And when they ask, whether we received the scripture of them? 1 answer, That they which come after receive the seripture of them that go before And when they ask, Whether we believe not that it is God’s word, by the reason that they tell us so?” I answer, That there are two { manner faiths, an historical faith, and a feeling faith.”. The historical faith hangeth of the truth and “honesty of the teller, or of the common fame and consent of many: as if one told
[nihil a vobis prolatum temere credere. Quzero ergo qui sit iste Ma-]
[niehzeus? Respondebitis, apostolus Christi. Non credo. Quid jam]
[dicas aut facias, non habebis; promittebas enim scientiam veritatis, et]
[nunc quod nescio cogis ut credam. Evangelium mihi fortasse lecturus]
[es, et inde Manichsi personam tentabis asserere. Si ergo invenires]
[aliquem, qui evangelio nondum credit, quid faceres dieenti tibi, Non]
[credo? Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi me catholicze ecclesise]
[commoveret auctoritas. Quibus ergo obtemperavi dicentibus, Crede]
[evangelio; cur eis non obtemperem dieentibus mihi, Noli eredere Ma-]
[nichs;is? Elige quid velis.—Aug. Op. Tom. viu. col. 153. E. Lib. 1.]
[cap. 5. Contra epist. Manichei quam Fund. vocant.]]
me that the Turk had won a city, and I believed it, moved with the honesty of the man; now if there come another that seemeth more honest, or that hath better persuasions that it is not so, I think immediately that he lied, and lose my faith again. And a feeling faith is as if a man were there present when it was won, and there were wounded, and had there lost all that he had, and were taken prisoner there also: that man should so believe, that all the world could not turn him from his faith. Then, even likewise, if my mother had blown on her finger, and told me that the fire would burn meI should have believed her with an historical faith, as we believe the stories of the world, because I thought she would not have mocked me. And so I should have done, if she had told me that the fire had been cold, and would not have burned; but as soon as I had put my finger in the fire, I should have believed, not by the reason of her, but with a feeling faith, so that she could not have persuaded me afterward the contrary. So now with an historical faith I may believe that the scripture is God’s, by the teaching of them; and so I should have done, though they had told me that} Robin Hood had been the scripture of God: which faith is but an opinion, and therefore abideth ever fruitless; and fall- eth away, if a more glorious reason be made unto me, or if the preacher live contrary.
But of a feeling faith it is written (John vi.), They shall be all taught of God.” That is, God shall write it in their hearts with his Holy Spirit. And Paul also testifieth (Rom. viii), The Spirit beareth record unto our spirit, that we be the sons of God.” And this faith is none opinion; but a sure feeling, and therefore ever fruitful. Neither hangeth it of the honesty of the preacher, but of the power of God, and of the Spirit: and, therefore, if all the preachers of the world would go about to persuade the contrary, it would not prevail; no more than though they would make me believe the fire were cold, after that I had put my finger therein. Of this we have an ensample (John iv.) of the Samaritanish wife, which left her pitcher, and went into the city, and said, Come, and see a man that hath told me all that ever I did. Is not he Christ?” And many of the Samaritans believed, because of the saying of the woman, how that he had told her all that ever she did; and went out unto him, and
desired him to come in. Which faith was but an opinion; and no faith that could have lasted, or have brought out fruit. But when they had heard Christ, the Spirit wrought, and made them feel. Whereupon they came unto the woman, and said: We believe not now because of thy saying, but because we have heard ourselves, and know that he is Christ, the Saviour of the world.” For Christ’s preaching was with the power and spirit, that maketh a man feel, and know and work too; and not as the scribes and Pharisees preached; and as ours make a man ready to cast his gorge, to hear them rave and rage as mad men. And therefore, saith the seripture, Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm;” that is to say, his strength. And even so, Cursed is he that hath none other belief, but because men say so. Cursed were he that had none other why to believe than that I so say. And even so cursed is he that believeth only because the pope so saith; and so forth throughout all the men in the world.
The faith that dependeth of another man’s mouth is weak.
If I have none other feeling in my faith than because a man so saith, then is my faith faithless and fruitless. For if I have none other feeling that lechery is sin than that the ~~ pope so preacheth, whom I see before my face set up in Rome a stews of twenty or thirty thousand whores, taking of every piece tribute yearly; and his bishops with all other his disciples following the ensample mightily; and the pope therewith not content, but to set up thereto a stews of young boys, against nature, the committers of which sin be burnt at a stake among the Turks, as Moses also commandeth in his — law; and the pope also to forbid all the spiritualty, a multitude of forty or fifty hundred thousand, to marry, and to give them licence to keep every man his whore, who so will: if, I say, I have none other feeling in my faith, that lechery is sin, than this man’s preaching, I think my faith should be too weak to bear much fruit. How could I believe a man that would say he loved me, if all his deeds were contrary? 1 could not believe God himself, that he loved me, if in all my tribulations I had of him none other comfort than those bare words.
And in like manner, if I had none other feeling in my faith that covetousness were sin, than that the spiritualty so saith, my faith could be but weak and fainty, when I see how the pope with wiles hath thrust down the emperor; and how the bishops and prelates be crept up on high, in all regions, above their kings; and have made them a several kingdom, and have gotten into their hands almost the one half of every realm, which they divide among themselves, giving no layman any part with them; and heaping up bishoprick upon bishoprick, promotion upon promotion, benefice upon benefice, with unions and tot-quots, robbing in every parish the souls of their food, and the poor of their due sustenance; yea, and some preaching that it were less sin to have two wives than two benefices, but while they be yet young and hot, and therefore think covetousness greater sin than lechery; which same, when they be waxed elder, and their complexion somewhat altered, think that covetousness is as small a sin as lechery, and therefore take all that cometh; and if any man cast their preaching in their teeth, they answer that they be better learned, and have seen farther: if, I say, I have no other feeling that covetousness is sin than the preaching of these holy fathers, my faith were built but upon a weak rock, or rather on the soft sand. And therefore our defenders do right well to foam out their own shame, and to utter the secret thoughts of their hearts. For as they write, so they believe. Other feeling of the laws of God and faith of Christ have they none, than that their God the pope so saith. And therefore as the pope preacheth with his mouth only, even so believe they with their mouth only whatsoever he preacheth, without more ado, be it never so abominable; and in their hearts consent unto all their father’s wickedness, and follow him in their deeds as fast as they can run.
