INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
By John Calvin
A New Translation
by
Henry Beveridge, Esq.
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BOOK
FOURTH.
OF THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH
ARGUMENT.
In the former Books an exposition
has been given of the three parts of the Apostles’ Creed concerning God
the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier. It now remains to treat, in this
last Book, of the Church and the Communion of Saints, or of the external means
or helps by which God invites us to fellowship with Christ, and keeps us in it.
The twenty Chapters of which it consists may be conveniently reduced to
three particular heads-viz. I. Of the Church. II. Of the Sacraments. III. Of
Civil Government.
The first head occupies the first thirteen chapters;
but these may all be reduced to four-viz. I. Of the marks of the Church, or the
means by which the Church may be discerned, since it is necessary to cultivate
unity with the Church. This is considered in Chapters 1 and 2-II. Of the rule or
government of the Church. The order of government, Chap. 3. The form in use in
the primitive Church, Chap. 4. The form at present existing in the Papacy, Chap.
5. The primacy of the Pope, Chap. 6. The gradual rise of his usurpation, Chap.
7-III. Of the power of the Church. The power in relation to doctrine as
possessed either by individuals, Chap. 8; or universally as in Councils, Chap.
9. The power of enacting laws, Chap. 10. The extent of ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, Chap. 11-IV. Of the discipline of the Church. The chief use of
discipline, Chap. 12. The abuse of it, Chap. 13.
The second general
head, Of the Sacraments, comprehends three particulars,-I. Of the Sacraments in
general, Chap. 14-II. Of the two Sacraments in particular. Of Baptism, Chap. 15.
Of PÊdobaptism, Chap. 16. Of the Lord’s Supper, Chap. 17. Of
profaning the Lord’s Supper, Chap. 18. Of the five Sacraments falsely so
called, Chap. 19.
The third general head, Of Civil Government. This
considered first generally, and then under the separate heads of Magistrates,
Laws, and People.
INSTITUTES
OF
THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
_________
BOOK
FOURTH.
OF THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH
CHAPTER 1.
OF THE
TRUE CHURCH. DUTY OF CULTIVATING UNITY WITH HER, AS THE MOTHER OF ALL THE
GODLY.
The three divisions of this chapter are,-I. The article of
the Creed concerning the Holy Catholic Church and the Communion of Saints
briefly expounded. The grounds on which the Church claims our reverence, sec.
1-6. II. Of the marks of the Church, sec. 7-9. III. The necessity of cleaving to
the Holy Catholic Church and the Communion of Saints. Refutation of the errors
of the Novatians, Anabaptists, and other schismatics, in regard to this matter,
sec. 10-29.
Sections.
1. The church now to be considered.
With her God has deposited whatever is necessary to faith and good order. A
summary of what is contained in this Book. Why it begins with the Church.
2. In what sense the article of the Creed concerning the Church is to
be understood. Why we should say, “I believe the Church,” not
“I believe in the Church.” The purport of this article. Why the
Church is called Catholic or Universal.
3. What meant by the Communion
of Saints. Whether it is inconsistent with various gifts in the saints, or with
civil order. Uses of this article concerning the Church and the Communion of
Saints. Must the Church be visible in order to our maintaining unity with
her?
4. The name of Mother given to the Church shows how necessary it is
to know her. No salvation out of the Church.
5. The Church is our
mother, inasmuch as God has committed to her the kind office of bringing us up
in the faith until we attain full age. This method of education not to be
despised. Useful to us in two ways. This utility destroyed by those who despise
the pastors and teachers of the Church. The petulance of such despisers
repressed by reason and Scripture. For this education of the Church her children
enjoined to meet in the sanctuary. The abuse of churches both before and since
the advent of Christ. Their proper use.
6. Her ministry effectual, but
not without the Spirit of God. Passages in proof of this.
7. Second part
of the Chapter. Concerning the marks of the Church. In what respect the Church
is invisible. In what respect she is visible.
8. God alone knoweth them
that are his. Still he has given marks to discern his children.
9. These
marks are the ministry of the word, and administration of the sacraments
instituted by Christ. The same rule not to be followed in judging of individuals
and of churches.
10. We must on no account forsake the Church
distinguished by such marks. Those who act otherwise are apostates, deserters of
the truth and of the household of God, deniers of God and Christ, violators of
the mystical marriage.
11. These marks to be the more carefully
observed, because Satan strives to efface them, or to make us revolt from the
Church. The twofold error of despising the true, and submitting to a false
Church.
12. Though the common profession should contain some
corruption, this is not a sufficient reason for forsaking the visible Church.
Some of these corruptions specified. Caution necessary. The duty of the members.
13. The immoral lives of certain professors no ground for abandoning
the Church. Error on this head of the ancient and modern Cathari. Their first
objection. Answer to it from three of our Saviour’s parables.
14.
Second objection. Answer from a consideration of the state of the Corinthian
Church, and the Churches of Galatia.
15. Third objection and answer.
16. The origin of these objections. A description of Schismatics. Their
portraiture by Augustine. A pious counsel respecting these scandals, and a safe
remedy against them.
17. Fourth objection and answer. Answer confirmed
by the divine promises.
18. Another confirmation from the example of
Christ and of the faithful servants of God. The appearance of the Church in the
days of the prophets.
19. Appearance of the Church in the days of
Christ and the apostles, and their immediate followers.
20. Fifth
objection. Answer to the ancient and modern Cathari, and to the Novatians,
concerning the forgiveness of sins
21. Answer to the fifth objection
continued. By the forgiveness of sins believers are enabled to remain
perpetually in the Church.
22. The keys of the Church given for the
express purpose of securing this benefit. A summary of the answer to the fifth
objection.
23. Sixth objection, formerly advanced by the Novatians, and
renewed by the Anabaptists. This error confuted by the Lord’s
Prayer.
24. A second answer, founded on some examples under the Old
Testament.
25. A third answer, confirmed by passages from Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and Solomon. A fourth answer, derived from sacrifices.
26. A
fifth answer, from the New Testament. Some special examples.
27.
General examples. A celebrated passage. The arrangement of the Creed.
28 Objection, that voluntary transgression excludes from the Church.
29. Last objection of the Novatians, founded on the solemn renewal of
repentance required by the Church for more heinous offences. Answer.
1.
IN the last Book, it has been shown, that by the faith of the gospel Christ
becomes ours, and we are made partakers of the salvation and eternal blessedness
procured by him. But as our ignorance and sloth (I may add, the vanity of our
mind) stand in need of external helps, by which faith may be begotten in us, and
may increase and make progress until its consummation, God, in accommodation to
our infirmity, has added such helps, and secured the effectual preaching of the
gospel, by depositing this treasure with the Church. He has appointed pastors
and teachers, by whose lips he might edify his people (Eph. 4:11); he has
invested them with authority, and, in short, omitted nothing that might conduce
to holy consent in the faith, and to right order. In particular, he has
instituted sacraments, which we feel by experience to be most useful helps in
fostering and confirming our faith. For seeing we are shut up in the prison of
the body, and have not yet attained to the rank of angels, God, in accommodation
to our capacity, has in his admirable providence provided a method by which,
though widely separated, we might still draw near to him. Wherefore, due order
requires that we first treat of the Church, of its Government, Orders, and
Power; next, of the Sacraments; and, lastly, of Civil Government;-at the same
time guarding pious readers against the corruptions of the Papacy, by which
Satan has adulterated all that God had appointed for our salvation. I will begin
with the Church, into whose bosom God is pleased to collect his children, not
only that by her aid and ministry they may be nourished so long as they are
babes and children, but may also be guided by her maternal care until they grow
up to manhood, and, finally, attain to the perfection of faith. What God has
thus joined, let not man put asunder (Mark 10:9): to those to whom he is a
Father, the Church must also be a mother. This was true not merely under the
Law, but even now after the advent of Christ; since Paul declares that we are
the children of a new, even a heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:26).
2. When in
the Creed we profess to believe the Church, reference is made not only to the
visible Church of which we are now treating, but also to all the elect of God,
including in the number even those who have departed this life. And,
accordingly, the word used is “believe,” because oftentimes no
difference can be observed between the children of God and the profane, between
his proper flock and the untamed herd. The particle in is often
interpolated, but without any probable ground. I confess, indeed, that it is the
more usual form, and is not unsupported by antiquity, since the Nicene Creed, as
quoted in Ecclesiastical History, adds the preposition. At the same time, we may
perceive from early writers, that the expression received without controversy in
ancient times was to believe “the Church,” and not “in the
Church.” This is not only the expression used by Augustine, and that
ancient writer, whoever he may have been, whose treatise, De Symboli
Expositione, is extant under the name of Cyprian, but they distinctly remark
that the addition of the preposition would make the expression improper, and
they give good grounds for so thinking. We declare that we believe in God, both
because our mind reclines upon him as true, and our confidence is fully
satisfied in him. This cannot be said of the Church, just as it cannot be said
of the forgiveness of sins, or the resurrection of the body. Wherefore, although
I am unwilling to dispute about words, yet I would rather keep to the proper
form, as better fitted to express the thing that is meant, than affect terms by
which the meaning is causelessly obscured. The object of the expression is to
teach us, that though the devil leaves no stone unturned in order to destroy the
grace of Christ, and the enemies of God rush with insane violence in the same
direction, it cannot be extinguished,-the blood of Christ cannot be rendered
barren, and prevented from producing fruit. Hence, regard must be had both to
the secret election and to the internal calling of God, because he alone
“knoweth them that are his” (2 Tim. 2:19); and as Paul expresses it,
holds them as it were enclosed under his seal, although, at the same time, they
wear his insignia, and are thus distinguished from the reprobate. But as they
are a small and despised number, concealed in an immense crowd, like a few
grains of wheat buried among a heap of chaff, to God alone must be left the
knowledge of his Church, of which his secret election forms the foundation.
