The Prologue
“Except a man have the profession of his baptism in his heart,
he cannot understand the scripture
As a man can by no means read, except he be first taught the letters of the cross row, even so it is unpossible for a man, of whatsoever degree or name he be of, to understand aught in the scripture unto the honour of God and health of his soul, except he be first taught the profession of his baptism, and have it also written in his heart.
Which profession standeth in two things: the one is the knowledge of the law! of God, understanding it spiritually, as Christ expoundeth it Matt. v. vi. and vii. chapters, so that the root and life of all laws is? this: Love thy Lord God with all thine heart, all thy soul, and all thy might; and thy neighbour as thyself, for his sake: and that love only is the fulfilling of the law (as Paul teacheth); and that whatsoever deed we do, and not of that love, that same fulfilleth no law in the sight of God.
And the other is, to know the promises of mercy which are in our Saviour Christ; understanding them also purely without all leaven, after the mercifullest fashion as scripture expresseth? them, and after all fatherly love and kindness of God, unto all that repent toward the law, and believe in Christ. sins And to have this profession written in thine heart is sake, to consent unto the law that it is righteous and good, and to love it in thine heart, and to submit thyself thereunto for to lor- learn it, and to rule and square all thy deeds thereby; and — then to believe in Christ, that for his sake all thy sins, which thou diddest before the knowledge of this profession, are forgiven thee clearly, both a pena et culpa, to use the Romish
[1 So P. C. L., in D. the words of the law are wanting.] [? So P. C. L., D. has be.] [3 So P. C. L., but D. has soundeth.] [4 From the penalty and guilt.] [5 So P. C. L., but D. has pope’s.]]
terms; and that for none other satisfaction to God-ward than Christ’s blood; and even so, that all the sin which we do after this knowledge, either of chance, ignorance, infirmity, negligence, or provoked and overcome of the flesh, is forgiven us likewise, both pena et culpa, through repentance and faith in Christ, without our satisfaction of works to God-ward.
Notwithstanding we, being all sons of one God, and “servants of one Christ, must agree among ourselves; and he that hath offended must meekly knowledge his fault, and offer himself to make amends unto the utmost of his power; and if he have not wherewith, ask forgiveness for Christ’s sake, and? the other is bound to forgive him. Neither, without reconceiling himself unto his brother, may any man be at the first received unto the profession of Christ’s faith, nor continue therein, nor be received in again, if he be for his open offences put thereout. For how can a man love his neigh. bour as well as himself; and be sorry that he hath hurt him, except he should offer himself to make amends?
And we must from henceforth walk in the life of penance, (if ye will have it so called,) and after the doctrine of Fepeniar Christ every man tame his flesh with prayer, fasting, and the continual meditations of Christ’s penance and passions for us, and of the holy saints, and with such abstinence, and kind of living, as every man thinketh most meet for his eomplexion; the younger confessing their infirmities to the elder, discreeter, and better learned, and asking their advice and wholesome counsel for the repressing of their diseases; but all to tame the flesh, and to serve thy neighbour, without any superstitious mind.
But to God-ward is there no satisfaction, save faith in Christ’s blood out of a repenting heart. For our outward blood deeds cannot be referred unto God, to do him service in his heart own person, and to help him, or make him better therewith. We can do no more with them, were they never so perfect, and done with all love, than satisfy the law for the present time, and do our duty unto our neighbours, and tame our own flesh; but not to make satisfaction to God for sin that is once past. The sin that is once committed must God forgive
of a fatherly love, for Christ’s sake
[6 So P. C. L., in D. and is wanting.]]
When God visiteth us with sickness, poverty, or whatsoever adversity it be, he doth it not of a tyrannous mind, to satisfy his lust in our suffering of evil, to make satisfaction for the sin that is past, of which we repent and be sorry; but the of a fatherly love, to make us know ourselves and feel his mercy, and to tame our! flesh, and to keep us from sinning again: as no natural father punisheth his child because he delighteth in tormenting of him, to take satisfaction for the sin that is past; but first teacheth kindly, and suffereth, and forgiveth once or twice; and then at the last, when he seeth the body so wanton, that the child cannot continue in the right way for the rage of wild lusts, he beateth him?, to subdue the flesh only, and to tame it, that the doctrine of the father may have her due course in the heart of the child, and should not be choked with lusts and concupiscences of our wicked nature?
