A SHORT AND CLEAR EXPOSITION OF THECHRISTIAN FAITH PREACHED BYHULDREICH ZWINGLI, WRITTEN BYZWINGLI HIMSELF SHORTLY BEFORE HISDEATH TO A CHRISTIAN KING; THUS FARNOT PRINTED BY ANYONE AND NOW FORTHE FIRST TIME PUBLISHED TO THEWORLD. MATTH.11: "COME UNTO ME,"ETC., 1536. (Written July, 1531.)

M. Bullinger, Zwingli’s successor, who after Zwingli'sdeath published the booklet in 1536, prefixed to it thisprefatory note:

TO THE PIOUS READER GREETING.

Though that most faithful herald of the Gospel andmost steadfast champion of Christian liberty, H.Zwingli, was clear, careful, and transparently plain inall he said, yet in this pamphlet he surpassed himself,as it were, and sang a sort of swan-song upon the truefaith when near his death. He sets forth lucidly andbriefly what true faith and pious religion are. He alsomakes answer to slanderers who defame theevangelical faith and preaching, and furnishes unto allChristian kings and princes a kind of complete defenseof the true faith and religion. I was not willing todeprive you of so rich a treasure; do you receive incandid spirit what is offered with sincerely goodpurpose. The whole work has been copied from theautograph manuscript of the author himself. This Istate, because the pamphlet comes out five years afterthe author’s death.

PREFACE

Of all the things that are rising up in this tumultuousage, nothing comes forward more auspiciously thaninauspicious falsehood, most pious King, eitherbecause the evil spirit is always trying to crush out thelife of every good seed at the start, or because theheavenly husbandman of souls as it were sharpens andpromotes virtue and faith by means of vice andfaithlessness, just as the Spartans, having taken sometown by storm with much expenditure of toil andblood, ordered it not to be utterly destroyed, that theymight not lack a grindstone and stake, as it were, bywhich to train their soldiers. So also the Lord suffers usto be tried and troubled in manifold ways that we mayprove our mettle to Him. For how can one becomebrave and temperate save in the midst of perils and anabundance of luxury? In the same way the truth that

has begun to raise her head becomes brighter and riseshigher under the attacks of falsehood. For as thisthrusts at her from all sides and pours out all its poisonupon her, she is forced to shake herself free, wipe offthe stains and defend her limbs, and thus it comes topass that the mask of falsehood and the charming faceof truth herself are more and more displayed and showthemselves as they are. But enough of preface.

The fear has befallen me that, by the more than emptyand lying insinuations of certain faithless persons, yourclemency may be sorely tried, for I know it cannot bereally provoked. The more faithless they are, the morethey do not report but mangle the Truth to many. Andthey report us in countless ways as treading religionunder foot and treating with scorn the holy office anddignity of kings and magistrates. How true all that is Ibeg your fairness to pronounce when you have heardme set forth to the best of my ability the sources of ourfaith, the laws and customs of our churches, and ourreverence for our rulers.

And there is nothing so well within a man’s power asthe task to set forth his faith. For since faith is, as theapostle defines it, that power of the soul, that assuranceand certainty, with which one trusts unwaveringly inthe unseen God, who can be so dull and slow as not toknow how to set forth whether he has trust in a thing ornot, especially as faith is the daughter of truth? Everyman trusts in that which he knows to be absolutelytrue. And since God alone is true, if any one feels andexperiences that he recognizes this, how shall he not beable to set forth this trust in a few words? This, then, ismy thought in regard to God and divine things:

[CHAPTER I]

REGARDING GOD AND HIS WORSHIP

I. All the things that are are either created or uncreated.The one and only uncreated thing is God, for there canbe but one uncreated thing. If there were severaluncreated things, there would be several eternals, forthe uncreated and the eternal are so closely allied thatas one is so is also the other. For if there were severaleternals, there would be several infinites, for these areso like unto and allied with each other that whatever iseternal is also infinite and whatever is infinite is alsoeternal. Now, since there can be only one infinite (foras soon as we admit two infinite substances eachbecomes finite), it is certain that the one and onlyuncreated thing is God. On this depends also the

origin, source and foundation of the first article of ourfaith, that is, when we say, "I believe in one God, theFather Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth," weconfess and declare that we have an infallible faith,since it is one resting securely upon one only Creator.The heathen and the unbelievers who trust in createdthings are forced to confess that they may be deceivedin their faith or belief, seeing that they trust in createdthings. But they that trust in the Creator and Source ofall things, who never began to be, but called all otherthings into existence, these cannot be convicted oferror. This also is certain, that nothing which is acreated thing can be the object and basis of thatunwavering and indubitable power which is faith. Forwhatever has begun to be at some time was not. When,therefore, it was not, how could anyone have trusted inwhat did not yet exist? Things, then, that have had abeginning cannot be the natural object or basis of faith.Only the eternal, infinite, and uncreated Good,therefore, is the true basis of faith.

Hence, all that confidence falls to the ground by whichcertain people lean thoughtlessly upon even the mostsacred of created things or the most holy ofsacraments. For that in which one should trust withabsolute assurance must be God. But if one shouldtrust in a created thing, then the created thing wouldhave to be the Creator, and if in sacraments, then thesacraments would have to be God, so that not only thesacrament of the Eucharist, but baptism and the layingon of hands also would be God. How absurd that is tolearned, to say nothing of pious men, not only thelearned but any one endowed with intelligence canjudge. In order, therefore, to help the theologians reachthe truth, I shall gladly hold this torch before them.When they say, created things are to be employed butonly God enjoyed, they say nothing else than what Ialso say, if they did not unthinkingly put a foreignmeaning into their own words. For if God alone is tobe enjoyed, He alone also is to be trusted, for that is tobe trusted which is to be enjoyed, not that which is tobe employed.

II. From this, most gracious King, you see clearly thatwe do not dismiss the saints nor the sacraments, normove them from their place, as some men say that wedo, but that we keep and guard them in their properplace and dignity, that no man may use them wrongly.We do not insult Mary, the Virgin Mother of God,when we forbid that she be adored with divine honors;but when we would attribute to her the majesty andpower of the Creator, she herself would not permit

such adoration. For true piety has one and the samecharacter among all men and is the same in all, becauseit originates by one and the same Spirit. It cannot evenbe imagined, therefore, that any created being shouldat the same time be pious and suffer the worship duethe Deity to be offered to himself. So also the VirginMother of God will as much the less accept theworship due the Deity as she is high above all createdbeings and reverently devoted to God, her Son. It is amark of insanity in godless men and demons whenthey allow divine honors to be paid to them. This isproved by the images of demons and the arrogance ofGerod, of whom the first, by teaching worship ofthemselves, deceived the world to its destruction, andthe second, not refusing the divine honors offered him,was struck with phthiriasis, that he might learn torecognize the feebleness of man.

But we venerate and cherish the sacraments as signsand symbols of sacred things, not as if they werethemselves the things of which they are signs. For whocan be so ignorant as to say that a sign is the thing itsignifies? In that case the word "ape," which I writehere would place before the eyes of Your Majesty areal live ape. But because the sacraments signify realthings, which really and naturally happened at sometime, I say, they represent those things, call them tomind and, as it were, set them before our eyes.Understand me correctly, I beg, O King! Christ by Hisdeath atoned for our sins. The Eucharist is acommemoration of this thing, as He Himself said-"This do in remembrance of me." By thiscommemoration all the benefits are presented whichGod has vouchsafed unto us through His Son.Furthermore, by the symbols themselves, namely thebread and wine, Christ Himself is, as it were, presentedto our eyes, so that not only the cars but the eyes andthe mouth see and perceive the Christ whom the soulhas Present within and rejoices in. This, therefore, wesay and teach is the legitimate worship of the saintsand the sacraments, which Christ Himself transmittedand taught us. "If ye are the children of Abraham," Hesaid [John 8: 37], "do the works of Abraham." This is,therefore, the example that we ought to follow in thecase of all saints and holy men. Thus, if any of theprophets or holy men gave us divine warnings to drink,as it were, we should receive what has been given andset forth to us by the divine Spirit with the samereligious devotion with which they received andimparted it. If they adorned religious devotion bysanctity of life, we should follow in their foot-stepsand be pious, holy, and innocent as they were.

In regard to baptism He says, "Baptize them in thename of the Father and of the Son and of the HolyGhost" [Matth. 28:19]; in regard to the Eucharist,"This do in remembrance of me" [Luke 22: 17] ; andby the mouth of Paul, "We are all one bread and onebody of the faithful" [I Cor. 10: 17]. It is not hintedhere, either in regard to the worship of the saints or inregard to the institution of the sacraments, that theyhave the power and grace which belongs to God alone.Since, then, the Deity has never conferred on createdthings the power which we attribute to them, it isclearly frivolous for us to teach that either the saints orthe sacraments remove sins and bestow grace upon us.For who remitteth sins save God alone? Or from whomis every perfect gift, as St. James puts it [James 1: 17],save from the Father of lights and of all good? Weteach, therefore, that the sacraments should becherished as sacred things signifying the most holythings, both such as have been done and such as weought to do and show forth. Thus baptism signifiesboth that Christ has washed us by His blood, and thatwe ought to put Him on, as Paul teaches [Gal. 3: 27],that is, live according to His example. In like mannerthe Eucharist signifies both all that has been given tous by divine bounty through Christ, and that we oughtin gratitude to embrace our brethren with that Christianlove with which Christ has taken us to himself, caredfor us, and securcd salvation for us. But whether thenatural body of Christ is eaten in the Eucharist will bediscussed at length later.

To sum up: --This is the fountainhead of my religion,to recognize God as the uncreated Creator of all things,who solely and alone has all things in His power andfreely giveth us all things. They, therefore, overthrowthis first foundation of faith, who attribute to thecreature what is the Creator’s alone. For we confess inthe creed that it is the Creator in whom we believe. Itcannot, therefore, be the creature in whom we shouldput our trust.

III. I hold further in regard to this view:-- Since weknow that God is the Source and Creator of all things,it cannot be that we should understand that there isanything either before Him or along with Him that isnot from Him. For if there could be anything whichwas not from Him, He would not be infinite, for Hewould not extend to where that other was that wasoutside of Him. Hence, though we see that in thescriptures God is called Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,these are no different creatures or gods, but these threeare one, one essence, one existence, one force and

power, one knowledge and providence, one goodnessand kingness,-- the names or persons are three, butthey are all and each one and the same God. This Godwe know is by nature good, for whatever He is, He isby nature. Moreover that is good, which is gentle andrighteous. Gentleness without righteousness would beno longer gentleness, but carelessness or fear. On theother hand, if you do not temper righteousness withgoodness or equity, it becomes the utmost injustice andviolence. Since, therefore, we recognize that God is bynature good, we confess at the same time that He ismild, gentle and bountiful, as well as holy, righteous,and inviolable. Since, then, He is righteous, He mustabhor contact with evil. Hence we may argue thatinasmuch as we poor mortals are not only defiled withsin but saturated with evil, we can have no hope offellowship and friendship with Him.

Again, since He is good, He must just as much temperall His thoughts and acts with equity and goodness.This was the cause of His clothing his only begottenSon with flesh, that He might not only show to, butbestow upon, the whole world these two things,redemption and renewal. For, since His goodness, thatis, justice and mercy, is inviolable, that is, firm andimmutable, His justice required atonement, His mercypardon, and pardon a new life. Therefore the Son ofthe most high King put on the cloak of the flesh andcame forth to be made a victim (for in His divinenature He could not die) to placate unchangeablejustice and reconcile it with those who even in theirown innocence did not dare to come into the presenceof God, because of their consciousness of guilt. Andthis He did because He is gentle and merciful, andthese virtues could just as little suffer rejection of Hiscreation as justice could permit freedom frompunishment. Righteousness and mercy were mingledtogether, therefore, that the one should furnish thevictim and the other accept it for the atonement of allsins. From what class of beings, then, was this victimto be chosen? From the angels? But what did thetransgression of man concern them? From men? Butthey were all guilty before God, so that whichever oneof them had been marked out for the sacrifice wouldhave been unable to accomplish it on account of hisdefilement. For the lamb, which typically representedthis victim, had to be altogether sound, pure and clean.The divine goodness, therefore, took from itself thatwhich it would give to us. It clothed its own Son withthe weakness of our flesh, that we might see that itsbounty and mercy were equally supreme with itsholiness or righteousness. For what has He left ungiven

who giveth us Himself, as the divine Paul has said[Rom. 8: 32]? If He had made an angel or a man thevictim, what he gave would have been outside ofHimself. There would, therefore, have been somethinggreater left, which He might have given, namely,Himself, but which He had not given.