[3] Nor is it enough to embrace the number
of the elect in thought and intention merely. By the unity of the Church we must
understand a unity into which we feel persuaded that we are truly ingrafted. For
unless we are united with all the other members under Christ our head, no hope
of the future inheritance awaits us. Hence the Church is called Catholic or
Universal (August. Ep. 48), for two or three cannot be invented without dividing
Christ; and this is impossible. All the elect of God are so joined together in
Christ, that as they depend on one head, so they are as it were compacted into
one body, being knit together like its different members; made truly one by
living together under the same Spirit of God in one faith, hope, and charity,
called not only to the same inheritance of eternal life, but to participation in
one God and Christ. For although the sad devastation which everywhere meets our
view may proclaim that no Church remains, let us know that the death of Christ
produces fruit, and that God wondrously preserves his Church, while placing it
as it were in concealment. Thus it was said to Elijah, “Yet I have left me
seven thousand in Israel” (1 Kings 19:18).
3. Moreover, this
article of the Creed relates in some measure to the external Church, that every
one of us must maintain brotherly concord with all the children of God, give due
authority to the Church, and, in short, conduct ourselves as sheep of the flock.
And hence the additional expression, the “communion of saints;” for
this clause, though usually omitted by ancient writers, must not be overlooked,
as it admirably expresses the quality of the Church; just as if it had been
said, that saints are united in the fellowship of Christ on this condition, that
all the blessings which God bestows upon them are mutually communicated to each
other. This, however, is not incompatible with a diversity of graces, for we
know that the gifts of the Spirit are variously distributed; nor is it
incompatible with civil order, by which each is permitted privately to possess
his own means, it being necessary for the preservation of peace among men that
distinct rights of property should exist among them. Still a community is
asserted, such as Luke describes when he says, “The multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32); and Paul, when he
reminds the Ephesians, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are
called in one hope of your calling” (Eph. 4:4). For if they are truly
persuaded that God is the common Father of them all, and Christ their common
head, they cannot but be united together in brotherly love, and mutually impart
their blessings to each other. Then it is of the highest importance for us to
know what benefit thence redounds to us. For when we believe the Church, it is
in order that we may be firmly persuaded that we are its members. In this way
our salvation rests on a foundation so firm and sure, that though the whole
fabric of the world were to give way, it could not be destroyed. First, it
stands with the election of God, and cannot change or fail, any more than his
eternal providence. Next, it is in a manner united with the stability of Christ,
who will no more allow his faithful followers to be dissevered from him, than he
would allow his own members to be torn to pieces. We may add, that so long as we
continue in the bosom of the Church, we are sure that the truth will remain with
us. Lastly, we feel that we have an interest in such promises as these,
“In Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance” (Joel 2:32;
Obad. 17); “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved” (Ps.
46:5). So available is communion with the Church to keep us in the fellowship of
God. In the very term communion there is great consolation; because, while we
are assured that everything which God bestows on his members belongs to us, all
the blessings conferred upon them confirm our hope. But in order to embrace the
unity of the Church in this manner, it is not necessary, as I have observed, to
see it with our eyes, or feel it with our hands. Nay, rather from its being
placed in faith, we are reminded that our thoughts are to dwell upon it, as much
when it escapes our perception as when it openly appears. Nor is our faith the
worse for apprehending what is unknown, since we are not enjoined here to
distinguish between the elect and the reprobate (this belongs not to us, but to
God only), but to feel firmly assured in our minds, that all those who, by the
mercy of God the Father, through the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, have become
partakers with Christ, are set apart as the proper and peculiar possession of
God, and that as we are of the number, we are also partakers of this great
grace.
4. But as it is now our purpose to discourse of the visible
Church, [4] let us learn, from her
single title of Mother, how useful, nay, how necessary the knowledge of her is,
since there is no other means of entering into life unless she conceive us in
the womb and give us birth, unless she nourish us at her breasts, and, in short,
keep us under her charge and government, until, divested of mortal flesh, we
become like the angels (Mt. 22:30). For our weakness does not permit us to leave
the school until we have spent our whole lives as scholars. Moreover, beyond the
pale of the Church no forgiveness of sins, no salvation, can be hoped for, as
Isaiah and Joel testify (Isa. 37:32; Joel 2:32). To their testimony Ezekiel
subscribes, when he declares, “They shall not be in the assembly of my
people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of
Israel” (Ezek. 3:9); as, on the other hand, those who turn to the
cultivation of true piety are said to inscribe their names among the citizens of
Jerusalem. For which reason it is said in the psalm, “Remember me, O Lord,
with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy
salvation; that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the
gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance” (Ps.
106:4, 5). By these words the paternal favour of God and the special evidence of
spiritual life are confined to his peculiar people, and hence the abandonment of
the Church is always fatal.
5. But let us proceed to a full exposition
of this view. Paul says that our Saviour “ascended far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;
and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ” (Eph. 4:10-13). We see that God, who might perfect his people in a
moment, chooses not to bring them to manhood in any other way than by the
education of the Church. We see the mode of doing it expressed; the preaching of
celestial doctrine is committed to pastors. We see that all without exception
are brought into the same order, that they may with meek and docile spirit allow
themselves to be governed by teachers appointed for this purpose. Isaiah had
long before given this as the characteristic of the kingdom of Christ, “My
Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not
depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth
of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever”
(Isa. 59:21). Hence it follows, that all who reject the spiritual food of the
soul divinely offered to them by the hands of the Church, deserve to perish of
hunger and famine. God inspires us with faith, but it is by the instrumentality
of his gospel, as Paul reminds us, “Faith cometh by hearing” (Rom.
10:17). God reserves to himself the power of maintaining it, but it is by the
preaching of the gospel, as Paul also declares, that he brings it forth and
unfolds it. With this view, it pleased him in ancient times that sacred meetings
should be held in the sanctuary, that consent in faith might be nourished by
doctrine proceeding from the lips of the priest. Those magnificent titles, as
when the temple is called God’s rest, his sanctuary, his habitation, and
when he is said to dwell between the cherubims (Ps 32:13, 14; 80:1), are used
for no other purpose than to procure respect, love, reverence, and dignity to
the ministry of heavenly doctrine, to which otherwise the appearance of an
insignificant human being might be in no slight degree derogatory. Therefore, to
teach us that the treasure offered to us in earthen vessels is of inestimable
value (2 Cor. 4:7), God himself appears and, as the author of this ordinance,
requires his presence to be recognised in his own institution. Accordingly,
after forbidding his people to give heed to familiar spirits, wizards, and other
superstitions (Lev. 19:30, 31), he adds, that he will give what ought to be
sufficient for all-namely, that he will never leave them without prophets. For,
as he did not commit his ancient people to angels, but raised up teachers on the
earth to perform a truly angelical office, so he is pleased to instruct us in
the present day by human means. But as anciently he did not confine himself to
the law merely, but added priests as interpreters, from whose lips the people
might inquire after his true meaning, so in the present day he would not only
have us to be attentive to reading, but has appointed masters to give us their
assistance. In this there is a twofold advantage. For, on the one hand, he by an
admirable test proves our obedience when we listen to his ministers just as we
would to himself; while, on the other hand, he consults our weakness in being
pleased to address us after the manner of men by means of interpreters, that he
may thus allure us to himself, instead of driving us away by his thunder. How
well this familiar mode of teaching is suited to us all the godly are aware,
from the dread with which the divine majesty justly inspires them.
Those
who think that the authority of the doctrine is impaired by the insignificance
of the men who are called to teach, betray their ingratitude; for among the many
noble endowments with which God has adorned the human race, one of the most
remarkable is, that he deigns to consecrate the mouths and tongues of men to his
service, making his own voice to be heard in them. Wherefore, let us not on our
part decline obediently to embrace the doctrine of salvation, delivered by his
command and mouth; because, although the power of God is not confined to
external means, he has, however, confined us to his ordinary method of teaching,
which method, when fanatics refuse to observe, they entangle themselves in many
fatal snares. Pride, or fastidiousness, or emulation, induces many to persuade
themselves that they can profit sufficiently by reading and meditating in
private, and thus to despise public meetings, and deem preaching superfluous.
But since as much as in them lies they loose or burst the sacred bond of unity,
none of them escapes the just punishment of this impious divorce, but become
fascinated with pestiferous errors, and the foulest delusions. Wherefore, in
order that the pure simplicity of the faith may flourish among us, let us not
decline to use this exercise of piety, which God by his institution of it has
shown to be necessary, and which he so highly recommends. None, even among the
most petulant of men, would venture to say, that we are to shut our ears against
God, but in all ages prophets and pious teachers have had a difficult contest to
maintain with the ungodly, whose perverseness cannot submit to the yoke of being
taught by the lips and ministry of men. This is just the same as if they were to
destroy the impress of God as exhibited to us in doctrine. For no other reason
were believers anciently enjoined to seek the face of God in the sanctuary (Ps.
105:4) (an injunction so often repeated in the Law), than because the doctrine
of the Law, and the exhortations of the prophets, were to them a living image of
God. Thus Paul declares, that in his preaching the glory of God shone in the
face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). The more detestable are the apostates who
delight in producing schisms in churches, just as if they wished to drive the
sheep from the fold, and throw them into the jaws of wolves. Let us hold,
agreeably to the passage we quoted from Paul, that the Church can only be
edified by external preaching, and that there is no other bond by which the
saints can be kept together than by uniting with one consent to observe the
order which God has appointed in his Church for learning and making progress.
For this end, especially, as I have observed, believers were anciently enjoined
under the Law to flock together to the sanctuary; for when Moses speaks of the
habitation of God, he at the same time calls it the place of the name of God,
the place where he will record his name (Exod. 20:24); thus plainly teaching
that no use could be made of it without the doctrine of godliness. And there can
be no doubt that, for the same reason, David complains with great bitterness of
soul, that by the tyrannical cruelty of his enemies he was prevented from
entering the tabernacle (Ps. 84). To many the complaint seems childish, as if no
great loss were sustained, not much pleasure lost, by exclusion from the temple,
provided other amusements were enjoyed. David, however, laments this one
deprivation, as filling him with anxiety and sadness, tormenting, and almost
destroying him. This he does because there is nothing on which believers set a
higher value than on this aid, by which God gradually raises his people to
heaven. For it is to be observed, that he always exhibited himself to the holy
patriarchs in the mirror of his doctrine in such a way as to make their
knowledge spiritual. Whence the temple is not only styled his face, but also,
for the purpose of removing all superstition, is termed his footstool (Ps.
