well as other sacraments consists
They have applied to their tyranny the word of promise which Christ spake in Matthew xvi, ”Whatsoever thou shalt bind,” etc [Matt