When, therefore, supreme goodness intended to bestowthe supreme gift, it gave the most precious thing itcould bring out of its treasure chest, namely, itself, thatthe heart of man, ever eager for something greater,should not even have a way left to wonder how thisangelic or human victim could be so great as to besufficient for all, or how one could put unshaken trustin a creature. The Son of God has, therefore, beengiven to us as a confirmation of His mercy, as a pledgeof pardon, as the price of righteousness, and as a ruleof life, to make us sure of the gracc of God, and toteach us the law of living. Who could worthily extolthe greatness of this divine goodness and generosity?We had deserved to be disowned, and He honors uswith being chosen. We had destroyed the way of life,and He has restored it. Thus, then, we have beenredeemed and renewed by divine goodness socompletely as to be acceptable through his mercy, andto be justified and blameless through his atoningsacrifice.

[CHAPTER II]

REGARDING CHRIST THE LORD

IV. I believe and teach that this Son of God himselftook on human nature in such manner that His divinenature was not lost or changed into human nature, buteach nature is in Him so truly, properly and naturally,that nothing has been diminished of His divine nature,so that He should not be truly, properly and naturallyGod. Moreover, His human nature has not passed overinto divine nature so that He should not be truly,properly and naturally man, save only as far asinclination to sin is concerned. Thus, in general,insofar as He is God, He is God with the Father and theHoly Spirit in such manner that none of His divineattributes has suffered because of the assumption ofhuman feebleness, and, in so far as He is man, He isthus man that He has whatever belongs to true andliteral human nature, so that nothing has been takenfrom it on account of the union with the divine nature,save the disposition to sin. Hence it is that both naturesso reflect their own character in all their words anddeeds that the religious mind sees without trouble what

is to be credited to either nature, however rightly thewhole is said to belong to the one Christ. "Christhungered," is said rightly [Matth. 4: 1], since He isGod and man; yet He did not suffer hunger accordingto His divine nature. "Christ cured diseases andailments" [Matth. 4: 23], is said rightly; yet thesethings belong to divine power, not to human, if youweigh them properly. And yet no division of personfollows on account of the difference of natures, anymore than when we say a man thinks and sleeps. Here,though the power to think belongs to the mind only,and the necessity of sleeping to the body, yet the manis not on that account two persons, but one. For unityof person is brought about even from very differentnatures. In general, I confess that God and man are oneChrist, just as one man consists of a soul endowed withreason and a dual body, as Saint Athanasius has taught.

He took up human nature into the unity of thehypostasis orperson of the Son of God, not as if thehumanity taken on were a separate person, and theeternal divinity were also a separate person. Theperson of the eternal Son of God assumed humanityinto and by virtue of its own power, as holy men ofGod have truly and clearly shown.

V. And I believe that this humanity was conceived ofthe virgin, made pregnant by the Holy Spirit, and wasbrought forth by preserving her perpetual virginity,that He, who from eternity was born Lord and Godfrom a father without mother, might be born into theworld as deliverer and healer of souls from a virginmother, in order that a holy and spotless offering mightbe made to Him unto whom all altars, loadcd withanimals, smoked to no purpose, and men might repentof sacrificing beasts and turn to the offering of theirhearts, when they would see that God had prepared andoffered to Himself a victim in the form of His ownSon.

VI. I believe that Christ suffered, being nailed to thecross under Pilate, the governor, but that the man onlyfelt the pangs of the suffering, not the God, who, as Heis invisible, so is also subject to no sufferings orsensation. "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"[Matth. 27: 46], is the cry of pain, but "forgive them;for they know not what they do" [Luke 23: 34], is thevoice of the unimpaired divinity. And He suffered forthe expiation of our sins by the most ignoble sort ofpunishment, that He might leave no depth ofhumiliation untried and unsounded.

VII. If He had not "died and been buried," who wouldbelieve that He was a real man? Therefore theapostolic fathers added in the creed, "descendit adinferos," i. e., He descended to those below, using theexpression as a circumlocution to signify real death.For to be reckoned with those below is to have gonefrom the land of the living, and shows that the efficacyof His redemption extended even to those below. Andthis St. Peter hints at when he says [I Pet. 3: 19 f.] thatthe Gospel was preached also to them that are dead,that is, to those below who following the example ofNoah from the foundation of the world, believed thewarnings of God, when the wicked were scornful.

VIII. On the other hand, if He had not risen again fromdeath to life, who would believe that one who had beenput to death, so that there was no life or force left inHim, was a real God? I believe, therefore, that the realSon of God really died as far as His human nature wasconcerned, that we might be made sure of the expiationof our sins. I believe, that He also really rose againfrom the dead, that we might be sure of everlastinglife. For in all that Christ is, he is ours: all that heaccomplished is ours. For God so loved that he gaveHis only begotten Son to quicken us into life [John 3:16]. When, therefore, He rose again, He rose again forus, beginning by it our own resurrection. Hence alsoPaul calls Him "the first fruits of them that sleep" [ICor. 15: 20], that is, of the dead, for when He lives,being dead, He shows that we also live when we die,for this is the signification of the word "to rise again"in Hebrew-to remain, persist, endure. Hence Paulreasons as to both alternatives thus: If Christ roseagain, that is, lived when He was believed to be dead,and took up His body again, there is for us aresurrection of the dead. Behold, most learned King,the strength of the reasoning lies in this, that Christ isours, and that every activity of his is ours. Otherwise,"Christ rose again; therefore we also rise again," wouldnot follow any more than if one argued, "The king haspower to free from punishment him whom the judgehas sentenced; therefore every one has this power."Hence this would not follow either, "Since Christ didnot rise again, neither shall we rise again," for Christcan live and rise again by His own power, which wecannot do by ours. But, [since Paul argues] if Christhad not risen again, there would be no resurrection forus, it is clear that He made the power of Hisresurrection ours and all men's. This is what holy menhad in view when they said that Christ's bodynourishes us unto the resurrection, by which theysimply wished to show that when Christ, who is

wholly ours, rose again, we were thereby made surethat we also live in the spirit when dead in the body,and shall some day live again with the same body.

IX. Furthermore, in that this same Christ of ours hasascended into heaven and taken His seat at the righthand of the Father, as I believe unhesitatingly, Hepromises that we also who hasten thither as soon as wedie, shall one day enjoy everlasting bliss there also inthe body. And as He sitteth there until He shall comefor the general judgment of the whole world, so oursouls and those of all the blessed are with him withoutbodies until the aforesaid judgment, at the beginning ofwhich we shall all put on again the garment of thebody that we have laid aside, and with it depart eitherto the everlasting marriage of our bridegroom or to theeverlasting torments of the enemy, the Devil. Here Iwill set forth two things to you, as I think about them,most gentle King.

[CHAPTER III]

PURGATORY

The one is, that, since Christ did not experience thetorments of the regions below, as St. Peter teaches,Acts 2:27, but having gone through death ascended toheaven, we also, when freed from the bonds of thebody, shall go thither without delay, hindrance, or newtorment, if only we have had sincere faith; and thatthose who hold the threat of the torments of the fire ofpurgatory over mankind, already miserable enoughwithout that, have dared to feed their own greed ratherthan the souls of the faithful. For, in the first place,they utterly make void and destroy Christ’s mission.For if Christ died for our sins, as he himself and theapostles imbued with his spirit taught, and as thenature of our religion compels us to confess, accordingto which mankind is saved by the grace and goodnessof God, how could it be admitted that we should becompelled to make atonement ourselves? For if thoseare at variance with Christ who put their trust in works,as St. Paul tells us, how much more do those cast offand bring to naught Christ who teach that men’s sinsare to be atoned for by their own torment? For if gooddeeds cannot win blessedness, but torment wins it, thegoodness of the Deity is called in question as if Hedelighted in afflictions and tribulations, and were averse to gentleness and kindness. Secondly, if Christdoes not take away the penalty and punishment due tosin, why was he made man? Why did he suffer? The

distinction some theologians make, that we have beenredeemed from guilt but not also from punishment, is afrivolous invention, indeed, one insulting to God. Fornot even a human judge inflicts punishment wherethere is no guilt. As soon, therefore, as guilt is remittedby God, punishment is done away with. Third, sinceChrist himself taught that those who believe haveeternal life and those that trust in Him who sent Christto us come not into judgment but have already passedfrom death into life, it becomes evident that this delayin torment, which Papists put on to souls departinghence, is a baseless invention.

[CHAPTER IV]

THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST'S BODY IN THESUPPER

The other thing which I have undertaken to set forthhere is this,-that that natural, material body of Christ's,in which He suffered here and now sitteth in heaven atthe right hand of the Father, is not eaten literally and inits essence, but only spiritually, in the Lord's Supper,and that the teaching of the Papists, that Christ's bodyis eaten by us having the size and the exact qualitiesand nature it had when He was born, suffered, anddied, is not only frivolous and stupid but impious andblasphemous. For, in the first place, it is certain thatChrist took on, excepting always the inclination to sin,a real humanity consisting of body and soul, just as wedo. From this it follows that all the characteristics andendowments that belong to the nature of the humanbody were most truly present in his body. For what Hetook on for our sake was derived from us, so that He iswholly ours, as I have said before. From this twoincontrovertible corollaries follow, one, that thecharacteristics which are present in our body are alsopresent in Christ's body, the other, that whatever thereis in Christ's body, that was corporeal, belongs also toour bodies. For if anything which has to do with thenature and character of the body were in His body butlacking to ours, He would seem to have assumed thatnot for our sake. For what reason? Because there isnothing in the realm of body except man that iscapable of everlasting blessedness. Hence that pointwhich I touched upon before, that Paul proves ourresurrection from Christ's and Christ's from ours. Forwhen he says, "If the dead rise not, then is not Christraised" [I Cor. 15: 16], how can this reasoning besound? For, since Christ is God and man who wouldnot at once make answer to Paul, "Your reasoning iscrooked, theologian? For Christ’s body can and should

rise again, being united with divinity, but ours, beingwithout divinity, have not the same power." But Paul'sreasoning has its strength in this that whatever Christ’sbody has, as far as nature, endowment andcharacteristics of body are concerned, it has for us, asour archetype as it were, and it is ours. Hence,"Christ’s body rose again; therefore our bodies willalso rise again," and "We rise again; therefore Christalso rose," follow logically. From these sources drewAugustine, that pillar of theologians, when he said thatChrist's body must be in some particular place inheaven in virtue of its character as real body. Andagain, "Christ's body which rose from the dead must bein one place." Christ's body, therefore, is not in severalplaces any more than our bodies are. And this view isnot mine, but the apostle's and Augustine's and that offaith in general, which, though we had not witnesses tothe fact, would suggest that Christ became in all thingslike ourselves. For He took on human weakness for oursake, and was found as man in character, that is, inendowments, characteristics and qualities. By all this,most glorious King, it is made clear to youincidentally, I think, how unfairly they brand me as aheretic in respect to the sacrament of the Eucharist,when I have never taught a single word that I have notdrawn from the divine Scriptures or the holytheologians.

But I return to the subject, since from that reasoningwhich rests upon the holy Scriptures it is establishedthat Christ's body must in a natural, literal and truesense be in one place, unless we venture foolishly andimpiously to assert that our bodies also are in manyplaces, we have wrung from our opponents theadmission that Christ's body, according to its essence,in itself, naturally and truly sits at the right hand of theFather, and it is not in this way in the Supper, so thatthose who teach the contrary drag Christ down fromheaven and the Father's throne. For all the learned havecondemned as exploded and impious the opinionwhich some* have ventured to maintain, that Christ'sbody is just as much everywhere as His divinity. For itcannot be everywhere unless in virtue of being infinitein nature, and what is infinite is also eternal. Christ'shumanity is not eternal; therefore, it is not infinite. If itis not infinite, it must be finite. If it is finite, it is noteverywhere. But putting aside these things, which Ihave introduced in order not to fail to meet thedemands of philosophical argumentation, if you shouldhappen to come upon such, O King, let me come to theimpregnable testimonies of Scripture.

I have made it plain enough before that whatever issaid in the sacred Scriptures of Christ is said in suchway of the whole and entire Christ that even if it maybe easily detected to which of His natures the thingsaid applies, yet Christ is not divided into two persons,however much each nature possesses its ownpeculiarity. For having two natures does not severunity of person, as is clear in the case of man. Andagain, even if the things that belong to Christ's divinityare attributed to His humanity, and, on the other hand,the things that belong to His humanity to His divinity,yet the natures are not confused, as if the divinity haddegenerated and been weakened to humanity, or thehumanity changed into divinity. This will be mademore transparently clear by the testimonies ofScripture: "And she brought forth her first born son . . .and laid him in a manger" [Luke 2: 7]. That Christ whois God and man was born of a virgin, no one denies onaccount of the unity of person. And therefore I holdthat she is properly called , i. e., the motherof God. Yet His divine nature none but the Fatherbegot, as in the case of man, also, the mother bringsforth the body, God alone the soul. Nevertheless, theman is said to be generated by his parents.Furthermore, that he who occupies and fills theheavens and the realms below was laid in a mangerapplies to the human nature in like manner. But whenthese things are attributed to the whole Christ,--Hisbeing born and laid in a manger-- no difficulty arises,and that because of the conjunction and union of thetwo natures in one person.