132:7; 99:5). Herein is the unity of the faith happily realised, when all, from
the highest to the lowest, aspire to the head. All the temples which the
Gentiles built to God with a different intention were a mere profanation of his
worship,-a profanation into which the Jews also fell, though not with equal
grossness. With this Stephen upbraids them in the words of Isaiah when he says,
“Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith
the Prophet, Heaven is my throne,” &c. (Acts 7:48). For God only
consecrates temples to their legitimate use by his word. And when we rashly
attempt anything without his order, immediately setting out from a bad
principle, we introduce adventitious fictions, by which evil is propagated
without measure. It was inconsiderate in Xerxes when, by the advice of the
magians, he burnt or pulled down all the temples of Greece, because he thought
it absurd that God, to whom all things ought to be free and open, should be
enclosed by walls and roofs, as if it were not in the power of God in a manner
to descend to us, that he may be near to us, and yet neither change his place
nor affect us by earthly means, but rather, by a kind of vehicles, raise us
aloft to his own heavenly glory, which, with its immensity, fills all things,
and in height is above the heavens.
6. Moreover, as at this time there
is a great dispute as to the efficacy of the ministry, some extravagantly
overrating its dignity, and others erroneously maintaining, that what is
peculiar to the Spirit of God is transferred to mortal man, when we suppose that
ministers and teachers penetrate to the mind and heart, so as to correct the
blindness of the one, and the hardness of the other; it is necessary to place
this controversy on its proper footing. The arguments on both sides will be
disposed of without trouble, by distinctly attending to the passages in which
God, the author of preaching, connects his Spirit with it, and then promises a
beneficial result; or, on the other hand, to the passages in which God,
separating himself from external means, claims for himself alone both the
commencement and the whole course of faith. The office of the second Elias was,
as Malachi declares, to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6). Christ
declares that he sent the Apostles to produce fruit from his labours (John
15:16). What this fruit is Peter briefly defines, when he says that we are
begotten again of incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 1:23). Hence Paul glories, that by
means of the Gospel he had begotten the Corinthians, who were the seals of his
apostleship (1 Cor. 4:15); moreover, that his was not a ministry of the letter,
which only sounded in the ear, but that the effectual agency of the Spirit was
given to him, in order that his doctrine might not be in vain (1 Cor. 9:2; 2
Cor. 3:6). In this sense he elsewhere declares that his Gospel was not in word,
but in power (1 Thess. 1:5). He also affirms that the Galatians received the
Spirit by the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2). In short, in several passages he not
only makes himself a fellow-worker with God, but attributes to himself the
province of bestowing salvation (1 Cor. 3:9). All these things he certainly
never uttered with the view of attributing to himself one iota apart from God,
as he elsewhere briefly explains. “For this cause also thank we God
without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us,
ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God,
which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).
Again, in another place, “He that wrought effectually in Peter to the
apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the
Gentiles” (Gal. 2:8). And that he allows no more to ministers is obvious
from other passages. “So then neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (1 Cor. 3:7).
Again, “I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace
of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). And it is indeed necessary to
keep these sentences in view, since God, in ascribing to himself the
illumination of the mind and renewal of the heart, reminds us that it is
sacrilege for man to claim any part of either to himself. Still every one who
listens with docility to the ministers whom God appoints, will know by the
beneficial result, that for good reason God is pleased with this method of
teaching, and for good reason has laid believers under this modest yoke.
7. The judgment which ought to be formed concerning the visible Church
which comes under our observation, must, I think, be sufficiently clear from
what has been said. I have observed that the Scriptures speak of the Church in
two ways. Sometimes when they speak of the Church they mean the Church as it
really is before God-the Church into which none are admitted but those who by
the gift of adoption are sons of God, and by the sanctification of the Spirit
true members of Christ. In this case it not only comprehends the saints who
dwell on the earth, but all the elect who have existed from the beginning of the
world. Often, too, by the name of Church is designated the whole body of mankind
scattered throughout the world, who profess to worship one God and Christ, who
by baptism are initiated into the faith; by partaking of the Lord’s Supper
profess unity in true doctrine and charity, agree in holding the word of the
Lord, and observe the ministry which Christ has appointed for the preaching of
it. In this Church there is a very large mixture of hypocrites, who have nothing
of Christ but the name and outward appearance: of ambitious, avaricious,
envious, evil-speaking men, some also of impurer lives, who are tolerated for a
time, either because their guilt cannot be legally established, or because due
strictness of discipline is not always observed. Hence, as it is necessary to
believe the invisible Church, [5]
which is manifest to the eye of God only, so we are also enjoined to regard this
Church which is so called with reference to man, and to cultivate its communion.
8. Accordingly, inasmuch as it was of importance to us to recognise it,
the Lord has distinguished it by certain marks, and as it were symbols. It is,
indeed, the special prerogative of God to know those who are his, as Paul
declares in the passage already quoted (2 Tim. 2:19). And doubtless it has been
so provided as a check on human rashness, the experience of every day reminding
us how far his secret judgments surpass our apprehension. For even those who
seemed most abandoned, and who had been completely despaired of, are by his
goodness recalled to life, while those who seemed most stable often fall. Hence,
as Augustine says, “In regard to the secret predestination of God, there
are very many sheep without, and very many wolves within” (August. Hom. in
Joan. 45). For he knows, and has his mark on those who know neither him nor
themselves. Of those again who openly bear his badge, his eyes alone see who of
them are unfeignedly holy, and will persevere even to the end, which alone is
the completion of salvation. On the other hand, foreseeing that it was in some
degree expedient for us to know who are to be regarded by us as his sons, he has
in this matter accommodated himself to our capacity. But as here full certainty
was not necessary, he has in its place substituted the judgment of charity, by
which we acknowledge all as members of the Church who by confession of faith,
regularity of conduct, and participation in the sacraments, unite with us in
acknowledging the same God and Christ.
[6] The knowledge of his body, inasmuch as
he knew it to be more necessary for our salvation, he has made known to us by
surer marks.
9. Hence the form of the Church appears and stands forth
conspicuous to our view. Wherever we see the word of God sincerely preached and
heard, wherever we see the sacraments administered according to the institution
of Christ, there we cannot have any doubt that the Church of God has some
existence, since his promise cannot fail, “Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20). But
that we may have a clear summary of this subject, we must proceed by the
following steps:-The Church universal is the multitude collected out of all
nations, who, though dispersed and far distant from each other, agree in one
truth of divine doctrine, and are bound together by the tie of a common
religion. In this way it comprehends single churches, which exist in different
towns and villages, according to the wants of human society, so that each of
them justly obtains the name and authority of the Church; and also comprehends
single individuals, who by a religious profession are accounted to belong to
such churches, although they are in fact aliens from the Church, but have not
been cut off by a public decision. There is, however, a slight difference in the
mode of judging of individuals and of churches. For it may happen in practice
that those whom we deem not altogether worthy of the fellowship of believers, we
yet ought to treat as brethren, and regard as believers, on account of the
common consent of the Church in tolerating and bearing with them in the body of
Christ. Such persons we do not approve by our suffrage as members of the Church,
but we leave them the place which they hold among the people of God, until they
are legitimately deprived of it. With regard to the general body we must feel
differently; if they have the ministry of the word, and honour the
administration of the sacraments, they are undoubtedly entitled to be ranked
with the Church, because it is certain that these things are not without a
beneficial result. Thus we both maintain the Church universal in its unity,
which malignant minds have always been eager to dissever, and deny not due
authority to lawful assemblies distributed as circumstances require.
[7]
10. We have said that the
symbols by which the Church is discerned are the preaching of the word and the
observance of the sacraments, for these cannot anywhere exist without producing
fruit and prospering by the blessing of God. I say not that wherever the word is
preached fruit immediately appears; but that in every place where it is
received, and has a fixed abode, it uniformly displays its efficacy. Be this as
it may, when the preaching of the gospel is reverently heard, and the sacraments
are not neglected, there for the time the face of the Church appears without
deception or ambiguity and no man may with impunity spurn her authority, or
reject her admonitions, or resist her counsels, or make sport of her censures,
far less revolt from her, and violate her unity (see Chap. 2 sec. 1, 10, and
Chap. 8 sec. 12). For such is the value which the Lord sets on the communion of
his Church, that all who contumaciously alienate themselves from any Christian
society, in which the true ministry of his word and sacraments is maintained, he
regards as deserters of religion. So highly does he recommend her authority,
that when it is violated he considers that his own authority is impaired. For
there is no small weight in the designation given to her, “the house of
God,” “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). By
these words Paul intimates, that to prevent the truth from perishing in the
world. the Church is its faithful guardian, because God has been pleased to
preserve the pure preaching of his word by her instrumentality, and to exhibit
himself to us as a parent while he feeds us with spiritual nourishment, and
provides whatever is conducive to our salvation. Moreover, no mean praise is
conferred on the Church when she is said to have been chosen and set apart by
Christ as his spouse, “not having spot or wrinkle, or any such
thing” (Eph. 5:27), as “his body, the fulness of him that filleth
all in all” (Eph. 1:23). Whence it follows, that revolt from the Church is
denial of God and Christ. Wherefore there is the more necessity to beware of a
dissent so iniquitous; for seeing by it we aim as far as in us lies at the
destruction of God’s truth, we deserve to be crushed by the full thunder
of his anger. No crime can be imagined more atrocious than that of
sacrilegiously and perfidiously violating the sacred marriage which the only
begotten Son of God has condescended to contract with us.
11. Wherefore
let these marks be carefully impressed upon our minds, and let us estimate them
as in the sight of the Lord. There is nothing on which Satan is more intent than
to destroy and efface one or both of them-at one time to delete and abolish
these marks, and thereby destroy the true and genuine distinction of the Church;
at another, to bring them into contempt, and so hurry us into open revolt from
the Church. To his wiles it was owing that for several ages the pure preaching
of the word disappeared, and now, with the same dishonest aim, he labours to
overthrow the ministry, which, however, Christ has so ordered in his Church,
that if it is removed the whole edifice must fall. How perilous, then, nay, how
fatal the temptation, when we even entertain a thought of separating ourselves
from that assembly in which are beheld the signs and badges which the Lord has
deemed sufficient to characterise his Church! We see how great caution should be
employed in both respects. That we may not be imposed upon by the name of
Church, every congregation which claims the name must be brought to that test as
to a Lydian stone. If it holds the order instituted by the Lord in word and
sacraments there will be no deception; we may safely pay it the honour due to a
church: on the other hand, if it exhibit itself without word and sacraments, we
must in this case be no less careful to avoid the imposture than we were to shun
pride and presumption in the other.
