Part 22 (2/2)
16:19], in Matthew xviii, ”Whatsoever ye shall bind,” [Matt 18:18]
etc, and in John, the last chapter, ”Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them,” [John 20:23] etc In these words the faith of penitents is aroused, to the obtaining of re and preaching their sole concern has been, not to teach Christians what is proreat coht find in theh force and violence, until it has coun to coels in heaven[120] and to boast in incredible ht to a heavenly and an earthly rule, and of possessing the power to bind even in heaven Thus they say nothing of the saving faith of the people, but babble only of the despotic power of the pontiffs, whereas Christ speaks not at all of power, but only of faith
For Christ hath not ordained principalities or powers or lordshi+ps, but ministries, in the Church; as we learn from the Apostle, who says: ”Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God” [1 Cor 4:1] Nohen He said: ”He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved,” [Mark 16:16] He called forth the faith of those to be baptised, so that by this word of pro saved if he believed and was baptised In that word there is no impartation of any pohatever, but only the institution of the ministry of those who baptise Similarly, when He says here: ”Whatsoever thou shalt bind,”
etc [Matt 16:19], He calls forth the faith of the penitent, so that by this word of pro truly absolved in heaven, if he be absolved and believe Here there is no mention at all of power, but of the ministry of hia despotic power to themselves from the promise of baptism But if they do not do this in the case of baptism, why should they have presumed to do it in the case of the promise of penance? For in both there is a like ministry, a similar promise, and the sa to Peter alone, it is undeniably a wicked usurpation of power to claiain, when Christ says: ”Take, eat; this is iven or you Take, drink; this is the chalice in my blood,” etc [1 Cor
11:24 f], He calls forth the faith of those who eat, so that through these words their conscience thened by faith and they iveness of sins, if they have eaten
Here, too, He says nothing of power, but only of a ministry
Thus the promise of baptism remains in some sort, at least to infants; the promise of bread and the cup has been destroyed anda work and the testament a sacrifice; while the promise of penance has fallen prey to the most oppressive despotism of all and serves to establish a s, this Babylon of ours has so couished faith that it insolently denies its necessity in this sacrament; nay, with the wickedness of Antichrist it calls it heresy if any one should assert its necessity What more could this tyranny do that it has not done? [Isa 5:4] Verily, by the rivers of Babylon we sit and weep, e re our harps upon the s in the midst thereof [Ps 137:1, 2] The Lord curse the barren s of those streams! Amen
Now let us see what they have put in the place of the promise and the faith which they have blotted out and overthrown Three parts have they made of penance,--contrition, confession, and satisfaction; yet so as to destroy whatever of good there ht be in any of them and to establish here also their covetousness and tyranny
[Sidenote: I Contrition]
In the first place, they teach that contrition precedes faith in the pro it not a work of faith, but a merit; nay, they do not mention it at all So deep are they sunk in works and in those instances of Scripture that sho race by reason of their contrition and humility of heart; but they take no account of the faith which wrought such contrition and sorrow of heart, as it is written of the men of Nineveh in Jonah iii, ”And the men of Nineveh believed in God: and they proclaiain, more bold and wicked, have invented a so-called ”attrition,” which is converted into contrition by virtue of the power of the keys, of which they know nothing[122] This attrition they grant to the wicked and unbelieving and thus abolish contrition altogether O the intolerable wrath of God, that such things should be taught in the Church of Christ! Thus, with both faith and its work destroyed, we go on secure in the doctrines and opinions of o on to our destruction A contrite heart is a precious thing, but it is found only where there is a lively faith in the promises and the threats of God Such faith, intent on the immutable truth of God, startles and terrifies the conscience and thus renders it contrite, and afterwards, when it is contrite, raises it up, consoles and preserves it; so that the truth of God's threatening is the cause of contrition, and the truth of His promise the cause of consolation, if it be believed By such faith a iveness of sins Therefore faith should be taught and aroused before all else; and when faith is obtained, contrition and consolation will follow inevitably and of the of truth in their teaching that contrition is to be attained by what they call the recollection and conte is perilous and perverse so long as they do not teach first of all the beginning and cause of contrition,--the i and pro of faith,--so that men may learn to pay more heed to the truth of God, whereby they are cast down and lifted up, than to the multitude of their sins, which will rather irritate and increase the sinful desires than lead to contrition, if they be regarded apart fro now of the intolerable burden they have bound upon us with their demand that we should frame a contrition for every sin That is impossible; we can know only the sood works are found to be sins, according to Psal be justified” [Ps
143:2] It is enough to lament the sins which at the present moment distress our conscience, as well as those which we can readily call to mind Whoever is in this frarieve and fear for all his sins, and will do so whenever they are brought to his knowledge in the future
Beware, then, of putting your trust in your own contrition and of ascribing the forgiveness of sins to your own sorrow God does not have respect to you because of that, but because of the faith by which you have believed His threatenings and proht such sorroithin you Thus hatever of good there may be in our penance, not to our scrupulous enumeration of sins, but to the truth of God and to our faith All other things are the works and fruits of this, which follow of their own accord, and do not ood through faith in the truth of God Even so, ”a sry and troubleth the mountains and kindleth them,” [Ps 18:8] as it is said in Psal, which burns up the wicked, then faith, accepting this, sends up the cloud of contrition, etc