"He ascended into heaven" [Mark 16: 19]. This equallyapplies to the humanity, in the main, though thehumanity here was not carried without the divinity;indeed the latter carried and the former was carried.This humanity, as has been said, remainscircumscribed forever; otherwise it would cease to betrue humanity. But the divinity is unlimited anduncircumscribed forever; hence it does not move fromplace to place, but is everywhere and remains the sameforever. "Behold, I am with you even unto the end oftime" [Matth. 28:20], applies in the main to Hisdivinity, for His humanity has been borne to heaven.

"Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father" [John16:28]. Truth itself compels us to take this of Christ'shumanity, in the main, and indeed literally. For it isGod who is speaking, and what He says must be true.Which nature in Him, then, leaves the world? Not thedivine, for that moveth not from its place, not beingcontained in a place. Therefore, the human leaves it,

and since it has left the world, you will understand, OKing, as regards natural, substantial, local presence, itis not here. The body of Christ is, therefore, not eatenby us, literally or in substance, and all the more notquantitatively, but only sacramentally and spiritually.

"I shall not be in the world hereafter," for that is theequivalent of: "and now I am no more in the world"[John 17:11], an expression which absolutely dispelsany cloud of uncertainty, so that He is not to be lookedfor in the world according to His humanity in literal,substantial, bodily presence, but only in a spiritual andsacramental sense.

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up intoheaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from youinto heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye haveseen him go into heaven" [Acts 1: 11]. In this passagewe have Him plainly taken up from the disciples intoheaven. He has gone away, therefore, and is not here.But how has He gone away? In a bodily and literalsense, and as He really is by the essence of Hishumanity. When, therefore, they say, "shall so come,"He means in bodily and literal sense and substance.But when shall He so come?

Not when the Church celebrates the Supper, but whenshe is to be judged by Him at the end of the world.Therefore the view is irreligious that maintains thatChrist's body is eaten in the Supper in a bodily, literal,substantial and even quantitative sense, because suchview is opposed to the truth, and what is opposed tothe truth is impious and irreligious. These few briefremarks will be enough, I think, to enable yourwisdom, which in its ready skill can estimate the wholefrom one of its parts, to see that out of the mouth of theLord we are forced to consider how Christ's body ispresent in the Supper. Oecolampadius and I havetreated the matter at length elsewhere and in manywritings to various people, indeed, have waged longwar, but it would be distasteful to repeat all this. Buttruth is carrying off the victory and breaking throughdaily more and more. Now that I may set forth what itis to cat spiritually and sacramentally, I shall make adigression.

To eat the body of Christ spiritually is nothing elsethan to trust in spirit and heart upon the mercy andgoodness of God through Christ, that is, to be sure withunshaken faith that God is going to give us pardon forour sins and the joy of everlasting blessedness onaccount of His Son, who was made wholly ours, was

offered for us, and reconciled the divine righteousnessto us. For what can He refuse who gave His onlybegotten Son?

To eat the body of Christ sacramentally, if we wish tospeak accurately, is to eat the body of Christ in heartand spirit with the accompaniment of the sacrament. Iwish to set the whole matter before the eyes of YourHighness, O King. You cat the body of Christspiritually, though not sacramentally, every time youcomfort your heart in its anxious query:---"How willyou be saved? You sin daily, and yet are dailyhastening towards death. After this life there isanother, for how could this soul be destroyed withwhich we are endowed here and which is so solicitousabout the hereafter? How could all this light andknowledge be turned into darkness and forgetfulness?Since, then, the life of the soul is everlasting, what sortof life is coming to my dear soul? A happy or amiserable life? I will examine my life and search outwhat it deserves, to be happy or miserable." Thenwhen you see such a host of things that we men are inthe habit of doing from passion and desire, youshudder and as far as your own righteousness andintegrity are concerned declare yourself in your ownopinion unworthy of everlasting happiness, andstraightway despair of it. When, I say, you comfortyour troubled heart thus:-"God is good; he that is goodmust be righteous and merciful and equitable, forrighteousness without equity or mercy is the height ofinjustice mercy without righteousness is indifference,wantonness and the destruction of all discipline. Since,therefore, God is righteous, His righteousness mustreceive satisfaction for my sins. Since He is merciful, Imust not despair of forgiveness. I have an infalliblepledge of both of these in His only begotten Son, ourLord Jesus Christ, whom He has given to us out of Hismercy to be ours. And He has sacrificed himself to theFather for us, to appease His eternal righteousness.Thus we are sure of His mercy and of the atonementfor our sins made to His righteousness by none otherthan His own Son whom He has given to us out oflove." When with this confidence you cheer up yoursoul, tossed on the floods of fear and despair, saying,"Why art thou sad, my soul? God, who alone bestowsblessedness, is thine, and thou art his. For when thouwast His work and creation, and yet hadst perished bythy sin, Hc sent His Son to thcc, and made Him likethee, sin excepted, that, relying upon the rights andprivileges of this great brother and companion, thoumightest dare even to demand everlasting salvation asthy right. What devil can frighten me so that I shall

fear him, when He is at hand to help me? Who shalltake from me what God Himself has bestowed, ingiving His Son as pledge and surety?"--When youcomfort yourself thus, I say, you cat His bodyspiritually, that is, you stand unterrified in God againstall the attacks of despair, through confidence in thehumanity He took upon Himself for you.

But when you come to the Lord's Supper with thisspiritual participation and give thanks unto the Lordfor His great kindness, for the deliverance of your soul,through which you have been delivered from thedestruction of despair, and for the pledge by which youhave been made surc of everlasting blessedness, andalong with the brethren partake of the bread and winewhich are the symbols of the body of Christ, then youcat Him sacramentally, in the proper sense of the term,when you do internally what you represent externally,when your heart is refreshed by this faith to which youbear witness by those symbols.

But those are improperly said to eat sacramentally whoeat the visible sacrament or symbol in public assemblyto be sure, but have not faith in their hearts. These,therefore, call down judgment, that is, the vengeanceof God, upon themselves by eating, because they holdnot in the same high esteem, in which it is rightly heldby the pious, the body of Christ, that is, the wholemystery of the incarnation and passion, and even theChurch itself of Christ. For a man ought to test himselfbefore he partakes of the Supper, that is, examinehimself and ask both whether he so recognizes and hasreceived Christ as the Son of God and his ownDeliverer and Saviour that he trusts Him as theinfallible author and giver of salvation, and whether herejoices that he is a member of the Church of whichChrist is the head. If as an unbeliever he unites withthe Church in the Supper, as if he had faith in thesethings, is he not guilty of the body and blood of theLord? Not because he has eaten them in the literal,material sense, but because he has borne false witnessto the Church that he has eaten them spiritually whenhe has never tasted them spiritually. Those, therefore,are said to eat merely sacramentally, who use thesymbols of thanksgiving, to be sure, in the Supper, buthave not faith. For this they are in more terriblecondemnation than the rest of the unbelievers, becausethose simply do not acknowledge Christ's Supper,while these pretend to acknowledge it. He sins doublywho without faith celebrates the Supper. He is faithlessand presumptuous, while the mere unbeliever is

destroyed through his unbelief like the fool through hisfolly.

Furthermore, there has for some time been a sharpcontroversy among us as to what the sacraments orsymbols do or can do in the Supper; our opponentscontending that the sacraments give faith, and bring tous the natural body of Christ, causing it to be eaten inreal presence. We hold a different view not withoutauthoritative support. First, because none but the HolySpirit giveth faith, which is confidence in God, and noexternal thing giveth it. Yet the sacraments do workfaith, historical faith; for all festivals, trophies, nay,monuments and statues, work historical faith: that is,call to mind that a certain thing once took place, thememory of which is thus refreshed, as was the casewith the festival of the Passover, among the Hebrewsand of the seisachtheia, i.e., removal of debts, amongthe Athenians, or that a victory was won at a givenplace, as was the case at Ebenezer [I Sam. 7: 12]. Inthis way, then, the Lord's Supper worketh faith, that is,signifies as certain that Christ was born and suffered.But to whom does it signify this? To the believer andthe unbeliever alike. For it signifies to all that whichbelongs to the meaning of the sacrament, namely, thatChrist suffered, whether they receive it or not, but thatHe suffered for us, it signifies to the pious believeronly. For no one knows or believes that Christ sufferedfor us, save those whom the Spirit within has taught torecognize the mystery of divine goodness. For suchalone receive Christ. Hence nothing gives confidencein God except the Spirit. No one cometh to Christexcept the Father draweth him. Furthermore, Paul alsodecides this whole quarrel by one sentence when hesays, "But let a man examine himself, and so let himeat of that bread, and drink of that cup" [I Cor. 11: 28].Since, then, a man ought to examine his faith before heapproaches the table, it cannot be that faith is given inthe Supper, for it must be there before you draw near.

I have opposed a second error on the part of ouradversaries. They say that by the symbols of bread andwine the natural body of Christ is brought before usbecause this is the force and meaning of the words,"This is my body." But what I have said above aboutthe words of Christ that showed that His body was tobe no longer in the world, contradicts this view.Moreover, if the words could do that, they would bringbefore us Christ's body that was capable of suffering.For when He spoke these words, He still had a mortalbody. Therefore, the apostles would have eaten Hismortal body, for He did not have two bodies of which

one was immortal and exempt from physical sensation,the other mortal. If, then, the apostles had eaten hismortal body, what would we be eating now? Of course,His mortal body. But that body is now immortal andincorruptible which before was mortal. If, then, wewould now be eating His mortal body, He would,again, have a mortal and at the same time immortalbody, and since this is impossible (for it cannot bemortal and immortal at the same time), it would followthat He had two bodies, one mortal, which we wouldcat as well as the apostles, the other immortal, whichwould sit on the right hand of God, and not to movethence. Otherwise we would have to say that theapostles, indeed, ate His mortal but we cat hisimmortal body. Anyone can see how absurd that is.

Finally, I opposed our adversaries in their assertionthat the natural, substantial body of Christ is eaten inreal presence, because piety denies that also. WhenPeter perceived that there was divine power in Christin the marvelous catch of fishes, he said, "Depart fromme; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was amazed"[Luke 5: 8]. Now, do we long to cat Him physically,like cannibals? As if anyone's love for his childrenwere such that he wished to devour and cat them! Or,as if among all men those were not adjudged the mostsavage who feed upon human flesh! The centurionsaid, "I am not worthy that thou shouldest come undermy roof" [Matth. 8: 8]. But Christ Himself borewitness of Him that He had not found such faith in allIsrael. Therefore, the greater and holier faith is, themore is it content with spiritual participation, and themore thoroughly that satisfies it, the more does areligious heart shrink from bodily manducation.Ministering women were wont to show their adorationby bathing and anointing Christ's body, not by eatingit. The noble counsellor Joseph and the pious, secretdisciple, Nicodemus, wrapped it in linen and spicesand laid it in a sepulchre, but did not eat it physically.

[CHAPTER V]

THE VIRTUE OF SACRAMENTS

These difficulties, O King, plainly show that we oughtnot, under the guise of piety, to assign to the Eucharistor to Baptism qualities that bring faith and truth intodanger. What then? Have the sacraments no virtue?

First virtue: -- They are sacred and venerable rites,having been instituted and employed by Christ, theGreat High Priest. For He not only instituted Baptism,

but Himself received it, and He not only bade uscelebrate the Eucharist, but celebrated it Himself firstof all.

Second virtue: -They bear witness to an accomplishedfact, for all laws, customs, and institutions proclaimtheir authors and beginnings. Since, then, Baptismproclaims by representation Christ's death andresurrection, these events must indeed have takenplace.

Third virtue: -They take the place of the things theysignify, whence also they got their names. Thepassover or passing by, through which God spared thechildren of Israel, cannot be placed before the eye, buta lamb is placed before the eye instead of this event asa symbol of it. Neither can the body of Christ and allthat was accomplished in it be put before our eyes; thebread and wine are set before us to be eaten, in place ofit.

Fourth: --They signify sublime things. Now the valueof every sign increases with the worth of the thing ofwhich it is the sign, so that, if the thing be great,precious, and sublime, its sign is, therefore, accountedthe greater. The ring of the queen, your consort, withwhich Your Majesty was betrothed to her, is notvalued by her at the price of the gold, but is beyond allprice, however much it is gold, if you regard itsmaterial-for it is the symbol of her royal husband.Hence, it is even the king of all rings to her, so that ifshe should ever name her ornament separately andappraise it, she would doubtless say, "This is my king,"that is, "this is the ring of my royal husband withwhich he engaged himself to me, this is the symbol ofour inseparable alliance and trust." So the bread andwine are the symbols of that friendship by which Godhas been reconciled to the human race through HisSon, and we value them not according to the price ofthe materia1 but according to the greatness of the thingsignified, so that the bread is no longer common, butsacred, and has not only the name of bread but of thebody of Christ also, nay, is the body of Christ, but inname and significance, or, as the more recenttheologians say, sacramentally.