The Turks, being in number five times more than we are, knowledge one God, and believe many things of God, moved only by the authority of their elders; and presume that God will not let so great a multitude err so long time: and yet they have erred and been faithless these eight hundred years. And the Jews believe this day as much as the carnal sort of them ever believed, moved also by the authority of their elders only; and think that it is impossible for them to err, being Abraham’s seed, and the children of them to
δά ANSWER TO SIR THOMAS MORE’S DIALOGUE.: whom the promises, of all that we believe, were made: and yet they have erred, and been faithless, these fifteen hundred years. And we, of like blindness, believe only by the authority of our elders; and, of like pride, think that we cannot err, being such a multitude.” And yet we see how God, 10 the old Testament, did let the great multitude err; reserving alway a little flock, to call the other back again, and to testify unto them the right way.
How this word church hath a double interpretation
This is therefore a sure conclusion as Paul saith, (Rom. 1X.) that “not all they that are of Israel are Israelites; neither because they be Abraham’s seed, are they all Abraham’s children,” but they only that follow the faith of Abraham. Even so now none of them that believe with their mouths, moved with the authority of their elders only, that is, none of them that believe with master More’s faith, the pope’s faith, and the — devil’s faith, which may stand (as master More confesseth) true with all manner abominations, have the right faith of Christ, or are of his church; but they only that repent, and feel that the law is good, and have the law of God written in their hearts, and the faith of our Saviour Jesus, even with the Spirit of God. There is a carnal Irsael, and a spiritual. “There is Isaac and Ishmael; Jacob and Esau. And Ishmael persecuted Isaac, and Esau Jacob, and the fleshly the spiritual: whereof Paul complained in his time, persecuted of his carnal brethren; as we do, in our time, and as the elect ever did, and shall do till the world’s end. What a multitude came out of Egypt under Moses! of which the scripture testifieth that they believed, moved by the miracles of Moses; as Simon — Magus believed by the reason of Philip’s miracles, (Acts viii.). Nevertheless, the scripture testifieth that six hundred thousand of those believers perished through unbelief; and left their carcases in the wilderness, and never entered into the land that was promised them. And even so shall the children of master More’s faithless faith, made by the persuasion of man, leap short of the rest which our Saviour Jesus Christ is risen unto. And therefore let them embrace this present world, as they do, whose children they are, though they hate so to be called.
And hereby ye see that it is a plain and an evident conclusion, as bright as the sun’s shining, that the truth of God’s word dependeth not of the truth of the congregation. And therefore, when thou art asked why thou believest that thou shalt be saved through Christ, and of such like principles of our faith; answer, Thou wottest and feelest that it is true. And when he asketh, How thou knowest that it is true; answer, Because it is written in thine heart. And if he ask who wrote it; answer, The Spirit of God. And if he ask how thou camest first by it; tell him whether by reading in books, or hearing it preached, as by an outward instrument, but that inwardly thou wast taught by the Spirit of God. And if he ask whether thou believest it not because it is written in books, or because the priests so preach; answer, No, not now; but only because it is written in thine heart; and because the Spirit of God so preacheth, and so testifieth unto thy soul: and say, though at the beginning thou wast moved by reading or preaching, as the Samaritans were by the words of the woman, yet now thou believest it not therefore any longer; but only because thou hast heard it of the Spirit of God, and read it written in thine heart.
And concerning outward teaching, we allege for us scripture, older than any church that was this fourteen hundred years, and old authentic stories which they had brought asleep, wherewith we confound their lies. Remember ye not how in our own time, of all that taught grammar in England, not not one understood the Latin tongue? How came we then by the Latin tongue again? Not by them, though we learned certain rules and principles of them, by which we were moved and had an occasion to seek further; but out of the old &uthors. Even so we seek up old antiquities, out of which we learn, and not of our church; though we received many principles of our church at the beginning, but more falsehood among! than truth.
It hath pleased God of his exceeding love (wherewith he loved us in Christ, as Paul saith, before the world was made, and when we were dead in sin, and his enemies, in that we did consent to sin, and to live evil) to write with his Spirit two conclusions in our hearts, by which we understand all things; that is to wit, the faith of Christ, and the love of our
[1 So but omits among.]
he ar. A SR ΕΝ Ms 56 ANSWER TO SIR THOMAS MORE’S DIALOGUE. neighbours. For whosoever feeleth the just damnation of sin, and the forgiveness and mercy that is in Christ’s blood for all that repent and forsake it, and come and believe in that mercy, the same only knoweth how God is to be honoured and worshipped, and can judge between true serving of God in the spirit, and false image-serving of God with works. of And the same knoweth that sacraments, signs, ceremonies, and bodily things can be no service to God in his person; but memorials unto men, and a remembrance of the testament, wherewith God is served in the spirit. And he that feeleth not that, is blind in his soul, and of our holy father’s generation, and maketh God an image, and a creature, and worshippeth him with bodily service. And on the other side, he that loveth his neighbour as himself, understandeth all laws, and can judge between good and evil, right and wrong, godly and ungodly, in all conversation, deeds, laws, bargains, covenants, ordinances, and decrees of men; and knoweth the office of every degree, and the due honour of every person And he that hath not that written in his heart, is popish, and of the spiritualty; which understandeth nothing save his own honour, his own profit, and what is good for himself only; and, when he is as he would be, thinketh that all the world is as it should be.
Of worshipping, and what is to be understood by the word. ^ Concerning worshipping or honouring (which two terms are both one) M. More bringeth forth a difference, a distinetion or division of Greek words, feigned of our schoolmen, which of late neither understood Greek, Latin, nor Hebrew, called doulia, hyperdoulia, and latría!. But the difference
[1 Though men kneel to saints and images, and incense them also,]
[yet it is not true that therefore they worship them in every point like]
[unto God. What point lack they, quoth he? Marry, the chief of all,]
[quoth I: that is, that they worship God with the mind that he is]
[God; which mind, in worship, is the only thing that maketh it latria.]
[For if the lowly manner of bodily observance were the thing that]
[would make latria, then were we in much peril of idolatry in our]
[courtesy both to princes, prelates, and popes, to whom we kneel as]
[low as to God Almighty, and kiss some their hands and some our own,]
[or ever we presume to touch them, and in the pope his foot.” More’s]
[Dialogue, B. 11. ch. xi. p. 196. col. 1.]]
declareth he not, nor the properties of the words; but with confused terms leadeth you blindfold in his maze. As for hyperdoulia, I would fain wete where he readeth of it in all the scripture, and whether the worship done to his lord the cardinal’s hat were doulia, hyperdoulia, or idololatria? And as for doulia and latria, we find them both referred unto God in a thousand places.
Therefore, that thou be not beguiled with falsehood of sophistical words, understand that the words which the seripture useth, in the worshipping or honouring of God, are these: Love God, cleave to God, dread, serve, bow, pray and call on God, believe and trust in God, and such like: which words all we use in the worshipping of man also, howbeit diversely; and the difference thereof doth all the scripture teach.
