Part 48 (2/2)

A REPLY TO TEXTS QUOTED IN DEFENSE OF THE DOCTRINES OF MEN

The first is Luke x, 16, where Christ says, ”He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me” [Luke 10:16] He spoke similar words in Matthew x, 40 [Matt 10:40], and in John xiii, 20 [John 13:20] Here, they claim, Christ demands of us that we accept their man-made laws

[Sidenote: The Command of Christ]

I reply: That is not true For i these words, Christ says, ”Go and say, the kingdom of God is at hand”

[Matt 10:7, Luke 10:9] With these words Christ stops the mouths of all the teachers of the doctrines of men, and commands the apostles what they are to teach, and Hi that they shall preach the kingdodom of God is not sent by Christ, and him these words do not concern Much rather do these words demand of us that we hear not the doctrines ofelse than to preach the Gospel, in which the faith of Christ is taught, by which alone God dwells and rules in us But the doctrines of , tis which do not profit the soul

[Sidenote: The Perversion of the Text]

Behold how honestly the pious shepherds and faithful teachers have dealt with the poor common people This text, ”Who hears you, hears me,” they have in a masterly fashi+on torn out of its context and have terrified us with it, until they have made us subject to thedoood care not to ht by nobut the Gospel The noble, and ht to thank them for it!

In Mark, the last chapter, we read that He sent out the disciples to preach Let us hear what co and bridles their tongues, saying, ”Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth, shall be saved,” etc, Mark xvi, 15 [Mark 16:15] He does not say, Go and preach what you will, or what you think to be good; but He puts His oord into their mouth, and bids them preach the Gospel

In Matthew, the last chapter, He says, ”Go and make disciples of all nations, baptise them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; and teach theain He does not say, Teach them to observe what you devise, but what I have commanded you Therefore the pope and his bishops and teachers must be wolves and the apostles of the devil; it cannot be otherwise, for they teach not the commands of Christ, but their oords So also in Matthew xxv, 15, in the parable of the three servants, the Lord points out that the householder bade the servants trade not with their own property, but with his, and gave the first five talents, the second two and the third one [Matt 25:15]

Our second text is Matthew xxiii, 2 f, where the Lord says, ”The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do”

Here, here, they say, we have authority to teach e think to be right

[Sidenote: Moses' Seat]

I answer: If that is what Christ ht then create er contain all the laws But they quote this text as they quote the first What do the words ”sit in Moses' seat” mean? Let us ask, what did Moses teach? And if he still sat in his seat today, ould he teach? Beyond a doubt, nothing but what he taught of old, namely, the commandments and the word of God He never yet spoke the doctrines of men, but what God commanded him to speak, as almost every chapter of his shows It follows, then, that he who teaches so else than Moses teaches, does not sit in Moses' seat For the Lord calls it Moses' seat, because froht The sa is contained in the words which follow, in which the Lord says, ”But do not ye after their works, for they say, and do not; for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they theers” [Matt 23:3 f]

See, here He reproves their works, because they add many laws to the doctrines of Moses and lay them on the people, but themselves do not touch them And afterward He says, in verse 13, ”Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! which say, Whosoever shall swear by the teold of the tereater?

the gold, or the teold?” [Matt 23:13, 16 f] Is it not clear that Christ here condemns their doctrines of men?

He can, therefore, not have confir in Moses' seat; else He would have contradicted Himself Therefore Moses'

seatin it noof the Law of Moses

This is what Moses himself said of his seat and doctrine, Deuteronomy iv, 2, ”Ye shall not add unto the hich I command you” [Deut

4:2] And in Deuterono soever I command you, observe to do it; thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it”

[Deut 12:32] These doctrines they were required to teach in Moses'

seat; therefore Moses' seat cannot endure any doctrines of ustine is quoted as having written in _the Book against the Letter of the Manicheans_[7], ”I would not believe the Gospel if I did not believe the Church”

Here you see, they say, we are to believe the Church more than the Gospel

[Sidenote: Authority]

I answer: Even if Augustine had used those words, who gave him authority, that we must believe what he says? What Scripture does he quote to prove the statement? What if he erred here, as we know that he frequently did, as did all the fathers? Should one single sentence of Augustine be so hty as to refute all the texts quoted above?

That is not what God wills; St Augustine ustine's , he would contradict himself; for in very many places he exalts the Holy Scriptures above the opinions of all teachers, above the decrees of all councils and churches, and will haveto the Scriptures Why then do the faithful shepherds pass by those sayings of St Augustine, plain and clear as they are, and light on this lonely one, which is so obscure and sounds so unlike Augustine as we know his? It can only be because they want to bolster up their tyranny with idle, empty words

[Sidenote: Words Perverted]