The fifth virtue is the analogy between the symbolsand the thing signified. The Eucharist has a two-foldanalogy, first as applying to Christ, for as breadsustains and supports human life, as wine cheers man,so Christ alone restores, sustains and makes glad theheart bereft of all hope. For who can pine away in

despair any longer when he sees the Son of God madehis own, and holds Him in his soul like a treasurewhich cannot be torn from him and through which hecan obtain all things from the Father? It has a secondanalogy as applying to us, for as bread is made ofmany grains, and wine is made of many grapes, so thebody of the Church is cemented together and growsinto one body from countless members, throughcommon trust in Christ, proceeding from one Spirit, sothat a true temple and body of the indwelling HolySpirit comes into existence.

Sixth, the sacraments bring increase and support tofaith, and this the Eucharist does above all others. Youknow, O King, that our faith is constantly tried andtempted, for Satan sifts us like wheat, as he did theapostles. But how does he attack us? Throughtreachery in the camp, for he busies himself with tryingto overwhelm us through the body as through an oldwall of our defense ready to tumble down, setting upthe scaling ladders of the desires against our senses.When, therefore, the senses are diverted elsewhere, soas not to give ear to him, his schemes are lesssuccessful. Now in the sacraments the senses are notonly made deaf to the wiles of Satan but bound over tofaith, so that like handmaidens they do nothing butwhat their mistress, faith, does and directs. Hence theyaid faith. I will speak plainly. In the Eucharist the fourmost powerful senses, nay, all the senses, are as itwere, reclaimed and redeemed from fleshly desires,and drawn into obedience to faith. The hearing nolonger hears the melodious harmony of varied stringsand voices, but the heavenly words, "God so loved theworld that He gave His only begotten for its life." Weare present, therefore, as brethren, to give thanks forthis bounty to us. For we do this rightly at thecommand of the Son Himself, who on the eve of Hisdeath instituted this thanksgiving, that He might leaveus a lasting memorial and pledge of His love towardsus. "And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it,and gave unto the disciples," uttering from His mostholy lips these holy words, "This is my body" [Luke22:19]. "Likewise also He took the cup," etc. -when, Isay, the hearing takes in these words, is it not struckand does it not give itself up wholly in admiringwonder to this one thing that is proclaimed? It hears ofGod, and His love, and the Son delivered up to deathfor us. And when it gives itself up to this, does it notdo what faith does? For faith is that which leans onGod through Christ. When, therefore, the hearing looksto the same thing, it becomes the handmaiden of faith,and troubles faith no more with its own frivolous

imaginings and interests. When the sight sees the breadand the cup which in place of Christ signify Hisgoodness and inherent character, does it not also aidfaith? For it sees Christ, as it were, before the eyes, asthe heart, kindled by His bcauty, languishes for Him.The touch takes the bread into its hands-the breadwhich is no longer bread but Christ by representation.The taste and smell are brought in to scent thesweetness of the Lord and the happiness of him thattrusteth in Him. For as they rejoice in food and arequickened, so the heart, having tasted the sweetness ofthe heavenly hope, leaps and exults. The sacraments,then, aid the contemplation of faith, and harmonize itwith the longings of the heart, as without the use of thesacraments could not be done at all so completely.

In Baptism, sight, hearing, and touch, are summoned tothe aid of faith. For faith, whether that of the Church orthat of him who is baptized, recognizes that Christendured death for His Church, rose again, andtriumphed. The same thing is heard, seen, and touchedin Baptism. The sacraments, then, are a sort of bridlesby which the senses, when on the point of dashingaway to their own desires, are checked and broughtback to the service of the heart and of faith.

The seventh power of the sacraments is that they fillthe office of an oath of allegiance. For "sacramentum"is used by the Latin writers instead of "ius iurandum,"i. e., "oath." For those who use one and the same Oath,become one and the same race and sacred alliance,unite into one body and one people, and he whobetrays it is false to his oath. When, therefore, thepeople of Christ by eating His body sacramentallybecome united into one body, he who without faithventures to obtrude himself upon this company betraysthe body of Christ, as well in its head as in itsmembers, because he does not "discern," that is, doesnot properly value the body of the Lord, either ashaving been delivered up by Him for us, or as havingbeen made free by His death. For we are one body withHim.

We are forced, then, whether we will or no, toacknowledge that the words, "This is my body," etc.,are not to be understood literally and according to theprimary meaning of the words, but symbolically,sacramentally, metaphorically, or, as a metonymy,thus:-- "This is my body," that is, "this is the sacramentof my body," or, "this is my sacramental or mysticalbody, that is, the sacramental and vicarious symbol ofthat body which I really took and exposed to death."

But it is now time to pass to other things, lest I offendYour Majesty forgetting to be brief. What I have said,however, is so certain, most brave King, that no one,however many have tried to rebut it, has thus far beenable to affect it one jot. Therefore, be not troubled ifthey that are more ready with their tongues than withsubstantial Scripture, cry out that the view isirreligious. This they boast, indeed, in bold but emptywords, though when they come to facts they are moreempty than a cast-off serpent’s skin.

[CHAPTER VI]

THE CHURCH

I believe also that there is one holy Catholic, that is,universal Church, and that this is either visible orinvisible. The invisible, as Paul teaches, is that whichcomes down from heaven, that is, which recognizesand embraces God through the enlightenment of theHoly Spirit. To this Church belong all those thatbelieve throughout the whole world. And it is calledinvisible not as if they that believe were invisible, butbecause it is not evident to human eyes who dobelieve. The faithful are known to God and themselvesalone. And the visible Church is not the Roman pontiffand the rest of them that wear the tiara, but allthroughout the whole world who have enrolledthemselves under Christ [through baptism]. Amongthese are all who are called Christians, even thoughfalsely, seeing that they have no faith within. Thereare, therefore, in the visible Church some who are notmembers of the elect and invisible Church. For somemen eat and drink judgment unto themselves in theSupper, yet all the brethren know them not. Since,therefore, this Church which is visible contains manyrebellious and traitorous members who having no faithcare nothing if they be a hundred times cast out of theChurch, there is need of a government, whether ofprinces or of nobles, to restrain shameless sinners. Forthe magistrate carries the sword not in vain [Rom. 13:4]. Since, then, there are shepherds in the Church, who,as may be seen in Jeremiah [23: 4ff.], have also therank of princes it is clear that without a temporalgovernment the Church is crippled and incomplete. Sofar arc we, most pious King, from rejectinggovernment and thinking it should be done away with,as some men charge us with doing, that we even teachthat it is necessary to the completeness of theclesiastical body. But hear our teaching about thisbriefly.

[CHAPTER VII]

GOVERNMENTS

The Greeks recognize these three kinds ofgovernments with their three degenerate forms:Monarchy, which the Latins call "regnum, kingdom,"where one man stands alone as the head of the stateunder the guidance of piety and justice. The oppositeand degenerate form is a tyranny, which the Latins lessfittingly call "vis" or "violentia," "force" or "violence,"or rather, not having quite the proper word themselves,they generally use "tyrannis," borrowing the word fromthe Greeks. This exists when piety is scorned, justice istrodden under foot, and all things are done by force,while the ruler holds that anything he pleases is lawfulfor him. Secondly, they recognize an aristocracy,which the Latins call "optimatium potentia, the powerof the best people," where the best men are at the headof things, observing justice and piety towards thepeople. When this form degenerates it passes into anoligarchy, which the Latins call literally "paucorumpotentia, the power of the few." Here a few of thenobles rise up and gain influence who, caring not forthe general good but for private advantage, trampleupon the public weal and serve their own ends. Finallythey recognize a democracy, which the Latins renderby "res publica, republic," a word of broader meaningthan democracy, where affairs, that is, the supremepower, are in the hands of the people in general, theentire people; and all the civil offices, honors, andpublic functions are in the hands of the whole people.When this form degenerates, the Greeks call it that is, a state of sedition,conspiracy, and disturbance, where no man suffershimself to be held in check, and instead each one,asserting that he is a part and a member of the people,claims the power of the state as his own, and each onefollows his own reckless desires. Hence there ariseunrestrained conspiracies and factions, followed bybloodshed, plundering, injustice and all the other evilsof treason and sedition.

These distinct forms of government of the Greeks Irecognize with the following corrections: If a king orprince rules, I teach that he is to be honored andobeyed, according to Christ's command, "Render untoCaesar the things that arc Caesar's and unto God thethings that arc God's" [Luke 20: 25]. For by "Caesar" Iunderstand every ruler upon whom power has beenconferred or bestowed, either by hereditary right andcustom or by election. But if the king or prince

becomes a tyrant, I correct his recklessness and inveighagainst it in season and out of season. For thus saiththe Lord to Jeremiah, "See, I have set thee over thenations and over the kingdoms," etc. [Jer. 1: 10]. If helistens to the warning, I have gained a father for thewhole kingdom and fatherland, but if he becomes morerebelliously violent, I teach that even a wicked ruler isto be obeyed until the Lord shall remove him from hisoffice and power or a means be found to enable thosewhose duty it is to deprive him of his functions andrestore order. In the same way we are watchful and onthe alert, if an aristocracy begins to degenerate into anoligarchy or a democracy into mob. Wehave examples in Scripture, from which we learn whatwe teach and demand, -- Samuel endured Saul until theLord deprived him of his kingdom along with his life.David returned to his senses at the rebuke of Nathan,and remained on the throne under much trial andtemptation. Ahab lost his life because he would notturn from wickedness when Elijah reproved him. Johndauntlessly unbraided Herod when he felt no shame athis incestuous conduct. But it would be a long task tobring forward all the examples in Scripture. Thelearned and pious know from what source we drawwhat we say.

To sum up, in the Church of Christ government is justas necessary as preaching, although this latter occupiesthe first place. For as a man cannot exist except ascomposed of both part, so the Church cannot existwithout the civil government, though the governmentattends to and looks after the more material things thathave not to do with the spirit. Since, then twoparticularly bright lights of our faith, Jeremiah andPaul, bid us pray to the Lord for our rulers that theymay permit us to lead a life worthy of God, how muchmore ought all in whatever kingdom or people to bearand to do all things to guard the Christian peace!Hence we teach that tribute, taxes, dues, tithes, debts,loans, and all promises to pay of every king should bepaid and the laws of the state in general be obeyed inthese things.

[CHAPTER VIII]

REMISSION OF SINS

XI. I believe that remission of sins is surely granted toman through faith every time he prays for it to Godthrough Christ. For since Christ sais unto Peter thatforgiveness was to be given seventy times seven times[Matth. 18:22], that is, an indefinite number of times, it

cannot but be that He Himself always pardons ourfaults. And I have said that sins are remitted throughfaith, by which I simply mean to say that faith alonemakes a man sure of the remission of his wrongdoings.

For though the Roman pontiff even should sayhundreds of times, "Thy sins are forgiven thee," yet theheart will never be at rest and sure of its reconciliationwith God unless it sees and believes beyond all doubt,nay feels, that it has been absolved and redeemed. Foras none but the Holy Spirit can give faith, so also noneother can give remission of sins.

The restoration, satisfaction, and expiation necessaryto our guilt has been obtained in God's sight throughChrist alone having suffered for us. For "he is thepropitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but alsofor the sins of the whole world," as the apostle andevangelist related to him says [I John 2: 2; John 3: 36].Since, then, He has given satisfaction for sin, who,pray, become partakers of that satisfaction andredemption? Let us hear His own words: "He thatbelieveth on me," that is, "that trusteth in me, thatleaneth on me, hath everlasting life" [John 6:47]. Butno one obtains everlasting life, unless his sins be takenaway. He, therefore, that trusteth in Christ, hath hissins remitted. As, therefore, no one knows aboutanybody whether he believes, so no one knowswhether any one's sins have been remitted save onlythe one who through the light and confidence of faithis sure of pardon, because he knows that God hasforgiven him through Christ and is sure of thisremission so that he has not the slightest doubt aboutthe pardoning of his sins, because he knows that Godcannot deceive or lie. Since, therefore, He has saidfrom on high, "This is my beloved Son in whom I amwell pleased," [Matth. 3: 17], or "through whom I amreconciled," it cannot but be that all who trust in Godthrough Christ, His Son and our Lord and brother,know that pardon for their wrong doings has beengiven them. Hence all such words as the following arefrivolous:--"I absolve you," and, "I assure you of thepardoning of your sins." For though the apostlespreach the remission of sins, yet none obtains thisremission except the believer and the elect. Since,therefore, the election and the faith of other men arehidden from us, however much the spirit of the Lordmakes us sure of our own faith and election, it is alsohidden from us whether another’s sins have beenremitted. How, therefore, can a man assure anotherman of the remission of his sons? All that the Roman

Pontiffs have invented in this matter is fraud andfables.