God hath created us and made us unto his own likeness; and our Saviour Christ hath bought us with his blood. And therefore are we God’s possession, of duty and right; and Christ’s servants only, to wait on his will and pleasure, and ought therefore to move neither hand nor foot, nor any other member, either heart or mind, otherwise than he hath appointed. God is honoured in his own person, when we receive all things, both good and bad, at his hand; and love his law with all our hearts; and believe, hope, and long for all that he promiseth.
The officers that rule the world in God’s stead, as father, mother, master, husband, lord and prince, are honoured, when the law, which Almighty God hath committed unto them to rule with, is obeyed. Thy neighbour that is out of office is honoured, when thou (as God hath commanded thee) lovest him as thyself, countest him as good as thyself, thinkest him as worthy of any thing as thyself, and comest lovingly to help him at all his need, as thou wouldest be holp thyself; because God hath made him like unto his own image, as well as thee, and Christ hath bought him as well as thee.
If I hate the law, so I break it in mine heart; and both hate and dishonour God, the maker thereof. If I break it
[2 That doulia sometimes means the service due to God may be]
[clearly seen from a single text, viz. 1 Thess. i. 9: and that /atria is not]
[exclusively appropriated as a name for service done to God, may be]
[as clearly seen by inspection of a single text, viz. Deut. xxviii. 48, in]
[the LXX.]]
ora outwardly, then I dishonour God before the world, and the T. officer that ministereth it. If I hurt my neighbour, then I dishonour my neighbour and him that made him, and him also that bought him with his blood. And even so, if I hate my neighbour in mine heart, then I hate him that commandeth me to love him, and him that hath deserved that I should at the least way for his sake love him. If I be not ready to help my neighbour at his need, so I take his due honour from him, and dishonour him, and him that made him, and him also that bought him with his blood, whose servant he is. If I love such things as God hath lent me, and committed unto mine administration, so that I cannot find in mine heart to bestow them on the uses which God hath appointed me, then I dishonour God and abuse his creature, in that I give more honour unto it than I should do; and then I make an idol of it, in that I love it more than God and his commandment; and then I dishonour my neighbour, from whose need I withdraw it. In like manner, if the officer, abusing his power, comto pel the subject to do that which God forbiddeth, or to leave undone that which God commandeth, so he dishonoureth God in withdrawing his servant from him, and maketh an idol of his own lusts, in that he honoureth them above God; and he dishonoureth his brother in that he abuseth him, contrary unto the right use which God hath created him for, and Christ hath bought him for, which is to wait on God’s commandments. For if the officer be otherwise minded than this, the worst of these subjects is made by the hands of him that made me, and bought with the blood of him that bought me, and therefore, my brother; and I but his servant only, to defend him, and to keep him in the honour that God and Christ hath set him, that no man dishonoureth him: he dishonoureth both God and man. And thereto, if any subject think any otherwise of the officer (though he be an emperor) “than that he is but a servant only, to minister the office indifferently, he dishonoureth the office, and God that ordained it. So that all men, whatsoever degree they be of, are every officer man in his room! servants to other, as the hand serveth the foot, and every member one another. And the angels of heaven are also our brethren, and very servants for Christ’s sake, to defend us from the power of the devils.
[1 Place, or office.]
And finally, all other creatures, that are neither angels All nor man, are in honour less than man; and man is lord over t them, and they created to serve him, as scripture testifieth; and he not to serve them, but only his Lord God and his Saviour Christ. Of worshipping of sacraments, ceremonies, images, relics, and so forth. Now let us come to the worshipping or honouring of sacraments, ceremonies, images, and relics. First, images be not God, and therefore no confidence is to be put in? them. They be not made after the image of God, nor are the price of Christ’s blood; but the workmanship of the craftsman, and the price of money, and therefore inferiors to man.
Wherefore of all right man is lord over them, and the honour of them is to do man service; and man’s dishonour it is to do them honourable service, as unto his better. Images then, and relics, yea, and, as Christ saith, the holy day too, are servants unto man. And therefore it followeth, that we cannot, but unto our damnation, put on a coat worth an hundred coats upon a post’s back, and let the image of God and the price of Christ’s blood go up and down thereby naked. For if we care more to clothe the dead image made by man, and the price of silver, than the lively image of God, and price of Christ’s blood; then we dishonour the image of Godand him that made him, and the price of Christ’s blood and him that bought him.
Wherefore the right use, office, and honour of all creatures, inferiors unto man, is to do man service; whether they be images, relies, ornaments, signs, or sacraments, holy days,” ceremonies or sacrifices. And that may be on this manner, and no doubt it so once was. If (for an example) I take a piece of the cross of Christ, and make a little cross thereof, and bear it about me, to look thereon with a repenting heart at times when I am moved thereto, to put me in remembrance that the body of Christ was broken, and his blood shed thereon, for my sins; and believe stedfastly that the merciful truth of God shall forgive the sins of all that repent, for his death’s sake, and never think on them more: then it serveth me, and I not it; and doth me the same service as if I read the testa-
ment in a book, or as if the preacher preached it unto me. And in like manner, if I make a cross in my forehead, in a remembrance that God hath promised assistance unto all that believe in him, for his sake that died on the cross, then doth the cross serve me, and I not it. And in like manner, if I bear on me or look upon a cross, of whatsoever matter it be, or make a cross upon me, in remembrance that whosoever will be Christ’s disciple must suffer a cross of adversity, tribulations, and persecution, so doth the cross serve me, and I not it. And this was the use of the cross once; and for this cause it was, at the beginning, set up in the churches.
And so, if I make an image of Christ, or of any thing that W-T- Christ hath done for me, in a memory!, it is good, and not evil, until it be abused. And even so, if I take the true life of a saint, and cause it to be painted or carved, to put me in remembrance of the saint’s life, to follow the saint as the saint did Christ; and to put me in remembrance of the great faith of the saint to God, and how true God was to help him out of all tribulation; and to see the saint’s love towards his neighbour, in that he so patiently suffered so painful a death, and so cruel a martyrdom to testify the truth, for to save other, and all to strength my soul withal, and my faith to God and love to my neighbour; then doth the image serve me, and I not it, And this was the use Of images at the beginning, and of relics also. And to nee] before the cross unto the word of God, which the cross preacheth, is not evil. Neither to kneel down before an image, in a man’s meditations, to call the living of the saint to mind, for to desire God of like grace to follow the ensample, is not evil. But the abuse of the thing is evil, and to have a false faith: as to bear a piece of the cross about a man, thinking that, so long as that is about him, spirits shall not come at him, his enemies shall do him no bodily harm, all causes shall go on his side, even for bearing it about him; and to think that if it were not about him, it would not be so; and to think, if any misfortune chance, that it came for leaying it off, or because this or that ceremony was left undone, and not rather because we have broken God’s commandments, or that [! From the Latin word memoria, which had been used by Latin fathers for a shrine, or small chapel.]