[Sidenote: 2 Confession]
Contrition, however, is less exposed to tyranny and gain than wholly given over to wickedness and pestilent teaching But confession and satisfaction have becoreed and violence Let us first take up confession There is no doubt that confession is necessary and commanded of God Thus we read in Matthew iii: ”They were baptised of John in Jordan, confessing their sins” [Matt 3:6]
And in I John i: ”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” [1 John 1:9 f] If the saints uilty of open and great sins[123] to make confession! But most effectively of all does Matthew xviii prove the institution of confession, in which passage Christ teaches that a sinning brother should be rebuked, haled before the Church, accused and, if he will not hear, exco the rebuke, he acknowledges and confesses his sin [Matt 18:15]
[Sidenote: Private Confession]
[Sidenote: ”Reserved Cases”]
Of private confession, which is now observed, I ah it cannot be proved from the Scriptures; it is useful and necessary, nor would I have it abolished--nay, I rejoice that it exists in the Church of Christ, for it is a cure without an equal for distressed consciences For e have laid bare our conscience to our brother and privately made known to him the evil that lurked within, we receive from our brother's lips the word of comfort spoken by God Himself; and, if we accept it in faith, we find peace in the h our brother This alone do I abominate,--that this confession has been subjected to the despotism and extortion of the pontiffs They reserve[124] to themselves even hidden sins, and command that they be made known to confessors named by them, only to trouble the consciences of men They merely play the pontiff, while they utterly despise the true duties of pontiffs, which are to preach the Gospel and to care for the poor Yea, the Godless despots leave the great sins to the plain priests, and reserve to themselves those sins only which are of less consequence, such as those ridiculous and fictitious things in the bull _Coena domini_[125] Nay, to make the wickedness of their error the more apparent, they not only do not reserve, but actually teach and approve, the sins against the service of God, against faith and the chief coes, the perverse worshi+p of the saints, the lying saints' legends, the various for of theuished and idolatry encouraged, as we see in our day We have the same kind of priests to-day as Jereboas 12:26 ff],--norant of the law of God, of faith and of whatever pertains to the feeding of Christ's sheep, and who inculcate in the people nothing but their own inventions with terror and violence
Although e of reserved cases, even as Christ bids us bear all the tyranny of men, and teaches us that we must obey these extortioners; nevertheless I deny that they have the right toone jot or tittle of proof that they have it But I a to prove the contrary In the first place, Christ, speaking in Matthew xviii of open sins, says that if our brother shall hear us e rebuke him, we have saved the soul of our brother, and that he is to be brought before the Church only if he refuse to hear us; so that his sinbrethren How iven if one brother freely makes confession to another? So that it is not necessary to tell it to the Church, that is, as these babblers interpret it, the prelate or priest We have another proof of this in Christ's words in the same chapter: ”Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” [Matt 18:18] For this is said to each and every Christian
Again, He says in the saain I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning anything whatsoever that they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven”
[Matt 18:19] Now, the brother who lays his hidden sins before his brother and craves pardon, certainly consents with his brother upon earth in the truth, which is Christ Of which Christ says yetwords: ”Verily I say unto you, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” [Matt 18:20]
Hence, I have no doubt but that every one is absolved from his hidden sins when he hasrebuked, has sought pardon and amended his ways, privately before any brother, however ainst it; for Christ has given to every one of His believers the power to absolve even open sins Add yet this little point: If any reservation of hidden sins were valid, so that one could not be saved unless they were forgiven, then a man's salvation would be prevented ood works and idolatries, which are nowadays taught by the popes But if these rievous sins do not prevent one's salvation, how foolish it is to reserve those lighter sins! Verily, it is the foolishness and blindness of the pastors that produce these s in the Church Therefore I would admonish these princes of Babylon and bishops of Bethaven [Hosea 4:15; 10:5] to refrain fro any cases whatsoever Let them, moreover, permit all brothers and sisters freely to hear the confession of hidden sins, so that the sinner may make his sins known to whomever he will and seek pardon and cohbor For with these presumptions of theirs they only ensnare the consciences of the ithout necessity, establish their wicked despotism, and fatten their avarice on the sins and ruin of their brethren Thus they stain their hands with the blood of souls, sons are devoured by their parents, Ephraim devours Juda, and Syria Israel with open mouth, as Isaiah saith [Isa 9:20]
[Sidenote: ”Circumstances”]
To these evils they have added the ”circuhters, sisters, brothers- and sisters-in-law, branches and fruits of sins; since, forsooth, astute and idle men have worked out a kind of fa sins--so prolific is wickedness coupled with ignorance For this conceit, whatever rogue be its author, has like many another become a public law Thus do the shepherds keep watch over the Church of Christ; whatever neork or superstition those stupid devotees ht of day, deck out with indulgences and safeguard with bulls; so far are they fro to God's people the true faith and liberty For what has our liberty to do with the tyranny of Babylon?
My advice would be to ignore all circumstances utterly With Christians there is only one circumstance,--that a brother has sinned