[CHAPTER IX]

FAITH AND WORKS

But since I have come to touch upon the subject offaith, I should like to explain briefly to Your Majestywhat my teaching is about faith and works. For thereare people who slander me rather unjustly asforbidding good works, though I really teach upon thissubject as upon all others nothing but what the divineScriptures indicate and what common intelligencesuggests. For who is so inexperienced as not to say thatworks should proceed from intention, or that workswithout intention are not works but accidents? Faith isin the human heart what intention is in action. Unlessintention precedes the deed, whatever results isthoughtless and aimless. Unless faith occupies thestronghold and commands the whole action, whateverwe do is without merit and vain. For even we humanbeings look more at the faithful purpose in any workthan at the work itself. If faithful purpose is not there,the value of the work is naught. If anyone performsome great work for Your Majesty, but not fromfaithful purpose, do you not straightway say that youowe no thanks to the doer because he did not act fromhis heart? Or rather you straightway feel that inwhatever anyone does for you without faithful purposesome perfidy lies hidden, so that he who does a servicewithout faithful purpose is always suspected of someperfidy and seems to you to have acted for his owninterests and not for yours. So also in regard to ourworks this is the rule and order. Faith must be thefountain head of works. If faith is there, the work itselfis acceptable to God, if it is not there, the whole resultis unbelief and in consequence, not only unacceptablebut an abomination to God. Hence St. Paul says, Rom.14:23, "Whatever is not of faith is sin," and some ofour own people have declared, in paradoxical fashion,that all our works are an abomination. By this theyhave meant to say nothing else than what I havealready said, "If the work is ours and not faith’s, it isunbelief, which God abominates." Now faith, as I haveindicated above, is from the Spirit of God alone. They,therefore, that have faith, look in all their works to thewill of God as to a model to follow. Hence, not onlyare those works rejected which are done contrary to thelaw of God, but also those which are done without thelaw of God. For the law is the permanent will of God.What is done, then, without the law, that is, without the

word and will of God, is not of faith. What is not offaith is sin. If it is sin, God abhors it. Hence it appearsthat if anyone does without faith a work that God hascommanded c. g., alms, that work is not acceptable toGod. For when we inquirc as to the source of almswhich do not result from faith, we find that they arebegotten of vain glory or the desire to receive more inreturn or some other evil passion. And who would notbelieve that such a work is displeasing to God?

It is plain, therefore, that those works which are donewithout the will of God are also done without faith,and since they are done apart from faith, are sins inPaul's judgment, and since they are sin, Godabominates them. Whatever, therefore, has been givenout by the Romanists, without the authority andtestimony of the divine Word, as pious, holy, andacceptable to God, like fictitious indulgences, theextinguishing of the fires of purgatory, forced chastity,a variety of orders and superstitious customs, which itwould be tiresome to enumerate: all this is sin and anabomination in the sight of God.

Furthermore, as to those works which arc doneaccording to the law of God, as when we feed thehungry, clothe the naked, comfort the captive, it is adifficult question to decide whether they have merit.Our opponents quote Scripture to prove that they havemerit:-"If any one shall give another a cup of coldwater in my name, he shall not lose his reward" [Mark9:41]. But the word of the Lord bears witness just asmuch that there is no merit: -- "When ye have done allthese things say, ‘We are unprofitable servants’"[Lk.17:10]. For if our works merited blessedness, therewould have been no need of the death of Christ tosatisfy the divine righteousness. It would not be gracewhen sins are pardoned, for every one could win merit.Paul discourses upon this irrefutably in Romans andGalatians. For it must be true that "no man comethunto the Father but through Christ" [John 14:6].Therefore, only by the grace and bounty of God, whichHe pours out upon us abundantly through Christ, doeseverlasting happiness come.

What, then, shall we say to the above passage ofScripture about the reward promised for a draught ofcold water and to like passages? The following: Theelection of God is free and by grace. For He elected usbefore the creation of the world, before we were born.Therefore God does not elect us because of works, butelected us before the foundation of the world. Henceworks have no merit, and when He promises a reward

to works He is speaking after the manner of men. "Forwhat dost Thou reward, I good God," says Augustine,"save thine own work? For inasmuch as Thou makestus to will and to do, what is there left for us to claimfor ourselves?" But since men are, on the one hand,incited to good works by promises, and, on the other,are so kind and noble that they say to those to whomthey have done a kindness, "I owed you that; you havedeserved well," or some other like phrase, so that theman who receives the kindness may not be relegated inhis own eyes to the ranks of beggars (for one wholoves another desires to guard against his feelingsbeing humiliated), so God also raises up all the moreby His bounty those whom He loves that they may notdespise Him, but cherish and honor Him, and Heattributes to us what He Himself does through us,rewarding it as ours, though not only all our works butall our life and being are of Him. From this it followsthat God is in the habit of speaking to man in thelanguage and fashion of men. As men give somethingto those who have deserved well and call their gift areward, so God also calls his gifts a reward andrecompense. it is manifest, then, that the terms "merit"and "reward" are found in the divine Scriptures, but inthe sense of "bountiful gift." For what can he merit as areward who by grace exists and by grace receives allthat he has?

At the same time this must be noted, that works are byno means omitted by pious men because, properlyspeaking, we do not gain merit by works. On thecontrary, the greater our faith, the more and greater arethe works that we do, as Christ himself testifies, John14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believethon me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greaterworks than these shall he do," and "If ye have faith likea grain of mustard seed, and shall say to this mountain,Move hence, and take up thy abode in the sea, it willobey" [Matth. 17:20; Mk. 11:23]. Hence they areunfair to me who, because I take great pains to preachfaith, say that I teach that no good works are to bedone. Indeed, making truth a laughing stock, theyslander me thus:-"This is the teaching for us, myfriends. We are saved by faith alone. Hence we shallnot fast, nor pray, nor help the needy." By suchslanders they simply betray their own unbelief. For ifthey know what a gift of God faith is, how effective itspower and unwearied its activity, they would not scornthat which they have not. For that trust with which aman depends on God with all the powers of his soul,can think and do naught but what is divine, or rather,cannot help doing what is pleasing to God. For since

faith is an inspiration of the divine Spirit, how can itrest idle or sit down in slothful ease when that Spirit isperennial activity and work? Wherever, then, there istrue faith, there are works also, just as where there isfire there is also heat. But where there is no faith,works are not works but an empty imitation of works.

Hence we may infer that those who so persistentlydemand a reward for our works, and say that they willcease working the works of God if no reward awaitsthe works, have the souls of slaves. For slaves work forreward only, and lazy persons likewise. But they thathave faith are untiring in the work of God, like the sonof the house. He has not merited by works his beingthe heir of the estate, nor does he toil and labor for this,that he shall become the heir, but when he was born, hewas the heir of his father's possessions through birth,not through merit. And when he is untiring in work, hedoes not demand a reward, for he knows that all thingsare his. So the sons of God who have faith know thatby divine birth, that is, the birth of the Spirit, and byfree election they are sons of God, not slaves. Since,then, they are sons of the house, they ask not whatreward awaits them, for all things are ours, who are theheirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Freely,therefore, gladly, and without weariness they labor,indeed there is no work so great that they do notbelieve it is accomplished by His power in whom wetrust, not by our own.

And, since there are in the Church these two diseases,unbelief and weakness of faith (for these are some whoabsolutely do not believe, those, namely, who in theSupper eat and drink judgement unto themselves, likeJudas and Simon Magus; and there are those who havea languid faith, those, namely, who thoughtlesslywaver when any danger threatens, whose faith ischoked by the thorns, that is, the cares and interests ofthis world, and put forth no fruit or holy work), I urgethe believers, as Christ, Paul and James, did, if they arereally believers, to show by their works that they aresuch, for we say that faith without works is dead, agood tree bringeth forth good fruit, the children ofAbraham do the works of Abraham, nothing availswith Christ save the faith which worketh by love[Gal.5:6].

Thus I preach the laws well as grace. For in the law theelect and the believers learn the will of God, thewicked are terrified by it, that either through fear theydo something for the good of their neighbor, or betraytheir own hopelessness and faithlessness. But at the

same time I admonish men that those works count fornothing which we perform with human skill under theidea of serving God, for they certainly are no morepleasing to Him than it would be to you if anyonewished to serve you, O King, in some way that you didnot like. If, then, you must be served according to yourown will, how much are we not to bring before theface of God works which He has not commanded anddoes not like! We open up the source, therefore, fromwhich good works flow when we teach faith. On theother hand, when we urge works, we are as it weredemanding the payment of a debt which would not bepaid without compulsion.

[CHAPTTER X]

EVERLASTING LIFE

XII. Finally I believe that after this life, which is rathercaptivity and death that life, a glad and happy life willcome to the saints or believers, and a gloomy andwretched one to the wicked or unbelievers, and thatboth will be unending. And in regard to this matter Imaintain against the Catabaptists, who contend that thesoul sleeps with the body until the day of judgment,that the soul whether of angel or of man cannot sleepor be at rest. For such an idea contradicts all reason.The soul is a substance so instinct with life that it notonly lives itself, but also quickens whatever habitationit dwells in. When an angel takes on a body, either oneof air or one specially created, he presently gives it lifeso that it moves, works, acts and is acted upon. Assoon as the human soul enters a body, this straightwaylives, grows, moves, and performs all the otherfunctions of life. How could it be, therefore, that thesoul when released from the body should lie torpid orsleep? Philosophers give the name "activity" or"action" to the soul, from the live and wide-awake, thatis, unceasing character of its power of action. Thisforce the Greeks* express by a more significant word,calling it that is, perennial power,operation, effective and prolonged action. The visiblethings in the world are constituted by DivineProvidence in such order that the human mind can risefrom them to the knowledge of the invisible. Fire andair occupy the place among the elements that the souloccupies among bodies. As air is everywhere presentthroughout the body of the universe, so the soulpermeates the whole human body. As fire is nowherepresent without actual operation, so the soul iseverywhere in operation. This is also seen in sleep, for

we dream and remember our dreams. Sleep, therefore,is a function of the body, not of the soul. For the soulmeanwhile invigorates the body, renews it, andrestores the waste, so that it never ceases working,acting, and moving, as long as it is in the body. As,therefore, the fire is never without light, so the soulnever grows old nor becomes inactive, nor dies, norsleeps. It is ever alive, awake, and active.

So far we have been philosophizing about the soul.Now we must come to the testimony of Scripture bywhich we prove that the soul never sleeps. "He thatbelieveth on me cometh not into judgment but passethfrom death into life" [John 5: 24]. He, therefore, thatbelieves in this life, already perceives how sweet is theLord, and obtains a beginning of the heavenly life anda certain taste thereof. If, then, that soul which lives inGod bore presently slept when it had gone out of thebody, the life of a Christian man would be moredesirable in this world than when he bad left thisworld; for he would be asleep then, while here he isawake and in conscious enjoyment of God.

"He that believeth in me hath everlasting life" [John 3:36]. But life would not be unceasing ("everlasting" isused here for "unceasing") if this life of the soul whichit leads here be interrupted by sleep hereafter.

"Father, I will that where I am there also shall be theythat attend upon me" [John 17: 24]. If then the HolyVirgin, Abraham, and Paul are with God, what kind ofa life is it in heaven or what is the nature of the Deity ifthere be sleep there? Does the Deity also sleep? If Hesleeps He is no Deity, for whatever sleeps is exposd tochange, and sleeps in order to refresh its weariness. Ifthe Deity becomes weary, He is no Deity, for the Deityis unconquerable by any toil or labor. If the Deity doesnot sleep, it is just as inevitable that the soul alsoshould not sleep as it is that the air should be clear andtransparent when the sun shines on the earth. Foolish,therefore, and vain is this notion of the Catabaptists,who are not satisfied to have deluded men, but mustdefile the sure and infallible utterances of the livingGod. I could add many more proofs: -"This is lifeeverlasting, to know thee," etc. [John 17: 3], and "Iwill receive you unto myself; that where I am, there yemay be also" [John 14: 3], and similar passages, butbrevity forbids.