God tempteth us, to prove our patience; this is plain idolatry: and here a man is captive, bond and servant unto a false faith, and a false imagination, that is neither God nor his word. Now am I God’s only, and ought to serve nothing but God and his word. My body must serve the rulers of this world, and my neighbour, as God hath appointed it, and so must all my goods; but my soul must serve God only, to love his law and to trust in his promises of mercy, in all my deeds. And in like manner it is that thousands, while the priest pattereth St John’s gospel in Latin over their heads, cross themgospel. selves with, I trow, a legion of crosses, behind and before?; and (as Jack-of-napes, when he claweth himself) pluck up their legs, and cross so much as their heels and the very soles of their feet, and believe that if it be done in the time that he readeth the gospel (and else not), that there shall no mischance happen them that day, because only of those crosses. And where he should cross himself, to be armed and to make himself strong to bear the cross with Christ, he crosseth himself to drive the cross from him; and blesseth himself with a cross from the cross. And if he leave it undone, he thinketh it no small sin, and that God is highly displeased with him, and if any misfortune chance, thinketh it is therefore; which is also idolatry, and not God’s word. And such is the confidence in the place, or image, or whatsoever bodily observance it be: such is St Agathe’s letter written in the gospel time?, And such are the crosses on palm-sunday, made in the passion time, And such is the bearing of holy wax about a manm. And such is that some hang a piece of St John’s gospel about their necks. And such is to bear the names of God, with crosses between each name, about them. Such is the saying
[2 A coarse expression is here omitted.] [3 These were reckoned a charm against the burning of houses.]
[In the service Ad laudes for Feb. 5, her day, the Roman Breviary]
[says, Paganorum multitudo fugiens ad sepulchrum virginis (scilicet]
[Agaths) tulerunt velum ejus contra ignem; ut comprobaret Dominus,]
[quod a periculis incendii meritis beatze Agathze martyris suse eos liber-]
[aret.” Besides which there is a legend, that when the emperor Frederic]
[II. was bent on reducing Catana, her native city, to ashes, and was]
[attending mass, he opened the book thrice at the time of reading the]
[gospel, and each time these words appeared before his eyes in golden]
[letters: Offend not Agatha’s native place, for she is the avenger of]
[injuries;” after which he did not dare to proceed with his purpose.]]
of gospels unto women in child-bed. Such is the limiter’s! saying of “In principio erat verbum?” from house to house. Such is the saying of gospels to the corn in the field, in the procession-week, that it should the better grow. And such is holy bread, holy water, and serving of all ceremonies and sacraments in general, without signification. And, I pray you, how is it possible that the people can worship images, relics, ceremonies and sacraments, save superstitiously; so long as they know not the true meaning, neither will the prelates suffer any man to tell them; yea, and the very meaning of some, and right use, no man can tell? ber And as for the riches that is bestowed on images and relies they cannot prove but that it is abominable, as long. as the poor are despised and uncared for, and not first served; for whose sakes, and to find preachers, offerings, tithes, lands, rents, and all that they have, was given the spiritualty. They will say, we may do both. May or not may, I see that the one most necessary of both is not done; but the poor are bereaved of? the spiritualty, of all that was in time past offered unto them. Moreover, though both were done, they shall never prove that the sight of gold and silver and of precious stones should move a man’s heart to despise such things, after the doctrine of Christ. Neither can the rich coat help to move thy mind to follow the ensample of the saint; but rather, if — he were pourtrayed as he suffered, in the most ungoodly wise. Which thing taken away, that such things with all other service, as sticking up candles, move not thy mind to follow the ensample of the saint, nor teach thy soul any godly learning, then the image serveth not thee, but thou the image; and so art thou an idolater, that is to say, in English, a serve-image. And thus it appeareth that your ungodly and belly doctrine, wherewith ye so magnify the deeds of your ceremonies, and of your pilgrimages, and offering, for the deed itself, to please God, and to obtain the favour of dead saints (and not to move you, and to put you in remembrance of the law of God, and of the promises which are in his Son, and to follow the ensample of the saint), is but an exhorting to serve images; and so are. ye image-servers, that is, idolaters. And finally, the
[[! D. has Limiterier. See n. 2. to p. 212, Vol. r.] [? In the beginning was the Word.] [3 That is, by.]]
more devotion men have unto such deeds, the less they have unto God’s commandment; insomuch that they which be most wont to offer to images, and to shew them, be so cold in offering to the poor, that they will scarce give them the scraps which must else be given dogs, or their old shoes, if they may have new brooms for them,
Pilgrimages
To speak of pilgrimages, I say, that a christian man, 80 that he leave nothing undone at home that he is bound to do, is free to go whither he will; only after the doctrine of the Lord, whose servant he is, and not his own. If he go and visit the poor, the sick, and the prisoner, it is well done, and a work that God commandeth. If he go to this or that place, to hear a sermon, or because his mind is not quiet at home; or if, because his heart is too much occupied on his worldly businesses, by the reason of occasions at home, he get him into a more quiet and still place, where his mind is more abstract, and pulled from worldly thoughts, it is well done. And in all these places, if whatsoever it be, whether lively preaching, ceremony, relic, or image, stir up his heart to God, and preach the word of God, and the ensample of our Saviour Jesus, more in one place than in another; that he thither goI am content. And yet he bideth a lord, and the things serve him, and he not them, Now whether his intent be so or no, his deeds will testify; as his virtuous governing of his house, and loving demeanour toward his neighbours. Yea, and God’s word will be alway in his heart, and in his mouth, and he every day perfecter than other. For there can nothing edify man’s soul, save that which preacheth him God’s word. Only the word of God worketh the health of the soul. And whatsoever preacheth him that, cannot but make him perfecter. But to believe that God will be sought more in one place than in another, or that God will hear thee more in one place than in another, or more where the image is than where it is not, is a false faith, and idolatry, or image-service. For first, God dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts xvii). Item, Stephen died for the contrary, and proved it by the prophets (Acts vii). And Salomon, in the eighth of the third
[64 Old editions, whatsomever.]]
of the Kings, when he had built his temple, testified the same, and that he had not built it for God to dwellin; yea, and that God dwelleth not in the earth; but that he should out of heaven hear the prayers of them that prayed there. And the prophets did often testify unto the people, that had such a false faith that God dwelt in the temple, that he dwelt not there. Moreover, God in his testament bindeth himself unto no place, nor yet thee; but speaketh generally (concern- — ing where and when), saying (Psalm xlix.)!, In the day of the tribulation thou shalt call on me, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” He setteth neither place nor time; but wheresoever and whensoever; so that the prayer of Job upon the dunghill was as good as Paul’s in the temple. And when our Saviour saith (John xvi), Whatsoever ye ask my Father in my name, I will give it you;” he saith not in this or that place, or this or that day; but wheresoever and whensoever, as well in the fields as in the town, and on the Monday, as on the Sunday. God is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in the spirit (John iv.): that is, though he be present everywhere, yet he dwelleth lively and gloriously in the minds of angels only, and hearts of men that love his laws and trust in his promises. And wheresoever God findeth such an heart, there he heareth the prayer, in all places and times indifferently. So that the outward place neither helpeth or hindereth, except (as I said) that a man’s mind be.more quiet and still from the rage of worldly businesses, or that some thing stir up the word of God and example of our Saviour more in one place than in another.