Even 80 is it of God: if any of his children, that have professed his law and the faith of our Saviour, be negligent corr to tame his flesh with prayer, fasting, and good deeds after the doctrine of Christ, he will surely scourge him, to bring him into the right way again, and to keep him, that the doctrine of his soul’s health perish not in him. But he taketh not his mercy from us, nor thinketh on the sin that is past, after that we repent and be full converted; but absolveth us both a pena et culpa for Christ’s sake; and is as mighty and as merciful to do it for Christ’s sake, as the bishop of Rome for money; besides that he hath promised mercifully so to do. “i The knowledge of our baptism is the key and the light of the
scripture
And again, as he which knoweth his letters well, and can is to spell perfectly, cannot but read if he be diligent; and as he which hath clear eyes without impediment or let, and walketh thereto in the light and open day, cannot but see, if he attend and take heed; even so whosoever hath the profession of baptism written in his heart, cannot but understand the scripture, if he exercise himself therein, and compare one
[1 So D., but P. C. L. has the instead of our.] [2 So P. C. L., in D. him is wanting.] [3 The last six words are in P. C. L., but not in D.]]
place to another, and mark the manner of speech, and ask here and there the meaning of a sentence of them that be better exercised.
For as the doctrine which we should be taught before we were baptized, and for lack of age is deferred unto the years of discretion, is the key that bindeth and looseth, locketh and unlocketh, the conscience of all sinners; even so that lesson, where it is understood, is only the key that openeth all the seripture, and even the whole scripture in itself, gathered together in a narrow compass, and brought into a compendiousness. And till thou be taught that lesson, that thine heart feel the sweetness of it, the scripture is locked and shut up from thee, and so dark that thou couldest not understand it, though Peter, Paul, or Christ himself did expound it unto thee; no more than a blind man can see, though thou set a candle before him, or shewedst him the sun, or pointedst with thy finger unto that thou wouldest have him look upon.
Now we be all baptized; but, alas! not one, from the highest to the lowest, ever taught the profession or meaning thereof. And therefore we remain all blind generally, as well cur great rabbins for all their high learning which they seem to have, as the lay people. Yea, and so much the more blind are our great clerks, that where the lay people, for a great number of them, are taught nothing at all, they be all wrong taught, and the doctrine of their baptism is all corrupt unto them with the leaven of false glosses, ere they come to read the seripture; so that the light which they bring with them, to understand the scripture withal, is utter darkness, and as contrary unto the scripture as the devil unto Christ: by reason whereof the scripture is locked up and become so dark unto them, that they grope for the door, and can find no way in; and is become a maze unto them, in which they wander as in a mist, or (as we say) led by Robin Goodfellow, that they cannot come to the right way, no, though they turn their caps; and the brightness thereof hath blinded their eyes with malice, so that though they believe not the scripture to be false, yet they persecute the right understanding thereof, and cannot believe it true in the plain sense, which it speaketh
[4 In the words than he is are added here. [5 So but has naught.)
to them in. It is become a turn-again lane unto them, which they cannot go through, nor make three lines agree together. And finally, the sentences of the scripture are nothing but very riddles unto them, at the which they cast as the blind man doth at the crow, and expound by guess, an hundred doctors an hundred ways; and one man in twenty sermons alleging one text after twenty fashions, having no sure doctrine to cleave unto; and all for lack of the right knowledge of the profession of our baptism. ” He that hath the profession of his baptism written in his heart can
be no heretic
Another conclusion is this: as he which ever creepeth along by the ground, and never climbeth, cannot fall from on! high; even so no man, that hath the profession of his baptism written,..:: t in his heart, can stumble in the scripture, and fall unto heresies, or become a maker of division and sects, and a defender of wild and vain opinions. For the whole and only cause of heresies and sects is pride. Now the law of God, truly interpreted, robbeth all them in whose hearts it is written, and maketh them as bare as Job, of all things whereof a man can or may? be moved to pride. And on the other side, they have utterly forsaken themselves, with all their high learning and wisdom, and are become the servants of Christ only, which hath bought them with his blood; and have promised in their — hearts unfeignedly to follow him, and to take him only for the author of their religion, and his doctrine only for their wisdom and learning, and to maintain it in word and deed, and to? keep it pure, and to build no strange doctrine thereupon, and to be at the highest never, but fellow with their brethren, and in that fellowship to wax ever lower and lower, and every day more servant than another? unto his weaker brethren, after the example and image of Christ, and after bis commandment and ordinance, and not in feigned words of the pope.