12. When we say that the pure
ministry of the word and pure celebration of the sacraments is a fit pledge and
earnest, so that we may safely recognise a church in every society in which both
exist, our meaning is, that we are never to discard it so long as these remain,
though it may otherwise teem with numerous faults. Nay, even in the
administration of word and sacraments defects may creep in which ought not to
alienate us from its communion. For all the heads of true doctrine are not in
the same position. Some are so necessary to be known, that all must hold them to
be fixed and undoubted as the proper essentials of religion: for instance, that
God is one, that Christ is God, and the Son of God, that our salvation depends
on the mercy of God, and the like. Others, again, which are the subject of
controversy among the churches, do not destroy the unity of the faith; for why
should it be regarded as a ground of dissension between churches, if one,
without any spirit of contention or perverseness in dogmatising, hold that the
soul on quitting the body flies to heaven, and another, without venturing to
speak positively as to the abode, holds it for certain that it lives with the
Lord?51[6] The words of the Apostle
are, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in
anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you”
(Phil. 3:15). Does he not sufficiently intimate that a difference of opinion as
to these matters which are not absolutely necessary, ought not to be a ground of
dissension among Christians? The best thing, indeed, is to be perfectly agreed,
but seeing there is no man who is not involved in some mist of ignorance, we
must either have no church at all, or pardon delusion in those things of which
one may be ignorant, without violating the substance of religion and forfeiting
salvation. Here, however, I have no wish to patronise even the minutest errors,
as if I thought it right to foster them by flattery or connivance; what I say
is, that we are not on account of every minute difference to abandon a church,
provided it retain sound and unimpaired that doctrine in which the safety of
piety consists,51[7] and keep the use
of the sacraments instituted by the Lord. Meanwhile, if we strive to reform what
is offensive, we act in the discharge of duty. To this effect are the words of
Paul, “If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first
hold his peace” (1 Cor. 14:30). From this it is evident that to each
member of the Church, according to his measure of grace, the study of public
edification has been assigned, provided it be done decently and in order. In
other words, we must neither renounce the communion of the Church, nor,
continuing in it, disturb peace and discipline when duly
arranged.51[8]
13. Our
indulgence ought to extend much farther in tolerating imperfection of conduct.
Here there is great danger of falling, and Satan employs all his machinations to
ensnare us. For there always have been persons who, imbued with a false
persuasion of absolute holiness, as if they had already become a kind of
a”rial spirits,51[9] spurn the
society of all in whom they see that something human still remains. Such of old
were the Cathari and the Donatists, who were similarly infatuated. Such in the
present day are some of the Anabaptists, who would be thought to have made
superior progress. Others, again, sin in this respect, not so much from that
insane pride as from inconsiderate zeal. Seeing that among those to whom the
gospel is preached, the fruit produced is not in accordance with the doctrine,
they forthwith conclude that there no church exists. The offence is indeed well
founded, and it is one to which in this most unhappy age we give far too much
occasion. It is impossible to excuse our accursed sluggishness, which the Lord
will not leave unpunished, as he is already beginning sharply to chastise us.
Woe then to us who, by our dissolute licence of wickedness, cause weak
consciences to be wounded! Still those of whom we have spoken sin in their turn,
by not knowing how to set bounds to their offence. For where the Lord requires
mercy they omit it, and give themselves up to immoderate severity. Thinking
there is no church where there is not complete purity and integrity of conduct,
they, through hatred of wickedness, withdraw from a genuine church, while they
think they are shunning the company of the ungodly. They allege that the Church
of God is holy. But that they may at the same time understand that it contains a
mixture of good and bad, let them hear from the lips of our Saviour that parable
in which he compares the Church to a net in which all kinds of fishes are taken,
but not separated until they are brought ashore. Let them hear it compared to a
field which, planted with good seed, is by the fraud of an enemy mingled with
tares, and is not freed of them until the harvest is brought into the barn. Let
them hear, in fine, that it is a thrashing-floor in which the collected wheat
lies concealed under the chaff, until, cleansed by the fanners and the sieve, it
is at length laid up in the granary. If the Lord declares that the Church will
labour under the defect of being burdened with a multitude of wicked until the
day of judgment, it is in vain to look for a church altogether free from blemish
(Mt. 13).
14. They exclaim that it is impossible to tolerate the vice
which everywhere stalks abroad like a pestilence. What if the apostle’s
sentiment applies here also? Among the Corinthians it was not a few that erred,
but almost the whole body had become tainted; there was not one species of sin
merely, but a multitude, and those not trivial errors, but some of them
execrable crimes. There was not only corruption in manners, but also in
doctrine. What course was taken by the holy apostle, in other words, by the
organ of the heavenly Spirit, by whose testimony the Church stands and falls?
Does he seek separation from them? Does he discard them from the kingdom of
Christ? Does he strike them with the thunder of a final anathema? He not only
does none of these things, but he acknowledges and heralds them as a Church of
Christ, and a society of saints. If the Church remains among the Corinthians,
where envyings, divisions, and contentions rage; where quarrels, lawsuits, and
avarice prevail; where a crime, which even the Gentiles would execrate, is
openly approved; where the name of Paul, whom they ought to have honoured as a
father, is petulantly assailed; where some hold the resurrection of the dead in
derision, though with it the whole gospel must fall; where the gifts of God are
made subservient to ambition, not to charity; where many things are done neither
decently nor in order:52[0] If there
the Church still remains, simply because the ministration of word and sacrament
is not rejected, who will presume to deny the title of church to those to whom a
tenth part of these crimes cannot be imputed? How, I ask, would those who act so
morosely against present churches have acted to the Galatians, who had done all
but abandon the gospel (Gal. 1:6), and yet among them the same apostle found
churches?52[1]
15. They also
object, that Paul sharply rebukes the Corinthians for permitting an heinous
offender in their communion, and then lays down a general sentence, by which he
declares it unlawful even to eat bread with a man of impure life (1 Cor. 5:11,
12). Here they exclaim, If it is not lawful to eat ordinary bread, how can it be
lawful to eat the Lord’s bread? I admit, that it is a great disgrace if
dogs and swine are admitted among the children of God; much more, if the sacred
body of Christ is prostituted to them. And, indeed, when churches are well
regulated, they will not bear the wicked in their bosom, nor will they admit the
worthy and unworthy indiscriminately to that sacred feast. But because pastors
are not always sedulously vigilant, are sometimes also more indulgent than they
ought, or are prevented from acting so strictly as they could wish; the
consequence is, that even the openly wicked are not always excluded from the
fellowship of the saints. This I admit to be a vice, and I have no wish to
extenuate it, seeing that Paul sharply rebukes it in the Corinthians. But
although the Church fail in her duty, it does not therefore follow that every
private individual is to decide the question of separation for himself. I deny
not that it is the duty of a pious man to withdraw from all private intercourse
with the wicked, and not entangle himself with them by any voluntary tie; but it
is one thing to shun the society of the wicked, and another to renounce the
communion of the Church through hatred of them. Those who think it sacrilege to
partake the Lord’s bread with the wicked, are in this more rigid than
Paul.52[2] For when he exhorts us to
pure and holy communion, he does not require that we should examine others, or
that every one should examine the whole church, but that each should examine
himself (1 Cor. 11:28, 29). If it were unlawful to communicate with the
unworthy, Paul would certainly have ordered us to take heed that there were no
individual in the whole body by whose impurity we might be defiled, but now that
he only requires each to examine himself, he shows that it does no harm to us
though some who are unworthy present themselves along with us. To the same
effect he afterwards adds, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself.” He says not to others, but
to himself. And justly; for the right of admitting or excluding ought not
to be left to the decision of individuals. Cognisance of this point, which
cannot be exercised without due order, as shall afterwards be more fully shown,
belongs to the whole church. It would therefore be unjust to hold any private
individual as polluted by the unworthiness of another, whom he neither can nor
ought to keep back from communion.
16. Still, however, even the good
are sometimes affected by this inconsiderate zeal for righteousness, though we
shall find that this excessive moroseness is more the result of pride and a
false idea of sanctity, than genuine sanctity itself, and true zeal for it.
Accordingly, those who are the most forward, and, as it were, leaders in
producing revolt from the Church, have, for the most part, no other motive than
to display their own superiority by despising all other men. Well and wisely,
therefore, does Augustine say, “Seeing that pious reason and the mode of
ecclesiastical discipline ought specially to regard the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace, which the Apostle enjoins us to keep, by bearing with one
another (for if we keep it not, the application of medicine is not only
superfluous, but pernicious, and therefore proves to be no medicine); those bad
sons who, not from hatred of other men’s iniquities, but zeal for their
own contentions, attempt altogether to draw away, or at least to divide, weak
brethren ensnared by the glare of their name, while swollen with pride, stuffed
with petulance, insidiously calumnious, and turbulently seditious, use the cloak
of a rigorous severity, that they may not seem devoid of the light of truth, and
pervert to sacrilegious schism, and purposes of excision, those things which are
enjoined in the Holy Scriptures (due regard being had to sincere love, and the
unity of peace), to correct a brother’s faults by the appliance of a
moderate cure” (August. Cont. Parmen. cap. 1). To the pious and placid his
advice is, mercifully to correct what they can, and to bear patiently with what
they cannot correct, in love lamenting and mourning until God either reform or
correct, or at the harvest root up the tares, and scatter the chaff (Ibid. cap.
2). Let all the godly study to provide themselves with these weapons, lest,
while they deem themselves strenuous and ardent defenders of righteousness, they
revolt from the kingdom of heaven, which is the only kingdom of righteousness.