Whence idolatry, or image-service, springeth
Now that thou mayest see whence all this idolatry or image-service is sprung; mark a little, and then I will answer unto the arguments which these image-servers make against the open truth. All the ceremonies, ornaments, and sacrifices of the old Testament were sacraments; that is to wete, signs preaching unto the people one thing or another: 85. circumcision preached unto them, that God had chosen core. them to be his people, and that he would be their God, and defend them, and increase and multiply them, and keep them ” in that land, and bless the fruits of the earth, and all their
xlix. of Vulg. but 1. of Hebr. and Auth. Vers.]
possessions; and on the other side it preached, how that they had promised God again to keep his commandments, ceremonies, and ordinances. Now when they saw their young children circumcised, if they consented unto the appointment made between God and them, moved by the preaching of that same, then they were justified thereby. Howbeit, the deed in itself, the cutting off the foreskin of the manchild’s privy member, justified them not, nor was a satisfaction for the child’s sins; but the preaching only did justify them that received the faith thereof: for it was a badge given indifferently, as well unto them that never consented in their hearts unto God’s law, as unto the elect in whose hearts the law is written. And that this was the meaning of circumcision, may be proved many ways; but namely by Paul (Rom. ii), where he saith, Circumcision is much worth, if thou keep the law,” whose sign it was; and else not: and (Rom. iii.), where he saith that God did justify the circumcised of faith,” whose sign it was on the other side; and else not.
And the paschal lamb was a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt only, and no satisfaction or offering for sin. And the offering of their first-fruits preached how they had received all such fruits of the hand of God, and that it was God that gave them that land, and that kept them in it, and that did bless and make their fruits grow; in token whereof, as unto a lord royal, they brought him the firstripe fruits of their harvest: which remembrance, as long as it abode in their hearts, it moved them to love God again, and their neighbour for his sake; as he so oft desired them. And out of this ceremony was fetched the blessing of our new-ripe fruits, for like purpose; though we have lost the signification. And their other offerings, as the sacrifices of doves, turtles, lambs, kids, sheep, calves, goats and oxen, were no satisfactions for sin; but only a sign and token, that at the repentance of the heart, through an offering to come, and for that seed’s sake that was promised Abraham, their sins were forgiven them.
And in like manner, the ornaments, and all other ceremonies, were either an open preaching, or secret prophecies, and not satisfactions or justifyings. And thus the works did serve them and preach unto them, and they not the works, nor put any confidence therein.
False worshipping. But what did the children of Israel and the Jews? They let the significations of their ceremonies go, and lost the meaning of them; and turned them unto the works, to serve them, saying that they were holy works commanded of Godand the offerers were thereby justified, and obtained for- giveness of sins, and thereby became good, (as the parable of the Pharisee and publican declareth (Luke xviii.) and as it is to see in Paul, and throughout all the bible;) and became captive to serve and put their trust in that which was neither God nor his word. And so the better creature, against nature, did serve the worse: where of all likelihood God should have accepted their work by the reason of them, if their hearts had been right; and not have accepted their souls for the blood’s sake of a calf or sheep, forasmuch as a man is — much better than a calf or sheep, as Christ testifieth (Matt. xii.). For what pleasure should God have in the blood of calves, or in the light of our candles? His pleasure is only in the hearts of them that love his commandments.
Then they went further in the imagination of their blind peagon, saying: Inasmuch as God accepteth these holy works, that we be made righteous thereby, then it followeth that he which offereth most is most righteous, and the best man; yea, and it is better to offer an ox than a sheep, because it is more costly.” And so they strove who might offer most, and the priests were well apaid. Then went they further in their fleshly wisdom, saying: If I be good for the offering Of a dove, and better for a sheep, and yet better for an ox, and so ever the better thing I offer, the better I am; oh, how accepted should I be if I offered a man, and namely him that I most loved!” And upon that imagination they offered their own children, and burnt them to ashes before images that they ^ had imagined.
And to confirm their blindness they laid for them, no doubt, the ensample of Abraham, which offered his son Isaac, and was so accepted, that God had promised him how that in his seed all the world should be blessed. Hereof ye see unto what abomination blind reason bringeth a man, when she is destitute of God’s word.
And to speak of the sabbath, (which was ordained to be
aano
. SIGNIFICATIONS OF CEREMONIES LOST. 67 their servant, and to preach, and to be a sign unto them, that God through his holy Spirit and word did sanctify them, in that they obeyed his commandments, and believed and trusted in his promises, and therefore were charged to leave working, and to come on the holy day, and hear the word of God, by which they were sanctified,) unto it also they became captive and bond to serve it; saying that they were justified by abstaining from bodily labour (as ours think also), insomuch that though they bestowed not the holy day in virtue, prayer, and hearing the word of God, in alms-deed, in visiting the sick, the needy and comfortless, and so forth, but went up and down idly; yet whatsoever need his neighbour had, he would not have holp him on the sabbath-day; as thou mayest see by the ruler of the synagogue, which rebuked Christ for healing the people on the holy day (Luke xiii.).
And of like blindness they went and fet out the brasen serpent, which Moses commanded to be kept in the ark for a memory, and offered before it; thinking (no doubt) that God must be there present, for else how could it have healed the people that came not nigh it, but stood afar off, and beheld it only? And a thousand such madnesses did they.
And of the temple they thought, that God heard them there better than any where else; yea, and he heard them no where save there. And therefore they could not pray but there, as ours can nowhere but at church, and before an image. For what prayer can a man pray when the word of God is not in the temple of his heart? yea, and when such come to church, what is their prayer, and what is their devotion, save the blind image-service of their hearts?