This be said because of them that say that the scripture no maketh men heretics, and corrupteth with false opinions,
[1 So P. C. L., but D. has an.] [2 So P. C. L., but in D. or may is wanting.] [3 P. C. L. has to, but Day so.] [4 So P. C. L., but D. has other. ] [5 So P. C. L.: D. has he said.]]
PROLOGUE TO THE READER., MI contrary unto the profession of their baptism; and the light wherewith they should expound the scripture is turned into darkness in their hearts, and the door of the scripture locked, and the wells stopped up ere they come at it.
And therefore, because their darkness cannot comprehend the light of scripture, as it is written, “The light shined in darkness, but the darkness could not comprehend it;” they turn it into blind riddles, and read it without understanding, as lay-men do our lady matins, or as it were Merlin’s prophecies, having? ever their minds upon their heresies. And when they come to a place that soundeth like, there they wrest, and wring out wonderful expositions, to stablish their heresies withal?, Is it not a great blindness to say in the beginning of all together, that the whole scripture is false in the literal sense, and killeth the soul? Which pestilent heresy to prove, they abuse the text of Paul saying, The letter killeth;” because that text was become a riddle unto them, and they understood it not: when Paul by this word letter understood the law given by Moses to condemn all consciences, and to rob them of all righteousness, to compel them unto the promises of mercy that are in Christ.
Heresy springeth not of the scripture, no more than darkness of the sun; but it? is a dark cloud that springeth out of the blind hearts of hypocrites, and covereth the face of the scripture, and blindeth their eyes, that they cannot behold the bright beams of the scripture.
The whole? sum then of all together is this: If our hearts were taught the appointment made between God and us in Christ’s blood, when we were baptized, we had the key to open the scripture, and light to see and perceive the true meaning of it, and the scripture should be easy to understand. And because we be not taught that profession, is the cause why the scripture is so dark, and so far passing our capacity. And the cause why our expositions are heresies, is because we be wrong taught, and corrupt with false opinions beforehand, and made heretics ere we come at the scripture, and have
[[ὃ So P. C. L., but D. wants having, and has are after minds.] [7 In D. Tyndale’s last remark is followed by a jocular illustration,]
[for which there is no authority in the older edition.] [8 So P. C. L.: in D. it is wanting ] [? So P. C. L., but D. interposes and.]]
corrupt it, and it not us; as the taste of the sick maketh i wholesome and well-seasoned meat bitter, wearish, and unsa- =~ voury. Nevertheless yet the scripture abideth pure in herself and bright, so that he which is sound in the faith shall at once perceive that the judgment of the heretics is corrupt in their expositions, as an whole man doth feel at once, even with smelling to the meat, that the taste of the sick is infected. And with the scripture shall they ever improve heresies and false expositions: for the scripture purgeth herself, even as the water once in the year casteth all filthiness unto the sides of 101, Which to be true ye see by the authority of Paul, saying, “All the scripture was given of God by inspiration, and is good to teach withal, to improve,” and so forth; and by the example of Christ and the apostles, how they confounded the Jews with the same scripture which they had corrupt, and understood them amiss after their own darkness; and as ye see by the example of us now also, how we have manifestly improved the hypocrites in an hundred texts which they had corrupt to prove their false opinion brought in besides the scripture, and have driven them off; and they be fled, and openly confess unto their shame, that they have no scripture, and sing another song, and say they received them by the mouth of the apostles. Unto which stopping of theirs?, I answer here grossly, seeing they are answered before; that as he were a fool, which would trust him to tell his money in his absence, that hath picked his purse before his face; even so, sith ye have corrupt the open scripture before our eyes, and are? taken with the maner, that ye cannot deny, we
[[! So P. C. L. edition: D. wants of it.] [2 So P. C. L., but D. has oyster instead of of theirs.] [3 So P. C. L., but D. wants are.] [ In Numbers vy. 13, our authorised version has introduced the]
[words with the manner, in italics, to fill out the brief Hebrew]
[expression she be taken. Todd observes (Johnson’s Dictionary),]
[that in our old law-books manner is written sainour in this phrase,]
[from the French manier, to seize with the hand. He adds that in our]
[old Norman statutes it is written according to some, Pris ove manour,’]
[and explained, taken with the goods in the hand.” But Burn, enlarg-]
[ing on 3 Ed. I. c. 15, says, Taken with the mainer, i. e. with the thing]
[stolen, as it were, in his hand.” Burn’s Justice, vol. 1. p. 138. In Day’s]
[edition of Tyndale it is spelt maner; but so also is the word manner,]
[when used in its ordinary sense.]]