For as God has been pleased that the communion of his Church shall be maintained
in this external society, any one who, from hatred of the ungodly, violates the
bond of this society, enters on a downward course, in which he incurs great
danger of cutting himself off from the communion of saints. Let them reflect,
that in a numerous body there are several who may escape their notice, and yet
are truly righteous and innocent in the eyes of the Lord. Let them reflect, that
of those who seem diseased, there are many who are far from taking pleasure or
flattering themselves in their faults, and who, ever and anon aroused by a
serious fear of the Lord, aspire to greater integrity. Let them reflect, that
they have no right to pass judgment on a man for one act, since the holiest
sometimes make the most grievous fall. Let them reflect, that in the ministry of
the word and participation of the sacraments, the power to collect the Church is
too great to be deprived of all its efficacy, by the fault of some ungodly men.
Lastly, let them reflect, that in estimating the Church, divine is of more force
than human judgment.
17. Since they also argue that there is good reason
for the Church being called holy, it is necessary to consider what the holiness
is in which it excels, lest by refusing to acknowledge any church, save one that
is completely perfect, we leave no church at all. It is true, indeed, as Paul
says, that Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph.
5:25-27). Nevertheless, it is true, that the Lord is daily smoothing its
wrinkles, and wiping away its spots. Hence it follows, that its holiness is not
yet perfect. Such, then, is the holiness of the Church: it makes daily progress,
but is not yet perfect; it daily advances, but as yet has not reached the goal,
as will elsewhere be more fully explained. Therefore, when the Prophets foretel,
“Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through
her any more;”-”It shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean
shall not pass over it” (Joel 3:17; Isa. 35:8), let us not understand it
as if no blemish remained in the members of the Church: but only that with there
whole heart they aspire after holiness and perfect purity: and hence, that
purity which they have not yet fully attained is, by the kindness of God,
attributed to them. And though the indications of such a kind of holiness
existing among men are too rare, we must understand, that at no period since the
world began has the Lord been without his Church, nor ever shall be till the
final consummation of all things.
[8] For although, at the very outset, the
whole human race was vitiated and corrupted by the sin of Adam, yet of this kind
of polluted mass he always sanctifies some vessels to honour, that no age may be
left without experience of his mercy. This he has declared by sure promises,
such as the following: “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have
sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up
thy throne to all generations” (Ps. 89:3, 4). “The Lord hath chosen
Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever; here will
I dwell” (Ps. 132:13, 14). “Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the
sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a
light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of
hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord,
then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for
ever” (Jer. 31:35, 36).
18. On this head, Christ himself, his
apostles, and almost all the prophets, have furnished us with examples. Fearful
are the descriptions in which Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Habakkuk, and others,
deplore the diseases of the Church of Jerusalem. In the people, the rulers, and
the priests, corruption prevailed to such a degree, that Isaiah hesitates not to
liken Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa. 1:10). Religion was partly despised,
partly adulterated, while in regard to morals, we everywhere meet with accounts
of theft, robbery, perfidy, murder, and similar crimes. The prophets, however,
did not therefore either form new churches for themselves, or erect new altars
on which they might have separate sacrifices, but whatever their countrymen
might be, reflecting that the Lord had deposited his word with them, and
instituted the ceremonies by which he was then worshipped, they stretched out
pure hands to him, though amid the company of the ungodly. Certainly, had they
thought that they thereby contracted any pollution, they would have died a
hundred deaths sooner than suffered themselves to be dragged thither. Nothing,
therefore, prevented them from separating themselves, but a desire of preserving
unity. But if the holy prophets felt no obligation to withdraw from the Church
on account of the very numerous and heinous crimes, not of one or two
individuals, but almost of the whole people, we arrogate too much to ourselves,
if we presume forthwith to withdraw from the communion of the Church, because
the lives of all accord not with our judgment, or even with the Christian
profession.
19. Then what kind of age was that of Christ and the
apostles? Yet neither could the desperate impiety of the Pharisees, nor the
dissolute licentiousness of manners which everywhere prevailed, prevent them
from using the same sacred rites with the people, and meeting in one common
temple for the public exercises of religion. And why so, but just because they
knew that those who joined in these sacred rites with a pure conscience were not
at all polluted by the society of the wicked? If any one is little moved by
prophets and apostles, let him at least defer to the authority of Christ. Well,
therefore, does Cyprian say, “Although tares or unclean vessels are seen
in the Church, that is no reason why we ourselves should withdraw from the
Church; we must only labour that we may be able to be wheat; we must give our
endeavour, and strive as far as we can, to be vessels of gold or silver. But to
break the earthen vessels belongs to the Lord alone, to whom a rod of iron has
been given: let no one arrogate to himself what is peculiar to the Son alone,
and think himself sufficient to winnow the floor and cleanse the chaff, and
separate all the tares by human judgment. What depraved zeal thus assumes to
itself is proud obstinacy and sacrilegious presumption” (Cyprian, Lib. 3
Ep. 5). Let both points, therefore, be regarded as fixed; first, that
there is no excuse for him who spontaneously abandons the external communion of
a church in which the word of God is preached and the sacraments are
administered; secondly, that notwithstanding of the faults of a few or of
many, there is nothing to prevent us from there duly professing our faith in the
ordinances instituted by God, because a pious conscience is not injured by the
unworthiness of another, whether he be a pastor or a private individual; and
sacred rites are not less pure and salutary to a man who is holy and upright,
from being at the same time handled by the impure.
20. Their moroseness
and pride proceed even to greater lengths. Refusing to acknowledge any church
that is not pure from the minutest blemish, they take offence at sound teachers
for exhorting believers to make progress, and so teaching them to groan during
their whole lives under the burden of sin, and flee for pardon. For they preten
[3] that in this way believers are
led away from perfection. I admit that we are not to labour feebly or coldly in
urging perfection, far less to desist from urging it; but I hold that it is a
device of the devil to fill our minds with a confident belief of it while we are
still in our course. Accordingly, in the Creed forgiveness of sins is
appropriately subjoined to belief as to the Church, because none obtain
forgiveness but those who are citizens, and of the household of the Church, as
we read in the Prophet (Is. 33:24). The first place, therefore, should be given
to the building of the heavenly Jerusalem, in which God afterwards is pleased to
wipe away the iniquity of all who betake themselves to it. I say, however, that
the Church must first be built; not that there can be any church without
forgiveness of sins, but because the Lord has not promised his mercy save in the
communion of saints. Therefore, our first entrance into the Church and the
kingdom of God is by forgiveness of sins, without which we have no covenant nor
union with God. For thus he speaks by the Prophet, “In that day will I
make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of
heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow,
and the sword, and the battle, out of the earth, and will make them to lie down
safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in
mercies” (Hos. 2:18, 19). We see in what way the Lord reconciles us to
himself by his mercy. So in another passage, where he foretells that the people
whom he had scattered in anger will again be gathered together, “I will
cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me”
(Jer. 33:8). Wherefore, our initiation into the fellowship of the Church is, by
the symbol of ablution, to teach us that we have no admission into the family of
God, unless by his goodness our impurities are previously washed away.
21. Nor by remission of sins does the Lord only once for all elect and
admit us into the Church, but by the same means he preserves and defends us in
it. For what would it avail us to receive a pardon of which we were afterwards
to have no use? That the mercy of the Lord would be vain and delusive if only
granted once, all the godly can bear witness; for there is none who is not
conscious, during his whole life, of many infirmities which stand in need of
divine mercy. And truly it is not without cause that the Lord promises this gift
specially to his own household, nor in vain that he orders the same message of
reconciliation to be daily delivered to them. Wherefore, as during our whole
lives we carry about with us the remains of sin, we could not continue in the
Church one single moment were we not sustained by the uninterrupted grace of God
in forgiving our sins. On the other hand, the Lord has called his people to
eternal salvation, and therefore they ought to consider that pardon for their
sins is always ready. Hence let us surely hold that if we are admitted and
ingrafted into the body of the Church, the forgiveness of sins has been
bestowed, and is daily bestowed on us, in divine liberality, through the
intervention of Christ’s merits, and the sanctification of the Spirit.
22. To impart this blessing to us, the keys have been given to the
Church (Mt. 16:19; 18:18). For when Christ gave the command to the apostles, and
conferred the power of forgiving sins, he not merely intended that they should
loose the sins of those who should be converted from impiety to the faith of
Christ;52[4] but, moreover, that
they should perpetually perform this office among believers. This Paul teaches,
when he says that the embassy of reconciliation has been committed to the
ministers of the Church, that they may ever and anon in the name of Christ
exhort the people to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20). Therefore, in the
communion of saints our sins are constantly forgiven by the ministry of the
Church, when presbyters or bishops, to whom the office has been committed,
confirm pious consciences, in the hope of pardon and forgiveness by the promises
of the gospel, and that as well in public as in private, as the case requires.
For there are many who, from their infirmity, stand in need of special
pacification, and Paul declares that he testified of the grace of Christ not
only in the public assembly, but from house to house, reminding each
individually of the doctrine of salvation (Acts 20:20, 21). Three things are
here to be observed. First, Whatever be the holiness which the children of God
possess, it is always under the condition, that so long as they dwell in a
mortal body, they cannot stand before God without forgiveness of sins. Secondly,
This benefit is so peculiar to the Church, that we cannot enjoy it unless we
continue in the communion of the Church. Thirdly, It is dispensed to us by the
ministers and pastors of the Church, either in the preaching of the Gospel or
the administration of the Sacraments, and herein is especially manifested the
power of the keys, which the Lord has bestowed on the company of the faithful.
Accordingly, let each of us consider it to be his duty to seek forgiveness of
sins only where the Lord has placed it. Of the public reconciliation which
relates to discipline, we shall speak at the proper place.
23. But since
those frantic spirits of whom I have spoken attempt to rob the Church of this
the only anchor of salvation, consciences must be more firmly strengthened
against this pestilential opinion. The Novatians, in ancient times, agitated the
Churches with this dogma, but in our day, not unlike the Novatians are some of
the Anabaptists, who have fallen into the same delirious dreams. For they
pretend that in baptism, the people of God are regenerated to a pure and
angelical life, which is not polluted by any carnal defilements. But if a man
sin after baptism, they leave him nothing except the inexorable judgment of God.