I believe, then, that the souls of the faithful fly toheaven as soon as they leave the body, come into thepresence of God, and rejoice forever. Here, most pious

King, if you govern the state entrusted to you by Godas David, Hezekiah, and Josiah did, you may hope tosee first God Himself in His very substance, in Hisnature and with all His endowments and powers, andto enjoy all these, not sparingly but in full measure, notwith the cloying effect that generally accompaniessatiety, but with that agreeable completeness whichinvolves no surfeiting, just as the rivers, that flowunceasingly into the sea and flow back through thedcpths of the earth, bring no loathing to mankind, butrather gain and joy, ever watering, gladdening andfostering new germs of life. The good which we shallenjoy is infinite and the infinite cannot be exhausted;therefore no one can become surfeited with it, for it isever now and yet the same. Then you may hope to seethe whole company and assemblage of all the saints,the wise, the faithful, brave, and good who have livedsince the world began. Here you will see the twoAdams, the redeemed and the redeemer, Abel, Enoch,Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Moses, Joshua,Gideon, Samuel, Phineas, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, andthe Virgin Mother of God of whom he prophesied,David, Hezekiah, Josiah, the Baptist, Peter, Paul;

here too, Hercules, Theseus, Socrates, Aristides,Antigonus, Numa, Camillus, the Catos and Scipios;here Louis the Pious, and your predecessors, the Louis,Philips, Pepins, and all your ancestors who have gonehcnce in faith. In short there has not been a good manand will not be a holy heart or faithful soul from thebeginning of the world to the end thereof that you willnot see in heaven with God. And what can be imagincdmore glad, what more delightful, what, finally, morehonorable than such a sight? To what can all our soulsmore justly bend all their strength than to theattainment of such a life? And may meantime thedreaming Catabaptists deservedly sleep in the regionsbelow a sleep from which they will never wake. Theirerror comes from the fact that they do not know thatwith the Hebrews the word for sleeping is used for theword for dying, as is more.frequently the case withPaul than there is any need of demonstrating at present.

[CHAPTER XI]

ON THE CATABAPTISTS

And since I have come to speak of the Catabaptists, Ishould like, O King, to sketch for you in a few wordsthe doctrines of that sect. They are mostly a class ofrabble, homeless from the want of means, who make ittheir business to win old women by pompous

discourses upon divine things to extract from them thewherewithal to support themselves, or to gather inconsiderable alms. In general, they make pretense ofthe same holiness of which Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyonswrites in connection with the Valentinians andNazianzenus [Gregory of Nazianzus] in connectionwith the Eunomians.* Then, in reliance upon this, theyteach a Christian cannot be a magistrate; that it is notlawful for a Christian to put even a guilty man to deatheven by process of law; that we must not go to wareven if tyrants or godless persons and robbers resort toforce and plunder, slay, and destroy every day; that anoath must not be taken; that a Christian should notexact duties or taxes; that all things should be held incommon; that the souls sleep with the bodies; that aman can have several wives "in spirit" (having,however, carnal intercourse with them); that tithes andrevenues should not be paid, and hundreds of otherthings. Nay, they daily scatter new errors like taresamid the righteous seed of God.

Although they have left us, because they were not ofus, there are yet people who impute all their errors tous, though we fight against them more fiercely thanany one, and teach the opposite of their teaching in allthe above named matters. Therefore, most excellentKing, if I am reported to Your Majesty from anyquarter as wishing to abolish magistrates, saying thatan oath ought not to be taken, and teaching the rest thatthe Catabaptist scum spits out upon the world, I begand pray, by the truth to which men say you are sodevoted, that you will believe nothing of the sort of us,that is, of those who are proclaiming the Gospel in thecities of the Christian alliance. For we do not rousetumult nor weaken the authority of magistrates or laws,nor do we advocate any man’s not keeping his faithand paying his debts, however much certain peopleaccuse us of these things not merely by secretdenunciation but in public writings. We do not reply tothem for this reason particularly, that the world isalready full of fiercely controversial books, and factsthemselves are every day making plain what lies thosepeople write who are every day making reports aboutus among the people, not caring for the glory of Christbut for their own glory and for their bellies.

Now this Catabaptist pest has crept in principally atthose places where the true teachings of Christ havebegun to take root, so that you can more easily see, OKing, that it has been brought in by the evil spirit, inorder to choke the wholesome seed at the start. We seecities and towns that had made a fine beginning in

receiving the Gospel, after being infected and hinderedby this pest, come as it were to a standstill, so that,because of their confusion, they were unable to attendto sacred or civil affairs. Therefore, I warn YourMajesty (begging your pardon, for I know how you aresurrounded by excellent counsels, but counsel does notprovide against what is not foreseen. If this eviloccurred to the minds of your advisers, they wouldeasily make provision against it, I know, but since theyare doubtless unaware of the danger, I think you willnot take my warning amiss),----since it cannot but bethat also in your kingdom some sparks of the revivingGospel are flashing forth, I warn you not to suffer thegood seed to be choked by the Papists whose influencehas grown unduly, for then instead of this good seedyou would find the Catabaptists' tares growing upwhere you least suspected it, and such disorder in allthings appearing throughout your kingdom that itwould be very hard to discover a remedy.

This is a summary of my faith and preaching which Ihold by the grace of God, and I stand ready to give anaccount of it to any man, for there is not one jot of myteaching that I have not learned from the divineScriptures, and I advance no doctrine for which I havenot the authority of the leading doctors of the Church,the prophets, apostles, bishops, evangelists, andtranslators-those of old, who drank from the fountain-head in its purity. This will be admitted by those whohave seen and examined my writings.

Accordingly, most holy King (for what hinders me tocall " most holy" him who is the most ChristianKing?), gird yourself to receive with due honor theChrist who is to be born anew for us and brought backto us. For I see that by the providence of God it hascome to pass that the kings of France are called "mostChristian," since the restoration of the Gospel of theSon of God was to take place in your reign--a kingwhom friends and enemies alike all proclaim to begracious by nature. For a Christian prince must be ofgracious and affable nature, of just and intelligentjudgment, of most wise and brave mind. God has madeyou very rich in these endowments, that you mightshine upon this age, and yourself rekindle the torch ofthe knowledge of God. Go on, then, with those heroicvirtues, seize shield and spear, and attack unbelief withdauntless and intrepid courage and with that body ofyours conspicuous for all grace. Thus when the otherkings shall see you, the most Christian king,championing the glory of Christ, they will follow youand turn out Antichrist. Permit the doctrine of salvation

to be preached in purity in your realm. You are strongin men of wisdom and learning, in resources, and in apeople inclined to religion; you will not, therefore,suffer their hearts which are so devoted to God andyourself to be led astray into superstition. There is noreason to fear here that the slanderers will cry out theirfalsehoods to oppose truth. Not only your subjects butthe outside allied nations will wage holy and righteouswars. Not only the people but preachers also will takethe oath of allegiance without hesitation though thePapists have thus far refused to do so. Even thepreachers will pay their dues and taxes, so far are theyfrom being inclined to teach that they should not bepaid. They will leave every man his own rights andprivileges. If mistakes are made, they will censurethem, but they will not create any disturbance becauseof temporal things, for they recognize the ordinaryjudge in these things, however much they may criticiseand censure him when he does wrong.

Believe me, indeed, believe me, magnanimous Hero,none of those evils will come to pass which the Papiststhreaten. For the Lord protects His Church. Oh thatyou might see with your own eyes the States of certainprinces who have received the Gospel in Germany, andthe security, happiness, and faithfulness of their cities.Then you would say because ot the results: "I doubtnot that what has come to pass is from God." Examinethe whole matter in the light of your faith and wisdom,and pardon the daring with which I have disturbedYour Majesty in boorish fashion. The situationdemanded it

Zurich. Your Majesty's most devoted, H. ZWINGLI

APPENDIX ON THE EUCHARIST AND MASS

There are some things which in the above exposition Itouched upon lightly; these I will now treat of in afuller exposition. And I shall especially prove that thePapists depart from truth when they proclaim that theyoffer Christ for sin in the Mass. For as He offeredHimself once on the cross and again to the Father inheaven, so He won and obtained remission of sins andthe joy of everlasting happiness, and he who boaststhat he offers Him to the Father can in no way morecompletely reject or deny Christ. This I shall try tomake clear as follows:

First, I ask the opponent, who among men offered upChrist when He was hung upon the cross? They can

only answer that no man offered Him up; He wasoffered up by Himself. To this the prophets, ChristHimself, and His apostles bare witness. He was offeredup, because He Himself willed it. "No man taketh mylife from me," and "I have power to lay it down, and Ihave power to take it again" [John 10: 18]. "I lay downmy life for my sheep" [John 10: 15], and "The breadthat I will give is my flesh, which I will give for thelife of the world" [John 6: 61]. Through the eternalSpirit He offered Himself up unspotted unto God.

If, therefore, Christ was then offered up by none otherthan Himself, I ask secondly, whether there is anydifference between that real offering of Himself todeath and the offering by which the Papists offer Himup. If they say there is no difference, it will follow thatChrist must endure suffering and pain, nay, must dietoday also when He is offered up. For so it is written inHebr. 2: 14, "that through death he might destroy himthat had the power of death, that is, the devil;" in Rom.5: 10, "we were reconciled to God by the death of HisSon." "Where there is a testament, there must also ofnecessity be the death of the testator" [Hebr. 9: 16],that is, if one is to hand over a legacy by testament toanyone, the testator must die. And our testament orlegacy is the free remission of sins, as we see in Jer.31: 35, and Hebr. 8: 12. When the divine goodnessbequeathed this to us, it was necessary that He shoulddie through whom the pardon of our sins had beenbequeathed to us. It follows, therefore, that if thePapists now offer Him up, Christ dies even now. For ifthey offer Him up, sins are taken away by the offering;if sins are taken away, death must intervene, for"without shedding of blood is no remission," Hebr. 9:22, and Rom. 6: 10, "for in that he died, he died untosin." It is, therefore, altogether apparent that if thePapists offer up Christ for the remission of sins, as Heoffered Himself up, they also slay Him, for withoutdeath sins are not abolished.

But if between their offering and that by which Christoffered Himself up there is some difference, I ask whatit can be? They will answer, no doubt, in the old way,that there is this difference, that He actually offeredHimself up, while they now offer Him up spiritually.Therefore it was necessary then for Him to die, butnow, since their offering is a spiritual one, death is notrequired. I reply that in so difficult a matter noambiguous nor obscure form of expression must beallowed to pass unchallenged, lest forsooth we be ledaway from the truth through not understanding theforce of the expression. I ask therefore, when they say

that they offer Him spiritually, what they understandby this word "spiritually,"--whether they mean theirown spirit, so that the meaning is, "We offer up Christspiritually, that is, we consider in our hearts and recallthe memory of Christ's having offered Himself up forus, and we give thanks for it." If this is the way theyunderstand "to offer up spiritually," meaning to offerup Christ in their hearts, they do not differ at all fromus, but they differ from themselves by more than, i. c., "three times the octave" So farare they from offering up Christ in this way that it isthey themselves who, already offered up to Him infaith, now offer Him up visibly in the Supper also.

If by "spiritually" they understand the spirit of Christ,in the meaning, "We offer up Christ spiritually, that is,we offer up the spirit of Christ " this is contradicted bythe words of Christ that I quoted above, "No mantaketh my life," etc., for no man has power over Him.For He offered Himself up through the everlastingSpirit, that is, He delivered His life and body over todeath, by the will and order of the eternal Spirit orcounsel. No one but Himself, therefore, can offer upChrist in this way.

But if they understand "spiritually" as follows: "Weoffer up the real body of Christ spiritually, that is, insome inexplicable manner, so that while it is real bodyit is not the actual, natural body, but according to afashion of its own a spiritual one, which fashion isunknown to us" (for that is about* the way they speak),I will show that they simply string together wordswhich cannot be consistent. For since it is evident thatChrist's body is a real body, so that it remains one andthe same body in fact and in number before it died andafter it rose again, although from being mortal itbecame immortal and from being animal it becamespiritual, that is, divine, pure, incapable of suffering,and in all things obedient to the Spirit, it yet never sochanges and passes over into spirit as not to be reallynatural and actual body, corruptible and frail to be surebefore death, but after the resurrection incorruptible,strong and everlasting, yet always one and the samebody. I am speaking of real body, then, and askwhether they say that real body is offered up, but in aninexplicable way. They answer, "Yes, certainly." I askfurther why they venture to say that the manner isinexplicable when the first line of division between allthings and all substances is that they are either body orspirit. This division is so far reaching that it evenincludes God, and the angels and all spirits. For "Godis spirit," John 4: 24. Though, therefore, my question is

about what is, not about how it is, as they themselvessay with the philosophers, that is, though I first askwhat is offered up, and only afterwards ask how it isoffered up, not with the desire as it were to demand thereason of the doings of God, but because they do notmake proper answer as to the thing or substance, I willnow show that they do not any more make properanswer as to how it is. But that the cloudy mists ofsophistry may not be displeasing to Your Majesty, Iwill explain very clearly and plainly what I have saidbecause of contentious persons. I ask of the Papistsfirst in regard to the thing, "What do you offer up forsin in the Mass?" They answer, "The body of Christ." Isay, "Is it the true and real body?" They answer, "Yes."I say, "If you offer up the true and real body, two utterabsurdities follow. First, you take upon yourselves awork which belongs to the Son of God alone. For Heoffered Himself up, as has been said before. For no onecan offer up anything greater than himself. The priestsof the Old Testament used to offer up animalsacrifices, and these were as much below the prieststhemselves as a brute is lower than a man. But eachone offered up the highest sacrifice he could when hededicated and bound himself over to the Lord, that is,when he devoted his whole heart to God, andsurrendered his whole life and all his actions to Hisservice. Hence also the apostles nowhere teach us tooffer up anything else than ourselves. Christ, therefore,is offered up by Himself alone. For on this account didthe chief high priest alone enter the holy of holies andonce only in the year, as a figurative representation,that Christ alone was to make expiation for sin.