were mad to believe that which hath lien fifteen hundred years, as ye say, in your rotten maws, should now be wholesome for us; ye have chewed and mingled it with your poison spittle, Can ye bear us in hand, and persuade us, think ye, with your sophistry, to believe that ye should minister your secret traditions without ground truly, when we see you minister the open scripture falsely? Can ye bewitch our wits with your poetry, to believe that ye should minister your secret traditions for our profit, when we see you corrupt the open scripture to the loss of our souls for your profit? Nay, it is an hundred times more likely that ye should be falser in secret things than in open. And therefore in the very sacraments, which the scripture testifieth that Christ himself ordained them, we must have an eye unto your hand, how ye minister them. And as we restore the scripture unto her right understanding from your false glosses, even so deliver we the sacraments and ceremonies unto their right use from your abuse. And that must we do with the scripture; which can. corrupt no man that cometh thereto with a meek spirit, seeking there only to fashion himself like Christ, according to the profession and vow of our baptism: but contrariwise, he shall there find the mighty power of God, to alter him, and change him in the inner man, a little and little in process, until he be full shapen after the image of our Saviour, in knowledge, and love of all truth, and power to work thereafter.
Finally then, forasmuch as the scripture is the light and life of God’s elect, and that mighty power wherewith God createth them, and shapeth them, after the similitude, likeness, and very fashion of Christ; and therefore sustenance, comfort, and strength to courage them, that they may stand fast, and endure, and merrily bear their souls’ health, wherewith the lusts of the flesh are subdued and killed, and the spirit mollified and made soft, to receive the print of the image of our Saviour Jesus: and forasmuch as the scripture is so pure of itself, that it can corrupt no man, but the wicked only, which are infect beforehand, and, ere they come at it, corrupt it with the heresies that? they bring with them:
[5 So P. C. L., but D. wants are.] [6 So P. C. L., but D. wants for.] [7 So P. C. L., but D. wants that.]]
and forasmuch as the complaint of the hypocrites, that the the: 3: i. — Seripture maketh heretics, is vain and feigned; and the reasons wherewith they would prove that the lay people ought not to read the scripture, are! false, wicked, and the fruit of rotten trees: therefore are they faithful servants of Christ, and faithful ministers and dispensers of his doctrine, and true-hearted toward their brethren, which have given themselves up into the hand of God, and put themselves in jeopardy of all persecution, their very life despised, and have translated the scripture purely and with good conscience, submitting themselves, and desiring them that can to amend their translation, or (if it please them) to translate it themselves after their best manner, yea, and let them sew to their glosses, as many as they think they can make cleave thereto, and then put other men’s translation out of the way.
Howbeit, though God hath so wrought with them that a e - Ὁ great, part is translated; yet, as it is not enough that the father and the mother have both begotten the child and brought it into this world, except they care for it and bring it up, till it can help itself; even so it is not enough to have translated, though it were the whole scripture into the vulgar and common tongue, except we also brought again the light to understand it by, and expel that dark cloud which the hypocrites have spread over the face of the scripture, to blind the right sense and true meaning thereof. And therefore are there? divers introductions ordained for you, to teach you the profession of your baptism, the only light of the scripture; one upon the epistle of Paul to the Romans, and another called The Pathway into the Scripture.” And for the same cause have I taken in hand to interpret this epistle of St John the evangelist to edify the layman, and to teach him how to read the scripture, and what to seek therein; and that he may have to answer the hypocrites, and io stop their mouths withal.
And first, understand that all the epistles that the apostles wrote are the gospel of Christ, though all that is the gospel be not an epistle. It is called a gospel, that is to say, glad tidings, because it is an open preaching of Christ; and an epistle, because it is sent as a letter, or a bill, to them that are absent.
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