In short, to the sinner who has lapsed after receiving grace they give no hope
of pardon, because they admit no other forgiveness of sins save that by which we
are first regenerated. But although no falsehood is more clearly refuted by
Scripture, yet as these men find means of imposition (as Novatus also of old had
very many followers), let us briefly show how much they rave, to the destruction
both of themselves and others. In the first place, since by the command of our
Lord the saints daily repeat this prayer, “Forgive us our debts”
(Mt. 6:12), they confess that they are debtors. Nor do they ask in vain; for the
Lord has only enjoined them to ask what he will give. Nay, while he has declared
that the whole prayer will be heard by his Father, he has sealed this absolution
with a peculiar promise. What more do we wish? The Lord requires of his saints
confession of sins during their whole lives, and that without ceasing, and
promises pardon. How presumptuous, then, to exempt them from sin, or when they
have stumbled, to exclude them altogether from grace? Then whom does he enjoin
us to pardon seventy and seven times? Is it not our brethren? (Mt. 18:22) And
why has he so enjoined but that we may imitate his clemency? He therefore
pardons not once or twice only, but as often as, under a sense of our faults, we
feel alarmed, and sighing call upon him.
24. And to begin almost with
the very first commencement of the Church: the Patriarchs had been circumcised,
admitted to a participation in the covenant, and doubtless instructed by their
father’s care in righteousness and integrity, when they conspired to
commit fratricide. The crime was one which the most abandoned robbers would have
abominated.52[5] At length, softened
by the remonstrances of Judah, they sold him; this also was intolerable cruelty.
Simeon and Levi took a nefarious revenge on the sons of Sychem, one, too,
condemned by the judgment of their father. Reuben, with execrable lust, defiled
his father’s bed. Judah, when seeking to commit whoredom, sinned against
the law of nature with his daughter-in-law. But so far are they from being
expunged from the chosen people, that they are rather raised to be its heads.
What, moreover, of David? when on the throne of righteousness, with what
iniquity did he make way for blind lust, by the shedding of innocent blood? He
had already been regenerated, and, as one of the regenerated, received
distinguished approbation from the Lord. But he perpetrated a crime at which
even the Gentiles would have been horrified, and yet obtained pardon. And not to
dwell on special examples, all the promises of divine mercy extant in the Law
and the Prophets are so many proofs that the Lord is ready to forgive the
offences of his people. For why does Moses promise a future period, when the
people who had fallen into rebellion should return to the Lord? “Then the
Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will
return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath
scattered thee” (Deut. 30:3).
25. But I am unwilling to begin an
enumeration which never could be finished. The prophetical books are filled with
similar promises, offering mercy to a people covered with innumerable
transgressions. What crime is more heinous than rebellion? It is styled divorce
between God and the Church, and yet, by his goodness, it is surmounted. They
say, “If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another
man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly
polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again
unto me, saith the Lord.” “Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith
the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful,
saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever” (Jer. 3:1, 12). And
surely he could not have a different feeling who declares, “I have no
pleasure in the death of him that dieth;” “Wherefore turn
yourselves, and live ye” (Ezek. 18:23, 32). Accordingly, when Solomon
dedicated the temple, one of the uses for which it was destined was, that
prayers offered up for the pardon of sins might there be heard. “If they
sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with
them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto
the land of the enemy, far or near; yet if they shall bethink themselves in the
land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto
thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and
have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with
all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies which led
them away captive, and pray unto thee towards their land, which thou gavest unto
their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built
for thy name: then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy
dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people that have
sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed
against thee” (1 Kings 8:46-50). Nor in vain in the Law did God ordain a
daily sacrifice for sins. Had he not foreseen that his people were constantly to
labour under the disease of sin, he never would have appointed these remedies.
26. Did the advent of Christ, by which the fulness of grace was
displayed, deprive believers of this privilege of supplicating for the pardon of
their sins? If they offended against the Lord, were they not to obtain any
mercy? What were it but to say that Christ came not for the salvation, but for
the destruction of his people, if the divine indulgence in pardoning sin, which
was constantly provided for the saints under the Old Testament, is now declared
to have been taken away? But if we give credit to the Scriptures, when
distinctly proclaiming that in Christ alone the grace and loving-kindness of the
Lord have fully appeared, the riches of his mercy been poured out,
reconciliation between God and man accomplished (Tit. 2:11; 3:4; 2 Tim. 1:9,
10), let us not doubt that the clemency of our heavenly Father, instead of being
cut off or curtailed, is in much greater exuberance. Nor are proofs of this
wanting. Peter, who had heard our Saviour declare that he who did not confess
his name before men would be denied before the angels of God, denied him thrice
in one night, and not without execration; yet he is not denied pardon (Mark
8:38). Those who lived disorderly among the Thessalonians, though chastised, are
still invited to repentance (2 Thess. 3:6). Not even is Simon Magus thrown into
despair. He is rather told to hope, since Peter invites him to have recourse to
prayer (Acts 8:22).
27. What shall we say to the fact, that occasionally
whole churches have been implicated in the grossest sins, and yet Paul, instead
of giving them over to destruction, rather mercifully extricated them? The
defection of the Galatians was no trivial fault; the Corinthians were still less
excusable, the iniquities prevailing among them being more numerous and not less
heinous, yet neither are excluded from the mercy of the Lord. Nay, the very
persons who had sinned above others in uncleanness and fornication are expressly
invited to repentance. The covenant of the Lord remains, and ever will remain,
inviolable, that covenant which he solemnly ratified with Christ the true
Solomon, and his members, in these words: “If his children forsake my law,
and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their
iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take
from him” (Ps. 89:30-33). In short, by the very arrangement of the Creed,
we are reminded that forgiveness of sins always resides in the Church of Christ,
for after the Church is as it were constituted, forgiveness of sins is
subjoined.
28. Some persons who have somewhat more discernment, seeing
that the dogma of Novatus is so clearly refuted in Scripture, do not make every
fault unpardonable, but that voluntary transgression of the Law into which a man
falls knowingly and willingly. Those who speak thus allow pardon to those sins
only that have been committed through ignorance. But since the Lord has in the
Law ordered some sacrifices to be offered in expiation of the voluntary sins of
believers, and others to redeem sins of ignorance (Lev. 4), how perverse is it
to concede no expiation to a voluntary sin? I hold nothing to be more plain,
than that the one sacrifice of Christ avails to remit the voluntary sins of
believers, the Lord having attested this by carnal sacrifices as emblems. Then
how is David, who was so well instructed in the Law, to be excused by ignorance?
Did David, who was daily punishing it in others, not know how heinous a crime
murder and adultery was? Did the patriarchs deem fratricide a lawful act? Had
the Corinthians made so little proficiency as to imagine that God was pleased
with lasciviousness, impurity, whoredom, hatred, and strife? Was Peter, after
being so carefully warned, ignorant how heinous it was to forswear his Master?
Therefore, let us not by our malice shut the door against the divine mercy, when
so benignly manifested.
29. I am not unaware, that by the sins which are
daily forgiven to believers, ancient writers have understood the lighter errors
which creep in through the infirmity of the flesh, while they thought that the
formal repentance which was then exacted for more heinous crimes was no more to
be repeated than Baptism. This opinion is not to be viewed as if they wished to
plunge those into despair who had fallen from their first repentance, or to
extenuate those errors as if they were of no account before God. For they knew
that the saints often stumble through unbelief, that superfluous oaths
occasionally escape them, that they sometimes boil with anger, nay, break out
into open invectives, and labour, besides, under other evils, which are in no
slight degree offensive to the Lord; but they so called them to distinguish them
from public crimes, which came under the cognisance of the Church, and produced
much scandal.52[6] The great
difficulty they had in pardoning those who had done something that called for
ecclesiastical animadversion, was not because they thought it difficult to
obtain pardon from the Lord, but by this severity they wished to deter others
from rushing precipitately into crimes, which, by their demerit, would alienate
them from the communion of the Church. Still the word of the Lord, which here
ought to be our only rule, certainly prescribes greater moderation, since it
teaches that the rigour of discipline must not be stretched so far as to
overwhelm with grief the individual for whose benefit it should specially be
designed (2 Cor. 2:7), as we have above discoursed at greater length.
CHAPTER 2.
COMPARISON
BETWEEN THE FALSE CHURCH AND THE TRUE.
The divisions of the
chapter are,-I. Description of a spurious Church, resembling the Papacy vaunting
of personal succession, of which a refutation is subjoined. sec. 1-4. II. An
answer, in name of the orthodox Churches, to the Popish accusations of heresy
and schism. A description of the Churches existing at present under the Papacy.
Sections.
1. Recapitulation of the matters treated in the
previous chapter. Substance of the present chapter-viz. Where lying and
falsehood prevail, no Church exists. There is falsehood wherever the pure
doctrine of Christ is not in vigour.
2. This falsehood prevails under
the Papacy. Hence the Papacy is not a Church. Still the Papists extol their own
Church, and charge those who dissent from it with heresy and schism. They
attempt to defend their vaunting by the name of personal succession. A
succession which abandons the truth of Christ proved to be of no
importance.
3. This proof confirmed, 1. By examples and passages of
Scripture; 2. By reason and the authority of Augustine.
4. Whatever the
Papists may pretend, there is no Church where the word of God appears
not.
5. The objection of personal succession, and the charge of heresy
and schism, refuted, both from Scripture and Augustine.
6. The same
thing confirmed by the authority of Cyprian. The anathemas of the Papists of no
consequence.
7. The churches of the Papists in the same situation as
those of the Israelites, which revolted to superstition and idolatry under
Jeroboam.
8. The character of those Israelitish churches.
9.
Hence the Papists act unjustly when they would compel us to communion with
their Church. Their two demands. Answer to the first. Sum of the question. Why
we cannot take part in the external worship of the Papists.
10. Second
demand of the Papists answered.
11. Although the Papacy cannot properly
be called a Church, still, against the will of Antichrist himself, there is some
vestige of a Church in the Papacy, as Baptism and some other remnants.
12. The name of Church not conceded to the Papacy, though under its
domination there have been some kind of churches. Herein is a fulfilment of
Paul’s prophecy, that Antichrist would sit in the temple of God.