The other absurdity is that if you offer up Christ forsin, you slay Christ, for sin is not abolished save bydeath. For seed of corn, unless it die, bringeth forth nofruit [John 12: 24]. If, therefore, you slay not, youproduce no fruit; if you slay, you crucify Christ again,when He died once for all and cannot die any more, asthe apostle teaches truly and undeniably in the epistlesto the Romans and the Hebrews. See, most wise King,into what straits, into what difficulties and quicksandsthe Papists suffer themselves to be drawn through theirgreed. Christ alone can offer Himself up. The offeringtakes place only at the time the victim is slain. Sin isabolished only at the time the expiation is made, thatis, at the time the victim that has been sacrificed isaccepted by God with smiling approval. It follows,therefore, that no man can offer up Christ, much lesscan the Papists. This also follows, that if they offeredup Christ they would be slaying Him. But since Christcannot die any more, it follows that even if the Papists

would like to slay Christ, in order that they mightreceive money for His blood, yet they cannot slay Him.For death can have no more dominion over Him. Butall this will become clearer to Your Majesty when Ihave adduced the testimony of the apostle.

Hebr. 1: 3, "Who being the brightness of his glory, andthe express image of his person, and upholding allthings by the word of his power, when he had byHimself purged our sins," etc. Behold, most excellentKing, who He had to be who purged our sins. Thebrightness of the everlasting sun, that is, the supremelight, the image, that is, the likeness and antitype of theeverlasting Deity, that is, of His substance, which hasits being through itself and gives being unto all things.He is almighty, as one whose commands all thingsobey. What impudence is it, then, for us to maintainthat men offer Him up for sin, when He has purgedaway sin by offering up Himself!

In the same epistle, Hebr. 5: 5, "So Christ alsoglorified not himself to be made a high priest, but hethat spake unto him, Thou art My Son, this day have Ibegotten Thee." What an irreverence, then, and insultto God is this that a man should make himself highpriest, when not even the Son of God took this honorupon Himself but received it from His Father!

In the same epistle, Hebr. 7: 26, "For such a high priestbecame us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated fromsinners, and made higher than the heavens," etc. Whatcreated being now will dare to take upon himself toboast that he is high priest, when that high priest whois to abolish sin must be holy and free from allblemish?

In the same chapter [v.24], "But he, because he abidethfor ever, hath his priesthood unchangeable." Hence Hecan always save and deliver them that come throughHim to make supplication to God, living ever as Hedoes to intercede for them. What folly is it to choosesubstitute priests for Him who gives up neither Hisoffice nor His life! Christ is the everlasting priest, oureverlasting advocate before God. Why, then, do wemake other advocates for ourselves? Is Christ dead?Has He abandoned our cause? Behold, most braveKing, how they deny Christ and insult God who thusmake themselves priests.

In the same chapter [v. 27], "Who needeth not daily,like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first forhis own sins, and then for the sins of the people; for

this" (sacrificing for the people), "he did once for all,when he offered up himself." We see here that Christwas offered up once for all. What vileness, then, to dowhat has already been done and finished! Since He, inthat He was offered up once for all, perfected theatonement for sin, and this endureth for ever throughHim, he who boasts that he offers Him up does thesame thing as if he boasted that he created the world.For that, when once created endureth forever; so alsoredemption, once obtained through Christ, equallyendureth forever. For the works of God are not like theworks of men to fall to the ground unless they happento be renewed and made over.

In the same epistle, 8:1, "Now in the things which weare saying the chief point is this: We have such a highpriest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne ofthe Majesty in the heavens," etc. What presumption isit, therefore, to make one’s self a high priest orminister, when He alone is our high priest who satdown on the right hand of God!

In the same epistle, 9:11 and 12, "But Christ havingcome a high priest of the good things to come, throughthe greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made withhands, that is to say, not of this creation; nor yetthrough the blood of goats and calves, but through Hisown blood, entered in once for all into the holy place,having obtained eternal redemption." What arrogance,therefore, to take upon one’s self the work of the Sonof God, when He offered up His own blood, and alonedid it, and thus to boast, being a man subject to sin,that one is offering up the same blood which Heoffered up once for all, but so abundantly andgenerously that the redemption won endureth forever!For God is everlasting. He who redeemed also created.I will quote from this epistle one more proof in whichall that I have said is seen as on a tablet.

In the same epistle, 9:24, "For Christ entered not intoholy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true;but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face ofGod for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often,as the [Levitical] high priest entereth into the holyplace year by year with blood not his own; else musthe often have suffered since the foundation of theworld; but now once at the end of the ages hath hebeen manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice ofhimself." See how being offered up involves suffering!What dullness, then, not to see that when Christ isoffered up He also dies! And since He can have diedonly once, He can have been offered up only once.

But, once offered up, He purifies forever the sanctified,that is, those destined for everlasting life. He whoreconciles the Father to us must sit in heaven. Hencealso the Church that through Christ possesses andobtains all things is called the true Church of Christ.

But why should I trouble Your Majesty with morewords, since it is clearer than the sun that no one canoffer up Christ but Himself, and, secondly, that He canbe offered up once only? For if the offering up of Himwere repeated, it would show that His own doing itwas not sufficient. Thirdly, if He were offered up, Hewould suffer again. It is, therefore, established that thePapists deny Christ and make void His work.

But since the ancient theologians, who drank in andtreated of the Christian religion in greater purity andsimplicity, very often call the Eucharist an offering (forthe word "Mass" was not heard until after the time ofAugustine), some one might raise the objection, "Why,then, did they call it an offering if it is not really anoffering?" especially since in the judgment of all theyspoke more learnedly and to the point than laterwriters. I answer, "The more learned and religiousanyone is, the less he wanders from the truth whateverwords he uses." For learning, like a lamp, lights up andmakes clear to the sight whatever is said, but religionforbids that anything at variance with the truth shouldbe accepted on account of the apparent meaning of thewords. It takes to heart the warning in SaintAugustine's rule, and says, "Even though you do notgrasp the words, and do not know the real meaning ofthe divine utterance, yet it is certain that God'sutterances are every way consistent, and howevermuch they seem to have a different meaning indifferent passages, yet they never do contradictthemselves." When they seem to us at first sight tocontradict themselves, this is due to our being deceivedby our ignorance of language or feebleness of religiousfeeling. When, therefore, they call an offering whatcannot really and literally be an offering, we must firstappeal to our religious consciousness. Religion denies,as I think has been said strongly enough, that there canbe any other high priest than Christ. Therefore, noteven the Pope, however great he is, if we are toestimate him at his own valuation, can offer up Christ.While this is firmly established by religion, she isseconded by her handmaid, learning. "Go to," she saysto righteousness, "It is nothing new for things to getnames from their inventors, or authors, or from whatthey represent." This useful quality in words thelearned call "metonymy," that is, "the substitution of

the name of one object for that of another." Forinstance, when Paul says. "When Moses is read, theveil is upon their eyes,"* where "Moses" signifies thelaw that is, the entire Old Testament, simply becauseMoses brought out the law according to God's will andcommand. Also when the lamb which was eaten at theSupper is called the Passover, though it only signifiesthe passover. So also the Eucharist was learnedly andreligiously called an offering by the ancients, notbecause it was one, but because it signified thatoffering in which Christ, by offering Himself up in thatone offering, made perfect and redeemed forever thosewho have been sanctified, that is, have been elected ofGod. But you might call this that I say a thing made upby me if you did not find that Augustine expresses thesame view in the letter to Boniface which is numbered23.

AUGUSTINE.

"We often say in ordinary parlance when Easter isapproaching, ‘tomorrow or the day after is the Lord’sPassion,’ although He suffered so many years ago, and,in general, that Passion took place once for all time.On Easter Sunday itself we say, ‘This day the Lordrose from the dead,’ although so many years havepassed since His resurrection. But no one is so foolishas to accuse us of falsehood when we use thesephrases, for the reason, that we give such names tothese days on the ground of a likeness between themand the days on which the events referred to actuallyoccurred, the day being called the day of that event,although it is not the same, but one corresponding to itby the revolution of the same time of the year, and itbeing said, on account of the celebration of thesacrament, that a thing is done on that day which wasdone not on that day but long ago. Was not Christoffered once for all in His own person as a sacrifice,and yet in the sacrament He is offered to the nationsnot only all through the solemnities of the Easter day,but also daily among our congregations, so that theman who, being questioned, answers that He is offeredas a sacrifice in that ordinance is strictly true. For ifsacraments had not some likeness to the things ofwhich they are the sacraments, they would not besacraments at all. In most cases, moreover, they do invirtue of this likeness bear the names of the realitieswhich they resemble. As, therefore, in a sense thesacrament of the body of Christ is the body of Christ,and the sacrament of the blood of Christ is the blood ofChrist, so the sacrament of faith is faith," etc.

From these words of Augustine Your Highness easilydiscerns that the Eucharist is called a sacrifice oroffering exactly as the Resurrection and Passion of theLord arc so called, which days, inasmuch as theysignify and call to mind real things which took placeonce, receive the names of those things. It isestablished, therefore, that the Papists are entirelymistaken when they make the Mass or Eucharist a realoffering, seeing that it is only the likeness andcommemoration of an offering. This also isestablished, that they are foolish and ignorant whothink that sacraments and festivals of praise are notproperly called by the names of the things which theysignify, however much they are not these things.When, therefore, the Papists strive to make the thingitself out of the symbol, they only succeed in showingall men that they arc themselves uneducated andignorant.

I pass over in silence the other errors into which theyfall in regard to the Mass, or rather which they inventand devise with perverted ingenuity: --the way theytraffic in it and make it a matter of revenue, which isnot only an attack upon the holiness of our religion butupon common honesty. (For who among the heathenhave ever pursued filthy luerc so sordidly as openly todefile religion?) I also pass over that they promise theredemption of the soul from purgatory through it, whenneither any fire of purgatory exists as they think, norany offering which can reach God save that throughwhich Christ sacrificed and offered Himself up uponthe altar of the cross. I pass over their saying thatChrist's body is eaten by an unbeliever just as much asby a believer; that the Mass is equally effectivewhether performed by a reprobate or by a pious andholy man; their speaking so ignorantly of the body ofChrist as to say that it is eaten in the Supper in theproportions in which it hung upon the cross and lay inthe manger, and hundreds of other declarations asfoolish as they are impudent. Meanwhile they say thatI am a heretic if I do not assent to all their madness,and they weave together extraordinary lies to bring myteaching under suspicion in the eyes of those to whoma report of them may come. As if I denied that Christwas in the Supper, denied His omnipotence, denied Hiswords, and other things of that kind. But do you, mostgracious King, hear a brief statement of my opinion asto how the body of Christ is in the Supper.

I believe that Christ is truly in the Supper, nay, I do notbelieve it is the Lord's Supper unless Christ is there.Proof:-"Where two or three are gathered together in

my name, there will I be in the midst of them" [Matth.18: 20]. How much more is He there where the wholeChurch is gathered together for Him! But that His bodyis eaten in the dimensions that they say is absolutely atvariance with the truth and with the spirit of faith. Withthe truth, because He said, "I shall be no more in theworld" [John 17: 11], and, "the flesh profiteth nothing"[John 6: 63], as far as eating is concerned, that is, inthe way the Jews then thought and the Papists nowthink he must be eaten. And it is inconsistent with thespirit of faith, because faith (I speak of grand and truefaith) embraces in itself love and religious feeling orreverence and fear of God. And this religious feelingshrinks from that carnal and crude manducation just asmuch as any one would shrink from eating a dearlybeloved son. Proof:-The centurion, whose faith Christproclaimed as greater than any in Israel, out of thereverence of faith said to Him, "Lord, I am not worthythat thou shouldest enter under my roof" [Matth. 8: 8],and Peter, when at the draught of fish he bids Jesus todepart from him [Luke 5: 8], on account of the fearthat had taken possession of him, shrinks inconsequence of this same reverence from His bodilyand visible presence.