But the prophets ever rebuked them for such faithless works, and for such false faith in their works. In the fortyninth [fifüetlf psalm saith the prophet, “I will receive no calves of your houses, nor goats out of your folds; think ye that I will eat the flesh of oxen, or drink the blood of goats?” And Isaiah saith in his first chapter: What care I for the multitude of your sacrifices? saith the Lord. Iam full. I have no lust in the burnt-offerings of your rams, or in the fat of fat beasts, or blood of calves, lambs or goats: offer me no more such false sacrifice” And thereto, Your sweet incense is an abomination unto me.” And thus he said, because of the false faith, and perverting the right use of them.
And for their false fasting, not referring their fast unto the taming and subduing of their flesh unto the spirit, when they complained unto God, justifying themselves, and saying, How happeneth it that we have fasted, and thou wouldest not look upon it? we have humbled our souls, and thou wouldest Ποὺ know it?” God answered them by the prophet Isaiah, in the fifty-eighth chapter: “Behold, in the day of your fast ye do your own lusts, and gather up all your debts. And howsoever ye fast, ye neverthelater strive, and fight, and smite with fist cruelly. I have chosen no such fast and humbling of soul, &e.: but that ye loose wicked bonds, and let the oppressed go free, and to break bread unto the hungry, and to clothe the naked,” and so forth. And concerning the temple, Isaiah saith in his last chapter: — ^What house will ye build for me, or in what place shall I rest? Heaven is my seat, and the earth my foot-stool” As who should say, I am too great for any place that ye can make; and (as Stephen saith, Acts vii. and Paul, Acts xvii.)
“1 dwell not in a temple made with hands.”
How ceremonies sprang among us
Understand also (to see how we came into like blindness), that before the coming of Christ in the flesh the Israelites and Jews were scattered throughout all the world, to punish! their image-service, both east, west, south, and north, as ye read in the chronicles how England was once full?: so that there was no province or great city in the world, where no Jews were; God so providing for the speedy preaching of the gospel among the heathen throughout the world. Now Christ, as he was promised, so was he sent, unto the Jews or Israelites. And what by Christ’s preaching, and the apostles’ after his resurrection, there were innumerable Jews converted, haply an hundred thousand or more in Jerusalem and Jewry, and in the countries about, and abode still in the land. Then Paul rose up, and persecuted them in Jerusalem, and throughout all Jewry and Damascus, slaying all that he could catch, or
[1 So C, U. L. but D. has for.] [2 That is full of Jews. They were expelled from England by]
[Edward I. in 1293; and were not suffered to reside in England from]
[that date to the close of 1655, when Cromwell sanctioned their return.]]
making them forswear Christ: for fear of which persecution they fled into all coasts, and preached unto the Jews that were scattered; proving that Jesus was Christ, the Saviour of the world, both by the scripture, and also by miracles; so that a great part of the Jews came to the faith everywhere, and we heathen came in shortly after; and part abode still in unbelief, as unto this day.
Now the Jews being born and bred up, rooted and noselled in ceremonies, as I have shewed, and as ye may better see in the five books of Moses, if ye would read them, could but with great difficulty depart from them; as it is to see in all the epistles of Paul how he fought against them, but in process? they gat the upper hand. And thereto the first that were christened, and all the officers and bishops of the church, even so much as the great god of Rome, were Jews for the most part, a great season.
And moreover, as Paul saith (Rom. ix.), Not all that came of Israel are right Israelites; neither are all they Abraham’s sons that are Abraham’s seed.” Why so? Because they followed not the steps of the faith of their grandfathers. Even so, not all they that were called, and also came unto the marriage, which God the Father made between Christ his Son and all sinners, brought their marriage-garment with them; that is to wit, true faith, wherewith we be married unto Christ, and made his flesh and his blood, and one spirit with him, his brethren and heirs with him, and the sons of God also. But many of them (to fulfill the saying of Christ, that the kingdom of heaven, which is the gospel, is like a net that catcheth good and bad) were driven into the net, and compelled to confess that Jesus was Christ, and that seed that was promised Abraham, and Messias that should come; not of any inward feeling that the Spirit of God gave them, neither of any lovely consent that they had unto the law of God, that it was good, mourning both because they had broken it, and because also they had no power to fulfil it, and therefore to obtain mercy and power, came to Christ, and unto the Father through him with the heart of natural children, which receive all things freely of their father’s bounteous
[3 So the C. U. L. but D. has and in process gat &c.] [4 Meaning the bishop of Rome.]]
liberality, and of love become servants unto their brethren for their father’s sake; but were compelled only with violence of the scripture, which everywhere bare witness unto Christ, and agreed unto all that he did, and overcome also with the power of miracles that confirmed the same: that is to say, they came with a story faith, a popish faith, a faithless faith, and a feigned faith of their own making, and not as God in the scripture describeth the faith; so believing in Christ, that they would be justified by their own deeds, which is the denying of Christ. As our papists believe, which, more mad than those Jews, believe nothing by reason of the scripture, but only that such a multitude consent thereto, compelled with violence of sword, with falsifying of the scripture, and feigned lies: which multitude yet is not the fifth part so um- many as they that consent unto the law of Mahomet; and therefore, by their own arguments, the faith of the Turks is better than theirs. And their faith thereto may stand by their own confession with all mischief, (as it well appeareth by them,) and with yielding themselves to work all wickedness with full delectation, after the ensample of the faith of their father the devil, and without repentance and consent unto the law of God that it is good. Which popish thereto! so believe in Christ, and so will be his servants, that they will be bound unto dumb ceremonies and dead works; putting their trust and confidence in them, and hoping to be saved by them, and ascribing unto them the thank of their salvation and righteousness.
And therefore because, as I said, the Jews, yea, and the heathen too, were so accustomed unto ceremonies, and because such a multitude came with a faithless faith, they went? clean contrary unto the mind of Paul, and set up ceremonies in the new Testament; partly borrowing them of Moses, and partly imagining like as ye now see, and called them sacraments, that is to say, signs (as it is plain in the stories); the sacrament of holy water, of holy fire, holy bread, holy salt, and so forth. And they gave them signifieations: as holy water W.T. sjonified the sprinkling of Christ’s blood for our redemption; which saerament or sign, though it seem superfluous (inas-
[1 So the C. U. L. but D. has, And the popish also do so, &c.] [2 So D. but the C. U. L. has and here, and omits it after Paul.]]
much as the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood signifieth the same daily), yet as long as the signification bode, it hurted not. And the kissing of the pax was set up, to signify that the peace of Christ should be ever among us, one to love another after his ensample; as the word itself well declareth: for pax is as much to say as peace.
