Part 47 (2/2)

IX They are unthankful For God has createdAnd they refuse to receive theoodness The reason for which is, that they have no faith and do not know the truth For Paul says, I Tim iv, 3, ”To theiven to be used with thanksgiving” [1 Ti and do not know the truth, as St Paul here says they are, they are beyond question heathen, non-Christians, blind and foolish And this, I suppose, they regard as praise of the pope, priests and monks!

[Sidenote: Harmful Preachers]

X Paul rebukes them as wicked, harood preacher, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, if he will put the brethren in res It follows that they who teach the contrary must be wicked preachers and be nourished ords of unbelief and of wicked doctrines

[Sidenote: Old Wives' Fables]

XI He calls such doctrines profane and old wives' fables Is not that foolish talk? He says that the great doctors busy themselves with fables such as old wives chatter about behind the stove, and calls theh the doctors claim that they are the very essence of holiness!

Who has ever heard the doctrines of men so terribly decried in every way? that they are apostate, unbelieving, unchristian, heathen, seducing, devilish, false, hypocritical, searing the conscience, unthankful, that they dishonor God and His creature and are harmful ables and old wives' chatter Let himent of God

V

St Paul in Colossians ii, 16 and the following verses says: ”Let no man burden you in meat or in drink or in respect of certain days which are holy days, or days of the new s to come, but the body is in Christ Let no one seduce you who follows his oill in the huels, of whom he has never seen even one, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and does not hold fast the Head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, is supplied with nourishiven of God If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you burden yourselves with ordinances as if you were alive? Ordinances which say This thou shalt not touch, this thou shalt not eat or drink, this thou shalt not put on (which all perish in the using), according to the commandments and doctrines of men, who have a shoisdom because of their self-chosen spirituality and humility, and because they do not spare the body and do not supply its needs” [Col 2:16 ff] Is St Paul here also speaking of the Manicheans or Tatianists? Or can we find excuse here for the papists? He speaks against those who take captive the consciences of men with the doctrines of men and make matters of conscience of food, drink, clothes, days and everything that is external And it cannot be denied that the pope, the chapters and monasteries with their rules and statutes do this when they forbid the eating ofof ordinary clothes such as other people wear And here stands St Paul, and says:

[Sidenote: Burden the Conscience]

I ”Let no e or condemn you in respect of food, drink, clothes or days” What does this mean if not this: Be not priests nor monks, nor in any way keep the pope's laws; and believe hi is sin or a h Paul commands us to despise the laws of the pope and of the monasteries, and to keep them free, so that they do not take captive the conscience That is as much as to say, Do not become monks or priests, and let him who has become monk or priest turn back, or else retain his position as a matter of freedoh Paul wrote this of the Jeho did such things according to the Law (for he says in Colossians ii, 17, that they have the shadow and type of things to come, but that the body itself is in Christ [Col 2:17]), yet it holds ainst the decrees of the pope and of the monks For if that which God has decreed coer bind the consciences ofthat would bind the conscience? And farther on more will be said of the laws of mere men, for

[Sidenote: By-paths]

II He says, ”Let no one seduce you or lead you toward paths the prize in by-paths” What does this mean but to lead ht road by which to gain the prize of salvation, to strive toward heaven by other ways, and to claiain the prize? And this is what the orders and the pope's doctrines do And what are the ways they propose? Listen:

[Sidenote: Humility]

III He says, ”In self-willed huels”

What words could better it the orders? Is it not true that the pope and all of them prattle much of their obedience, which is said to be the noblest virtue, that is, the precious spiritual humility of the papists? But who has commanded this huht it out that they ht seduce themselves For with it they have withdrawn themselves from the common humility and obedience which God has commanded, namely, that every one shall huhbor But they are subject to no man on earth, and have withdrawn themselves entirely; they have made an obedience and a humility of their own after their statutes Yet they claim that their obedience is superhuh there are no more disobedient and less humble people on earth than they are

In the same way they also have their vows of chastity and poverty

They do not work like other people but, like the angels in heaven, they praise and worshi+p God day and night; in short, their life is heavenly, although nowhere on earth can you ind reater wealth, less devotional hearts, or more hardened people than in the spiritual estate, as every one knows Yet they seduce all the world from the true way to the by-path with their self-willed, beautiful, spiritual and angelic life All this, it seems to me, is not spoken of the Jews nor of the Manicheans, but of the papists; the works prove it

[Sidenote: Uncertainty]

IV He says, ”He walks in such religion and in that which he has never seen” This is the very worst feature of the doctrines of men and the life built upon them, that they are without foundation and without warrant in the Scriptures, and that ood or wicked For all their life is an uncertain venture If you ask them whether they are certain that what they are and do is pleasing to God, they say, they do not know, they must take the chances: ”the end will show us” And this is all they can say, for they have no faith, and faith aloneto God, not because of our merit, but because of His mercy Thus all their huion is, at the very best, uncertain and in vain

[Sidenote: Vainly Puffed Up]

V ”Vainly they puff themselves up,” that is, they have no reason to do so For although their practices are uncertain, unbelieving and altogether damnable, yet they make bold to puff themselves up and to claim that they have the best and the only true way, so that in co stinks and is nothing at all But this puffed-up carnal reat is their angelic humility and obedience! O, the fruit of the doctrines of ainst Christ]

VI ”They do not hold fast the Head,” which is Christ For the doctrines of ree; one must destroy the other

If the conscience finds comfort in Christ, the comfort derived from works and doctrines must all; if it finds comfort in works, Christ must fall The heart cannot build upon a twofold foundation; one must be forsaken Noe see that all the comfort of the papists rests upon their practices; for if it did not rest upon theive them up, or else they would use them as matters of freedom, how and when they pleased

If there were no other misfortune connected with the doctrines of reat--that for their sake Christ must be forsaken, the Head must be lost, and the heart must build on such an abomination For this reason St Peter calls the orders abominable and damnable heresies, which deny Christ, when he says, in the Second Epistle, ii, I, ”There shall arise a in daht them” [2 Pet 2:1]

[Sidenote: Why Burden the Conscience?]