It is clear, then, that the heart and faith, that is, thetruth, which is the one light of the mind, and religiousfeeling, by which we seize hold of, revere, and worshipGod, shrink from such crude manducation as that inwhich the men of Capernaum and the Papists say that,they eat the body of Christ. For, as Augustine holds,when the men of Capernaum said "How can this mangive us his flesh to cat?" and "Is not this the son ofJoseph?" [John 6: 52], they thought that His body wasoffered them to cat as meat from the market is eaten,as, namely, it stood before them as perceived by thesenses, in its special form and height.* And what elsedo the Papists maintain when they say that Jesus iseaten in the proportions in which He hung upon thecross and lay in the tomb? For truth and the heartshrink from such manducation, and religious feelingand faith have too holy a regard and love for Christ todesire to eat Him in this way.

I maintain, therefore, that the body of Christ is noteaten in the Supper in the carnal and crude fashionthey say, but I believe that the real body of Christ iseaten in the Supper sacramentally and spiritually bythe religious, faithful, and pure mind, as also SaintChrysostom holds. And this is a brief resume of myview, or, rather not mine but the truth's own, in thiscontroversy.

I want, however, to subjoin the order of service whichwe, use in celebrating the Supper, that Your Majestymay see that I do not alter or make void the words ofChrist, or distort them into a perverted meaning, andthat I preserve entire in the Supper the things thatought to have been preserved in the Mass, namely,prayers, praise, confession of faith, communion of theChurch or the believers, and the spiritual andsacramental eating of the body of Christ, while, on theother hand we omit all those things which are not ofChrist's institution, to wit, "We offer efficaciously forthe living and the dead:" "We offer for the remission ofsins," and the other things that the Papists assert lessimpiously than ignorantly.

HERE FOLLOWS SUBSTANTIALLY THE ORDEROF SERVICE WE USE AT ZURICH, BERNE,BASEL, AND THE OTHER CITIES OF THECHRISTIAN ALLIANCE

First, in a sermon of appropriate length is preached thegoodness of God which He has shown us through HisSon, and the people are directed to the knowledge ofthis and thanksgiving for it. When this is finished atable is placed in front of the choir, so-called, beforethe steps; this is covered with a cloth, the unleavenedbread is placed upon it, and the wine poured into cups.Then the pastor comes forward with two assistants, andthey all turn towards the people, so that the pastor orbishop stands between the others, having on only theusual garb worn by men of standing and ministers ofthe Church. Then the pastor begins in a loud voice, notin the Latin tongue, but in the vernacular, so that allshall understand what is going on, "In the name of theFather, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Theassistants respond in the name of the whole Church,"Amen." The Pastor: --"Let us pray." Now the churchkneels.

"Almighty and everlasting God, whom all creaturesrightly worship, adore, and praise, as their Maker,Creator, and Father, grant unto us miserable sinnersthat we may in sincere faith render that praise andthanksgiving which Thy only begotten Son, our Lord,Jesus Christ instructed us to do, through that sameJesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth andreigneth with Thee, God, in the unity of the Holy Spiritworld without end. Amen."

Then the assistant who stands on the left reads, "Whatis now read is written in the first Epistle of Paul to theCorinthians, eleventh chapter,----'When ye come

together therefore into one place, this is not to eat theLord's supper,"' [v. 20], and the rest as far as, "notdiscerning the Lord's body" [v. 29].

Then the assistants and the Church respond, "Praise beto God." The Pastor, "Glory to God in the highest."The Deacon, "And on earth peace." The Sub-deacon,"To men a sound and tranquil mind." The Deacon,"We praise Thee, we bless Thee," and the rest to theend of this hymn, the assistants reciting it alternately,verse by verse, the Church understanding the wholeand admonished at the beginning that each man is tosay over in his heart and consider in the sight of Godand the Church the things that are said. The Deaconsays, "The Lord be with you." The assistants respond,"And with Thy spirit." The Deacon, "What is now readis written in the Gospel of John, the sixth chapter." TheChurch responds, "Glory be to Thee, O Lord." TheDeacon, "Thus spake Jesus, "Verily, verily, I say untoyou, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I amthat bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna," etc., tothe words, "the words that I speak unto you, they arespirit, and they are life." After these words the Pastorsays, "Glory to God who deigns to forgive all our sinsaccording to His word.

The assistants respond, "Amen." The Pastor, "I believein one God." The Deacon, "The Father Almighty,Creator of heaven and earth." The Sub-deacon, "And inJesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord," and therest to the end of the Apostles’ Creed, so-called, theministers repeating it alternately in loud voice just asthey did before the hymn, "Glory in the Highest."

Invitation of the pastor to the worthy celebration of theSupper:--"We now desire, dear brethren, in accordancewith the custom instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, toeat this bread and drink this cup, as He commandedshould be done in commemoration, praise, andthanksgiving, because He suffered death for us, andpoured out His blood to wash away our sins.Therefore, let every man examine and questionhimself, as Paul suggests, as to how sure a trust he putsin our Lord Jesus Christ, that no one may behave like abeliever who yet hath not faith, and so become guiltyof the Lord’s death, and sin against the whole Church(which is His body) by thus showing contempt for it.Accordingly fall upon your knees and pray, ‘OurFather which art in heaven,'" etc., to the end. Andwhen the ministers have responded "Amen," let thepastor again pray.

Prayer: "Lord, God Almighty, who by Thy spirit hastunited us into Thy one body in the unity of the faith,and hast commanded Thy body to give praise andthanks unto Thee for that bounty and kindness withwhich Thou hast delivered Thy Only begotten Son, ourLord Jesus Christ unto death for our sins, grant that wemay fulfil this Thy command in such faith that we maynot by any false pretenses offend or provoke Thee whoart the infallible truth. Grant also that we may livepurely, as becometh Thy body, Thy sons and Thyfamily, that even the unbelieving may learn torecognize Thy name and Thy glory. Keep us, Lord, lestThy name and glory come into ill repute through thedepravity of our lives. We always pray, 'Lord, increaseour faith, that is, our trust in Thee, who livest andreignest God world without end.' " The churchresponds "Amen." Then the pastor speaks the sacredwords with the following actions:-

"The Lord Jesus the same night in which He wasbetrayed to death took bread" (here the pastor takes theunleavened bread into his hands); "and when he hadgiven thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is mybody, which is broken for you; this do in remembranceof me." (Here the pastor hands the bread to theministers who are standing about the table, and theyimmediately take it with reverence, divide it betweenthem, and eat. Meanwhile the pastor continues): "Afterthe same manner also he took the cup, when he hadsupped," (here the pastor takes the cup into his hands),"gave thanks and said, Drink ye all of it. This cup isthe new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as yedrink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eatthis bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’sdeath," (ye praise Him and thank Him) "till he come."

After this the assistants carry round the unleavenedbread, and each person takes a piece of the bread withhis own hand, and then passes the rest to his neighbor.If any one does not wish to handle the bread with hisown hand, the minister carrying it round hands it tohim. Then the assistants follow with the cups and handone another the Lord’s cup. Let not Your Majestyshrink from this custom of offering and receiving theelements, for it has often been found that men who hadaccidentally taken seats next each other when they yetfelt enmity and hatred towards each other, have laidaside their angry feelings through this participation inthe bread or wine.

Another assistant reads again from the pulpit out of theGospel of John, while the congregation is eating and

drinking the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood;beginning at the thirteenth chapter. When all the cupshave been brought back, the pastor begins, "Fall uponyour knees," for we eat and drink the sacrament of theSupper sitting and silently listening to the word of theLord, and when all kneel, the pastor begins, I say:

"Praise, O ye servants, the Lord,* praise the name ofthe Lord." The Deacon: "Blessed be the name of theLord from this time forth and for evermore" [Ps. 113:2ff.]. The Subdeacon: "From the rising of the sun untothe going down, etc.," and so again the assistants gothrough alternately this psalm which the Hebrews sayused to be said by their ancestors after eating. Afterthis the pastor exhorts the Church in these words:

"Be mindful, dearly beloved brethren, of what we havenow done together by Christ's command. We haveborne witness by this giving of thanks, which we havedone in faith, that we are indeed miserable sinners, buthave been purified by the body and blood of Christwhich He delivered up and poured out for us, and havebeen redeemed from everlasting death. We have bornewitness that we are brethren. Let us, therefore, confirmthis by love, faith, and mutual service. Let us,therefore, pray the Lord that we may keep His bitterdeath deep in our hearts so that though we daily die toour sins we may be so sustained and increased in allvirtues by the grace and bounty of His Spirit that thename of the Lord shall be sanctified in us, and ourneighbor be loved and helped. The Lord have mercyupon us and bless us! The Lord cause His face to shineupon us and be gracious unto us! Amen."

The pastor again prays: -"We give thanks unto Thee, OLord, for all Thy gifts and benefits, who livest andreignest God, world without end. Amen." The pastor:"Go in peace. Amen." Then the Church separates.

Here you see, most wise King, how nothing is lackingwhich is required for the proper, apostolic celebrationof the Eucharist, as far as the substance of things isconcerned, but that the things which are suspected ofhaving been introduced from greed of gain are omitted.

But if any one complain, that we have no right to use anew form of celebration even if some errors have creptinto the Mass, for when we venture to do this, it is justas if any one in a kingdom or city, disregarding thelaws of the state, should enact special laws for himself,living according to which he would throw the rest intouproar and sedition, and therefore we should rightly be

called heretics, for errors can be tolerated for a timeeven according to the example of the apostles until thegeneral council of the Church decrees something else,let him, I pray, consider that this case of kingdoms andcities and laws is by no means parallel with the case ofthe divine laws and the liberty of truth and faith andthe rights of the Church. For whatever human lawscommand applies to the arrangement and regulation ofexternal affairs, but what the divine law enjoins strikesthe conscience so that as soon as it understands thedivine will it condemns itself unless it acquiesces andobeys. For by the law cometh knowledge of sin, andthe more we detect that we are sinning against theHoly Spirit, the less can the conscience assent to andtolerate insult to the Creator.

Since, therefore, we have learned under the tuition ofthe Holy Spirit that there is but one offering and thatmade by the Son of God, and have pointed that out tothe great men in the Church, that whatever was wrongmight be corrected, and yet they have more and morenot only contended but raged against the truth, thepower of the pontiff, that had been seized by violenceought not to stand in the way of anyone's defending thetruth and clearing away the disgraceful dishonor to theSon of God. For what reason would there be, alas, tohave regard for a pontiff of the Church who did notreverence that on which the Church is based and built?The Church is based upon faith in God which lays holdof His word. When the pontiff does not believe God'sWord, how can he rule the Church ? Can faith beincreased or retarded according to the actions of men?Or, when the Lord said, "Do unto others as ye wouldthat they should do to you," is one to postponeaccepting this law until the heads of the Church decreeits acceptance? This law has certainly to do withhuman affairs merely, though to offer up the Son ofGod is an insult to God Himself.

Finally it is the right of the Church to believe and liveaccording to the inspiration of the divine Spirit, as Paulcommands, "Quench not the Spirit" [I Thess. 5: 19].For who does not immediately reject the nonsense ofindulgences when he understands that they arc a lyinginvention? Faith waiteth not for the judgment ofanother, but rests upon her own. When, therefore, shesees these terrible blasphemies against the Son of God,she feels that they are not to be tolerated but to beabolished or abandoned at the very first possiblemoment. Thus, then, the Mass of the Papists has beenabolished among us by desertion and defection. Forwhen the people fled from it, having recognized its

error, and some of the officiating priests shrank away,while some feared an attack from the crowd, the Masswas so thoroughly deserted that we found it necessaryto cast about for a simple and Christian form ofcelebration. When this had been perfected, the Councilof our city appointed a conference between us and theRoman bishops. Learned men among them came, butdeclared that they could not confer upon so difficult amatter without a council (though three years later theythemselves appointed a conference at Baden withmuch corruption).

Our Council, therefore, having heard what was broughtbefore them pro and con from the divine Scriptures andother writers, voted that no man should be compelledto perform or to hear the Mass. Then the Roman partyattempted bribery, and violence began to be resortedto, and forced by this, our illustrious Council passedthis decree, "No one shall celebrate the Mass in ourcity after the Popish fashion henceforth forever, unlesshe maintains from the Holy Scriptures that it has aright to be preserved." Thus, I say, the Popish Masswas abolished, and the Lord's Supper instituted. Ourexample has been followed by many princes, nobles,peoples, and cities in Germany, and by countlessindividual priests, monks, magistrates and privatepersons throughout the world. Nothing,therefore, has been among us at variance with reason,nothing at variance with the authority of the divineoracles, which we rely and stand dauntless in the faceof all assaults, sure that He who is on our side isstronger than any opposing power whatever. But wehave dismissed the Mass, and pray that Your Majestybe strong mightily in God.

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