Deplorable condition of such churches. Summary of the chapter.
1. HOW
much the ministry of the word and sacraments should weigh with us, and how far
reverence for it should extend, so as to be a perpetual badge for distinguishing
the Church, has been explained; for we have shown, first, that wherever it
exists entire and unimpaired, no errors of conduct, no defects should prevent us
from giving the name of Church
;52[7] and, secondly, that trivial
errors in this ministry ought not to make us regard it as illegitimate.
Moreover, we have shown that the errors to which such pardon is due, are those
by which the fundamental doctrine of religion is not injured, and by which those
articles of religion, in which all believers should agree, are not suppressed,
while, in regard to the sacraments, the defects are such as neither destroy nor
impair the legitimate institution of their Author.
[9] But as soon as falsehood has forced
its way into the citadel of religion, as soon as the sum of necessary doctrine
is inverted, and the use of the sacraments is destroyed, the death of the Church
undoubtedly ensues, just as the life of man is destroyed when his throat is
pierced, or his vitals mortally wounded. This is clearly evinced by the words of
Paul when he says, that the Church is “built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone”
(Eph. 2:20). If the Church is founded on the doctrine of the apostles and
prophets, by which believers are enjoined to place their salvation in Christ
alone, then if that doctrine is destroyed, how can the Church continue to stand?
The Church must necessarily fall whenever that sum of religion which alone can
sustain it has given way. Again, if the true Church is “the pillar and
ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), it is certain that there is no Church
where lying and falsehood have usurped the ascendancy.
2. Since this is
the state of matters under the Papacy, we can understand how much of the Church
there survives.52[8] There, instead
of the ministry of the word, prevails a perverted government, compounded of
lies, a government which partly extinguishes, partly suppresses, the pure light.
In place of the Lord’s Supper, the foulest sacrilege has entered, the
worship of God is deformed by a varied mass of intolerable superstitions;
doctrine (without which Christianity exists not) is wholly buried and exploded,
the public assemblies are schools of idolatry and impiety. Wherefore, in
declining fatal participation in such wickedness, we run no risk of being
dissevered from the Church of Christ. The communion. of the Church was not
instituted to be a chain to bind us in idolatry, impiety, ignorance of God, and
other kinds of evil, but rather to retain us in the fear of God and obedience of
the truth. They, indeed, vaunt loudly of their
Church,52[9] as if there was not
another in the world; and then, as if the matter were ended, they make out that
all are schismatics who withdraw from obedience to that Church which they thus
depict, that all are heretics who presume to whisper against its doctrine (see
sec 5). But by what arguments do they prove their possession of the true Church?
They appeal to ancient records which formerly existed in Italy, France, and
Spain, pretending to derive their origin from those holy men who, by sound
doctrine, founded and raised up churches, confirmed the doctrine, and reared the
edifice of the Church with their blood; they pretend that the Church thus
consecrated by spiritual gifts and the blood of martyrs was preserved from
destruction by a perpetual succession of bishops. They dwell on the importance
which IrenÊus, Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, and others, attached to this
succession (see sec. 3). How frivolous and plainly ludicrous these allegations
are, I will enable any, who will for a little consider the matter with me, to
understand without any difficulty. I would also exhort our opponents to give
their serious attention, if I had any hope of being able to benefit them by
instruction; but since they have laid aside all regard to truth, and make it
their only aim to prosecute their own ends in whatever way they can, I will only
make a few observations by which good men and lovers of truth may disentangle
themselves from their quibbles. First, I ask them why they do not quote Africa,
and Egypt, and all Asia, just because in all those regions there was a cessation
of that sacred succession, by the aid of which they vaunt of having continued
churches. They therefore fall back on the assertion, that they have the true
Church, because ever since it began to exist it was never destitute of bishops,
because they succeeded each other in an unbroken series. But what if I bring
Greece before them? Therefore, I again ask them, Why they say that the Church
perished among the Greeks, among whom there never was any interruption in the
succession of bishops-a succession, in their opinion, the only guardian and
preserver of the Church? They make the Greeks schismatics. Why? because, by
revolting from the Apostolic See, they lost their privilege. What? Do not those
who revolt from Christ much more deserve to lose it? It follows, therefore, that
the pretence of succession is vain, if posterity do not retain the truth of
Christ, which was handed down to them by their fathers, safe and uncorrupted,
and continue in it.
3. In the present day, therefore, the presence of
the Romanists is just the same as that which appears to have been formerly used
by the Jews, when the Prophets of the Lord charged them with blindness, impiety,
and idolatry. For as the Jews proudly vaunted of their temple, ceremonies, and
priesthood, by which, with strong reason, as they supposed, they measured the
Church, so, instead of the Church, we are presented by the Romanists with
certain external masks, which often are far from being connected with the
Church, and without which the Church can perfectly exist. Wherefore, we need no
other argument to refute them than that with which Jeremiah opposed the foolish
confidence of the Jews-namely, “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The
temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are
these” (Jer. 7:4). The Lord recognises nothing as his own, save when his
word is heard and religiously observed. Thus, though the glory of God sat in the
sanctuary between the cherubim (Ezek. 10:4), and he had promised that he would
there have his stated abode, still when the priests corrupted his worship by
depraved superstitions, he transferred it elsewhere, and left the place without
any sanctity. If that temple which seemed consecrated for the perpetual
habitation of God, could be abandoned by God and become profane, the Romanists
have no ground to pretend that God is so bound to persons or places, and fixed
to external observances, that he must remain with those who have only the name
and semblance of a Church. This is the question which Paul discusses in the
Epistle to the Romans, from the ninth to the twelfth chapter. Weak consciences
were greatly disturbed, when those who seemed to be the people of God not only
rejected, but even persecuted the doctrine of the Gospel. Therefore, after
expounding doctrine, he removes this difficulty, denying that those Jews, the
enemies of the truth, were the Church, though they wanted nothing which might
otherwise have been desired to the external form of the Church. The ground of
his denial is, that they did not embrace Christ. In the Epistle to the
Galatians, when comparing Ishmael with Isaac, he says still more expressly, that
many hold a place in the Church to whom the inheritance does not belong, because
they were not the offspring of a free parent. From this he proceeds to draw a
contrast between two Jerusalems, because as the Law was given on Mount Sinai,
but the Gospel proceeded from Jerusalem, so many who were born and brought up in
servitude confidently boast that they are the sons of God and of the Church;
nay, while they are themselves degenerate, proudly despise the genuine sons of
God. Let us also, in like manner, when we hear that it was once declared from
heaven, “Cast out the bondmaid and her son,” trust to this
inviolable decree, and boldly despise their unmeaning boasts. For if they plume
themselves on external profession, Ishmael also was circumcised: if they found
on antiquity, he was the first-born: and yet we see that he was rejected. If the
reason is asked, Paul assigns it (Rom. 9:6), that those only are accounted sons
who are born of the pure and legitimate seed of doctrine. On this ground God
declares that he was not astricted to impious priests, though he had made a
covenant with their father Levi, to be their angel, or interpreter (Mal. 2:4);
nay, he retorts the false boast by which they were wont to rise against the
Prophets-namely, that the dignity of the priesthood was to be held in singular
estimation. This he himself willingly admits: and he disputes with them, on the
ground that he is ready to fulfil the covenant, while they, by not fulfilling it
on their part, deserve to be rejected. Here, then, is the value of succession
when not conjoined with imitation and corresponding conduct: posterity, as soon
as they are convicted of having revolted from their origin, are deprived of all
honour; unless, indeed, we are prepared to say, that because Caiaphas succeeded
many pious priests (nay, the series from Aaron to him was continuous), that
accursed assembly deserved the name of Church. Even in earthly governments, no
one would bear to see the tyranny of Caligula, Nero, Heliogabalus, and the like,
described as the true condition of a republic, because they succeeded such men
as Brutus, Scipio, and
Camillus.53[0] That in the
government of the Church especially, nothing is more absurd than to disregard
doctrine, and place succession in persons. Nor, indeed, was anything farther
from the intention of the holy teachers, whom they falsely obtrude upon us, than
to maintain distinctly that churches exist, as by hereditary right, wherever
bishops have been uniformly succeeded by bishops. But while it was without
controversy that no change had been made in doctrine from the beginning down to
their day, they assumed it to be a sufficient refutation of all their errors,
that they were opposed to the doctrine maintained constantly, and with unanimous
consent, even by the apostles themselves. They have, therefore, no longer any
ground for proceeding to make a gloss of the name of the Church, which we regard
with due reverence; but when we come to definition, not only (to use the common
expression) does the water adhere to them, but they stick in their own mire,
because they substitute a vile prostitute for the sacred spouse of Christ. That
the substitution may not deceive us, let us, among other admonitions, attend to
the following from Augustine. Speaking of the Church, he says, “She
herself is sometimes obscured, and, as it were, beclouded by a multitude of
scandals; sometimes, in a time of tranquillity, she appears quiet and free;
sometimes she is covered and tossed by the billows of tribulation and
trial.”-(August. ad Vincent. Epist. 48). As instances, he mentions that
the strongest pillars of the Church often bravely endured exile for the faith,
or lay hid throughout the world.
4. In this way the Romanists assail us
in the present day, and terrify the unskilful with the name of Church, while
they are the deadly adversaries of Christ. Therefore, although they exhibit a
temple, a priesthood, and other similar masks, the empty glare by which they
dazzle the eyes of the simple should not move us in the least to admit that
there is a Church where the word of God appears not. The Lord furnished us with
an unfailing test when he said, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my
voice” (John 18:37). Again, “I am the good shepherd, and know my
sheep, and am known of mine.” “My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me.” A little before he had said, when the shepherd
“putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow
him; for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee
from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:14, 4, 5).
Why then do we, of our own accord, form so infatuated an estimate of the Church,
since Christ has designated it by a sign in which is nothing in the least degree
equivocal, a sign which is everywhere seen, the existence of which infallibly
proves the existence of the Church, while its absence proves the absence of
everything that properly bears the name of Church? Paul declares that the Church
is not founded either upon the judgments of men or the priesthood, but upon the
doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets (Eph. 2:20). Nay, Jerusalem is to be
distinguished from Babylon, the Church of Christ from a conspiracy of Satan, by
the discriminating test which our Saviour has applied to them, “He that is
of God, heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are
not of God” (John 8:47). In short, since the Church is the kingdom of
Christ, and he reigns only by his word, can there be any doubt as to the
falsehood of those statements by which the kingdom of Christ is represented
without his sceptre, in other words, without his sacred word?