As for confirmation, it is no doubt but that it came this wise up, and that this was the use; which the word itself well declareth. We read in the stories, that they which were converted unto the faith of the age of discretion, were full taught in the law of God (as right is), and in the faith of our Saviour Jesus, ere they were baptized, and upon the profession or promising to keep that law and faith were baptized. And then for the succour and help of young children, baptized before the age of discretion, to know the law of God and faith of Christ, was confirmation instituted, that they should not be alway ignorant and faithless, but be taught the profession of their baptism. And this no doubt was the manner, as we may well gather by probable conjectures and evident tokens: when the children were of six or seven years old, their elders brought them unto the priest or deacon in every parish, which officer taught the children what their baptism meant, and what they had professed therein; that is to wit, the law of God, and their duty unto all degrees, and the faith of our Saviour. And then, because it should not be neglect or left undone, an higher officer, as the archdeacon (for it hath not been, as I suppose, in the bishop’s hands alway as now, neither were it meet), came about from parish to parish at times convenient: and the priests brought the children unto him, at eleven or twelve years old, before they were admitted to receive the sacrament of Christ’s body haply; and he apposed? them of the law of God and faith of Christ, and asked them whether they thought that law good, and whether their hearts were to follow it? And they answered, Yea. And he apposed them in the articles of our faith, and asked them whether they put their hope and trust in Christ, to be saved through his death and merits? And they answered, Yea. Then confirmed he their baptism, saying, “1 confirm you; that is, I denounce and declare, by
[3 Questioned.]
the authority of God’s word, and doctrine of Christ, that ye be truly baptized within, in your hearts and in your spirits, through professing the law of God and the faith of our Saviour Jesus, which your outward baptism doth signify; and thereupon I put this cross in your foreheads, that ye go and fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh, under the standard of our Saviour, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.” Which manner I would to God, for his tender mercy, were in use this day. But after that the devil was broken loose, and the bishops began to purchase, and the deacons to scratch all to them, and the spiritualty to climb on high; then, because the labour seemed too tedious and painful to appose the children one by one, they asked the priests that presented them only, of Whether the children were taught the profession of their baptism? And they answered, Yea: and so, upon their words, they confirmed them without apposing. So when they no longer apposed them, the priests no longer taught them; but committed the charge to their godfathers and godmothers, and they to the father and mother, discharging themselyes, by their own authority, within half an hour. of And the father and mother taught them a monstrous Latin paternoster and an ave and a creed: which gibberish every popinjay! speaketh with a sundry pronunciation and fashion; so that one paternoster seemeth as many languages almost, as there be tongues that speak it. Howbeit, it is all one, as long as they understand it not. And in process, as the ignorance grew, they brought them to confirmation straight from baptism, so that now oft-times they be volowed and. bishopped both in one day; that is, we be confirmed in blindness to be kept from knowledge for ever. And thus are we come into this damnable ignorance and fierce wrath of —— God, through our own deserving; because, when the truth was told us, we had no love thereto. And to declare the full and set wrath of God upon us, our prelates whom we have exalted over us, to whom we have given almost all we had, have per-
[1 Popinjay, an incorrect imitation of papagayo, the name by]
[which the Spaniards, the first importers of parrots, called that bird. ] [3 See Vol. 1. 276.]]
suaded the worldly princes (to whom we have submitted ourselves, and given up our power) to devour up body and soul, and to keep us down in darkness, with violence of sword, and with all falsehood and guile; insomuch that, if any do but lift up his nose to smell after the truth, they swap him in the face with a fire-brand, to singe his smelling; or if he open one of his eyes once to look toward the light of God’s word, they blear and daze his sight with their false juggling: so that if it were possible, though he were God’s elect, he could not but be kept down, and perish for lack of knowledge of the truth.
And in like manner, because Christ had instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, to keep us in remembrance of his body-breaking and blood-shedding for our sins, therefore went they and set up this fashion of the mass, and ordained sacraments in the ornaments thereof to signify and express all the rest of his passion. The amice on the head is the kerchief that Christ was blindfolded with, when the soldiers buffeted him and mocked him, saying, Prophesy unto us, who smote thee 3?” But now it may well signify that he that putteth it on is blinded, and hath professed to lead us after him in darkness, according unto the beginning of his play. And the flap thereon is the crown of thorns: and the alb is the white garment that Herod put on him, saying he was a fool, because he held his peace, and would not answer him. And the two flaps on the sleeves, and the other two on the alb
beneath, over against his feet behind and before, are the four nails; and the fanon on his hand, the cord that his hands were bound with; and the stole, the rope wherewith he was bound unto the pillar, when he was scourged; and the corporis-cloth,
[3 Sir Thomas More has said that Tyndale got his account of the]
[meaning assigned to various ceremonies in the Romish ritual from “a]
[good friar’s book called Rationale divinorum.” Confut. of Tyndale,]
[fol. Ixv. The work thus described was doubtless the Rationale divi-]
[norum officiorum a R. D. Gulielmo Durando Mimatensi episcopo,]
[J. U. D. clarissimo concinnatum. It is at the close of a whole chapter]
[on the significations of the amice (amictus), that Durandus says:]
[Amictus etiam reprssentat operimentum, quo Judei velabant faciem]
[Christi, dicentes, Prophetiza nobis, Christe, quis est qui te percussit?]
[Lib. nr. cap. 2. In like manner the last words of Durandus’ next]
[chapter, De alba, are: Hzc etiam vestis repraesentat albam vestem, in]
[qua Herodes illusit Christo.]]
the sindon wherein he was buried; and the altar is the cross, or haply the grave; and so forth: and the casting abroad of his hands, the splaying of Christ upon the cross; and the light and sticking up of candles, and bearing of candles or tapers in procession, haply signified this text, “Ye be the light of the world;” and, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” And the salt signifieth the wisdom of Christ’s doctrine; and that we should therewith salt our deeds, and do nothing without the authority of God’s word. So that in one thing or other, what in the garments, and what in the gestures, allis played; insomuch that before he will go to mass, he will be sure to sell him, lest Judas’s part should be left out. —
And so throughout all the sacraments, ceremonies, or signs — (three words of one signification) there were significations unto them at the beginning. And so long as it was understood what was meant by them, and they did but serve the people, and preach one thing or another unto them, they hurted not greatly; though that the free servant of Christ ought not to be brought violently into captivity under the bondage of tradi- — tions of men: as St Augustine! complaineth in his days, how that the condition and state of the Jews was more easy than
i»
the Christians under traditions; so sore had the tyranny of the shepherds invaded the flock already in those days And-then what just cause have we to complain our captivity now; unto whose yoke from that time hitherto, even twelve hundred years long, hath ever somewhat more weight been added to, for to keep us down and to confirm us in blindness: howbeit, as long as the significations bode, they hurted not the soul, though they were painful unto the body. Nevertheless, I impute
[1 So in C. U. L., but in Day, Austin.] [2 Ipsam religionem, quam paucissimis et manifestissimis celebra-]
[tionum sacramentis misericordia Dei esse liberam voluit, servilibus]
[oneribus premunt; ut tolerabilior sit conditio Judseorum, qui etiamsi]
[tempus libertatis non agnoverunt, legalibus tamen sarcinis, non hu-]
[manis prsesumtionibus, subjiciuntur.—August. Ad inquisit. Januar.]
[Lib. 1v. seu Epist. rv. Op. Tom. 11. col. 142. D. F. Τὸ is observable]
[that the very copious and distinct index of the Benedictine editors con-]
[tains no notice of this passage, though some words from the next sen-]
[tence are introduced into their index. The passage had however caught]
[the attention of Erasmus, who has an instructive notice and amplifica-]
[tion of it in his note on Matt. xi. 30. Desid. Erasmi Op. Tom. v].]
this our grievous fall into so extreme and horrible blindness Out (wherein we are so deep and so deadly brought asleep) unto sprang nothing so much as unto the multitude of ceremonies, For the as soon as the prelates had set up such a rabble of ceremonies, the they thought it superfluous to preach the plain text any longer, ceremonies and the law of God, faith of Christ, love toward our neighbour, preaching, and the order of our justifying and salvation; (forasmuch as all such things were played before the people’s faces daily in the ceremonies ceremonies, and every child wist the meaning;) but got them ἐμ unto allegories, feigning them every man after his own brain, ^^^ without rule, almost on every syllable; and from thence unto disputing, and wasting their brains about words, not attending the significations; until at the last the lay-people had lost the meaning of the ceremonies, and the prelates the understanding of the plain text, and of the Greek, and Latin, and specially of the Hebrew, which is most of need to be known, and of all phrases, the proper manner of speakings, and borrowed speech of the Hebrews. Remember ye not how within this thirty years and far less, and yet dureth unto this day, the old barking curs, Dun’s rne disciples, and like draff called Scotists, the children of dark- vanced ness, raged in every pulpit against Greek, Latin and Hebrew; the and what sorrow the schoolmasters, that taught the true 5nemiestoan Latin tongue, had with them; some beating the pulpit with their imd fists for madness, and roaring out with open and foaming mouth, =~ that if there were but one Terence or Virgil in” the world, and that same in their sleeves, and a fire before them, they would burn them therein, though it should cost them their lives; affirming that all good learning decayed, and was utterly lost, since men gave them unto the Latin tongue? Yea, and I ia dare say that there be twenty thousand priests, curates, this ”^’ day in England, and not so few, that cannot give you the right English unto this text in the Paternoster, Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in colo et in terra, and answer thereto3.
[3 “I find from the answers to bishop Hooper’s visitation, 1552, that]
[there were scores of clergy who could not tell who was the author of]
[the Lord’s prayer, or where it was to be found. Such was the case]
[of George Roo, the rector of Winchcomb, the largest town of this]
[vicinity, I found this document of bishop Hooper’s the other day.”]
[Letter of the late Geo. Stokes, Esq., to the editor. Dated, Chelten-]
[ham, June 22, 1846.]]
And as soon as the signification of the ceremonies was lost, and the priests preached Christ no longer, then the common people began to wax mad and out of their minds upon tho ceremonies. And that trust and confidence, which the — to ceremonies preached to be given unto God’s word and Christ’s blood, that same they turned unto the ceremony itself; as though a man were so mad to forget that the bush at the tavern-door did signify wine to be sold within, but would believe that the bush itself would quench his thirst. And so they became servants unto the ceremonies; ascribing their justifying and salvation unto them, supposing that it was nothing else to be a christian man than to serve ceremonies, and him most christian that most served them; and contrariwise, him that was not popish and ceremonial, no christian man at all. For I pray you, for what cause worship we our spiritualty so highly, or wherefore think we their prayers better than the poor laymen’s, than for their disguisings and ceremonies? Yea, and what other virtue see we in the holiest of them, than to wait upon dumb superstitious ceremonies?
Yea, and how cometh it that a poor layman, having wife and twenty children, and not able to find! them, though all his neighbours know his necessity, shall not get with begging for Christ’s sake, in a long summer’s day, enough to find them — two days honestly; when if a disguised monster come, he by shall, with an hour’s lying in the pulpit, get enough to find - thirty or forty sturdy lubbers a month long, of which the weakest shall be as strong in the belly, when he cometh unto the manger, as the mightiest porter in the weigh-house?, or best courser that is in the king’s stable? — Isthere any other cause than disguising and ceremonies? For the deeds of the ceremonies we count better than the deeds which God commandeth to be done to our neighbour at his need. Who thinketh it as good a deed to feed the poor, as to stick up a candle before a post, or as to sprinkle himself with holy we water? N either is it possible to be otherwise, as long as the of signification is lost. For what other thing can the people think, than that such deeds be ordained of God; and because, as it is evident, they serve not our neighbour’s need, to be
[1 That is, provide for.] [2 The custom-house, where goods were weighed, to be tolled accord.]
[ingly. ]]
referred unto the person of God, and he, though he be a spirit, yet served therewith? And then he cannot but forth on? dispute, in his blind reason, that as God is greater than man, so is that deed that is appointed to serve God greater than that which serveth man. And then, when it is not possible to think them ordained for nought, what can I otherwise think than that they were ordained to justify; and that I should be holy thereby, according to the pope’s doctrine; as though God were better pleased, when I sprinkled myself with water, or set up a candle before a block, than if I fed or clothed, or holp at his need, him whom he so tenderly loveth that he gave his own Son unto the death for him, and commanded me to love him as myself?
And when the people began to run that way, the prelates were glad, and holp to heave after with subtle allegories and falsifying the scripture; and went and hallowed the ceremonies, to make them more worshipful, that the lay people should have them in greater estimation and honour, and to be afraid to touch them, for reverence unto the holy charm that was said over them; and affirmed also that Christ’s death had purchased such grace unto the ceremonies to forgive sin and to justify. O monster! Christ’s death purchased grace for man’s soul, to repent of evil, and to believe in Christ for remission of sin, and to love the law of God, and his neighbour as himself; which is the true worshipping of God in the spirit; and he died not to purchase such honour unto unsensible things, that man to his dishonour should do them honourable service, and receive his salvation of them.
This I have declared unto you, that ye might see and feel every thing sensibly. For I intend not to lead you in darkness. Neither though twice two cranes make not four wild geese, would I therefore that ye should believe that twice two made not four. Neither intend I to prove unto you, that Paul’s steeple is the cause why Thames is broke in about Erith, or that Tenterden steeple is the cause of the decay of Sandwich haven, as Master More jesteth. Nevertheless, this I would were persuaded unto you (as it is true),
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