5. As to
their charge of heresy and schism, because we preach a different doctrine, and
submit not to their laws, and meet apart from them for Prayer, Baptism, the
administration of the Supper, and other sacred rites, it is indeed a very
serious accusation, but one which needs not a long and laboured defence. The
name of heretics and schismatics is applied to those who, by dissenting from the
Church, destroy its communion. This communion is held together by two
chains-viz. consent in sound doctrine and brotherly charity. Hence the
distinction which Augustine makes between heretics and schismatics is, that the
former corrupt the purity of the faith by false dogmas, whereas the latter
sometimes, even while holding the same faith, break the bond of union (August.
Lib. QuÊst. in Evang. Mt.). But the thing to be observed is, that this
union of charity so depends on unity of faith, as to have in it its beginning,
its end, in fine, its only rule. Let us therefore remember, that whenever
ecclesiastical unity is commended to us, the thing required is, that while our
minds consent in Christ, our wills also be united together by mutual good-will
in Christ. Accordingly Paul, when he exhorts us to it, takes for his fundamental
principle that there is “one God, one faith, one baptism” (Eph.
4:5). Nay, when he tells us to be “of one accord, of one mind,” he
immediately adds, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus” (Phil. 2:2, 5); intimating, that where the word of the Lord is not,
it is not a union of believers, but a faction of the ungodly.
6. Cyprian,
also, following Paul, derives the fountain of ecclesiastical concord from the
one bishopric of Christ, and afterwards adds, “There is one Church, which
by increase from fecundity is more widely extended to a multitude, just as there
are many rays of the sun, but one light, and many branches of a tree, but one
trunk upheld by the tenacious root. When many streams flow from one fountain,
though there seems wide spreading numerosity from the overflowing copiousness of
the supply, yet unity remains in the origin. Pluck a ray from the body of the
sun, and the unity sustains no division. Break a branch from a tree, and the
branch will not germinate. Cut off a stream from a fountain, that which is thus
cut off dries up. So the Church, pervaded by the light of the Lord, extends over
the whole globe, and yet the light which is everywhere diffused is one”
(Cyprian, de Simplicit. PrÊlat.). Words could not more elegantly express
the inseparable connection which all the members of Christ have with each other.
We see how he constantly calls us back to the head. Accordingly, he declares
that when heresies and schisms arise, it is because men return not to the origin
of the truth, because they seek not the head, because they keep not the doctrine
of the heavenly Master. Let them now go and clamour against us as heretics for
having withdrawn from their Church, since the only cause of our estrangement is,
that they cannot tolerate a pure profession of the truth. I say nothing of their
having expelled us by anathemas and curses. The fact is more than sufficient to
excuse us, unless they would also make schismatics of the apostles, with whom we
have a common cause. Christ, I say, forewarned his apostles, “they shall
put you out of the synagogues” (John 16:2). The synagogues of which he
speaks were then held to be lawful churches. Seeing then it is certain that we
were cast out, and we are prepared to show that this was done for the name of
Christ, the cause should first be ascertained before any decision is given
either for or against us. This, however, if they choose, I am willing to leave
to them; to me it is enough that we behoved to withdraw from them in order to
draw near to Christ.
7. The place which we ought to assign to all the
churches on which the tyranny of the Romish idol has seized will better appear
if we compare them with the ancient Israelitish Church, as delineated by the
prophets. So long as the Jews and Israelites persisted in the laws of the
covenant, a true Church existed among them; in other words, they by the kindness
of God obtained the benefits of a Church. True doctrine was contained in the
law, and the ministry of it was committed to the prophets and priests. They were
initiated in religion by the sign of circumcision, and by the other sacraments
trained and confirmed in the faith. There can be no doubt that the titles with
which the Lord honoured his Church were applicable to their society. After they
forsook the law of the Lord, and degenerated into idolatry and superstition,
they partly lost the privilege. For who can presume to deny the title of the
Church to those with whom the Lord deposited the preaching of his word and the
observance of his mysteries? On the other hand, who may presume to give the name
of Church, without reservation, to that assembly by which the word of God is
openly and with impunity trampled under foot-where his ministry, its chief
support, and the very soul of the Church, is destroyed?
8. What then?
(some one will say); was there not a particle of the Church left to the Jews
from the date of their revolt to idolatry? The answer is easy. First, I say that
in the defection itself there were several gradations; for we cannot hold that
the lapses by which both Judah and Israel turned aside from the pure worship of
God were the same. Jeroboam, when he fabricated the calves against the express
prohibition of God, and dedicated an unlawful place for worship, corrupted
religion entirely. The Jews became degenerate in manners and superstitious
opinions before they made any improper change in the external form of religion.
For although they had adopted many perverse ceremonies under Rehoboam, yet, as
the doctrine of the law and the priesthood, and the rites which God had
instituted, continued at Jerusalem, the pious still had the Church in a
tolerable state. In regard to the Israelites, matters which, up to the time of
Ahab, had certainly not been reformed, then became worse. Those who succeeded
him, until the overthrow of the kingdom, were partly like him, and partly (when
they wished to be somewhat better) followed the example of Jeroboam, while all,
without exception, were wicked and idolatrous. In Judea different changes now
and then took place, some kings corrupting the worship of God by false and
superstitious inventions, and others attempting to reform it, until, at length,
the priests themselves polluted the temple of God by profane and abominable
rites.
9. Now then let the Papists, in order to extenuate their vices as
much as possible, deny, if they can, that the state of religion is as much
vitiated and corrupted with them as it was in the kingdom of Israel under
Jeroboam. They have a grosser idolatry, and in doctrine are not one whit more
pure; rather, perhaps, they are even still more impure. God, nay, even those
possessed of a moderate degree of judgment, will bear me witness, and the thing
itself is too manifest to require me to enlarge upon it. When they would force
us to the communion of their Church, they make two demands upon us-first, that
we join in their prayers, their sacrifices, and all their ceremonies; and,
secondly, that whatever honour, power, and jurisdiction, Christ has given to his
Church, the same we must attribute to theirs. In regard to the first, I admit
that all the prophets who were at Jerusalem, when matters there were very
corrupt, neither sacrificed apart nor held separate meetings for prayer. For
they had the command of God, which enjoined them to meet in the temple of
Solomon, and they knew that the Levitical priests, whom the Lord had appointed
over sacred matters, and who were not yet discarded, how unworthy soever they
might be of that honour, were still entitled to hold
it53[1] (Exod. 24:9). But the
principal point in the whole question is, that they were not compelled to any
superstitious worship, nay, they undertook nothing but what had been instituted
by God. But in these men, I mean the Papists, where is the resemblance? Scarcely
can we hold any meeting with them without polluting ourselves with open
idolatry. Their principal bond of communion is undoubtedly in the Mass, which we
abominate as the greatest sacrilege. Whether this is justly or rashly done will
be elsewhere seen (see chap. 18; see also Book 2, chap. 15, sec. 6)It is now
sufficient to show that our case is different from that of the prophets, who,
when they were present at the sacred rites of the ungodly, were not obliged to
witness or use any ceremonies but those which were instituted by God. But if we
would have an example in all respects similar, let us take one from the kingdom
of Israel. Under the ordinance of Jeroboam, circumcision remained, sacrifices
were offered, the law was deemed holy, and the God whom they had received from
their fathers was worshipped; but in consequence of invented and forbidden modes
of worship, everything which was done there God disapproved and condemned. Show
me one prophet or pious man who once worshipped or offered sacrifice in Bethel.
They knew that they could not do it without defiling themselves with some kind
of sacrilege. We hold, therefore, that the communion of the Church ought not to
be carried so far by the godly as to lay them under a necessity of following it
when it has degenerated to profane and polluted rites.
10. With regard
to the second point, our objections are still stronger. For when the Church is
considered in that particular point of view as the Church, whose judgment we are
bound to revere, whose authority acknowledge, whose admonitions obey, whose
censures dread, whose communion religiously cultivate in every respect, we
cannot concede that they have a Church, without obliging ourselves to subjection
and obedience. Still we are willing to concede what the Prophets conceded to the
Jews and Israelites of their day, when with them matters were in a similar, or
even in a better condition. For we see how they uniformly exclaim against their
meetings as profane conventicles, to which it is not more lawful for them to
assent than to abjure God (Isa. 1:14). And certainly if those were churches, it
follows, that Elijah, Micaiah, and others in Israel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea,
and those of like character in Judah, whom the prophets, priests, and people of
their day, hated and execrated more than the uncircumcised, were aliens from the
Church of God. If those were churches, then the Church was no longer the pillar
of the truth, but the stay of falsehood, not the tabernacle of the living God,
but a receptacle of idols. They were, therefore, under the necessity of refusing
consent to their meetings, since consent was nothing else than impious
conspiracy against God. For this same reason, should any one acknowledge those
meetings of the present day, which are contaminated by idolatry, superstition,
and impious doctrine, as churches, full communion with which a Christian must
maintain so far as to agree with them even in doctrine, he will greatly err. For
if they are churches, the power of the keys belongs to them, whereas the keys
are inseparably connected with the word which they have put to flight. Again, if
they are churches, they can claim the promise of Christ, “Whatsoever ye
bind,” &c.; whereas, on the contrary, they discard from their
communion all who sincerely profess themselves the servants of Christ.
Therefore, either the promise of Christ is vain, or in this respect, at least,
they are not churches. In fine, instead of the ministry of the word, they have
schools of impiety, and sinks of all kinds of error. Therefore, in this point of
view, they either are not churches, or no badge will remain by which the lawful
meetings of the faithful can be distinguished from the meetings of Turks.
11. Still, as in ancient times, there remained among the Jews certain
special privileges of a Church, so in the present day we deny not to the Papists
those vestiges of a Church which the Lord has allowed to remain among them amid
the dissipation. When the Lord had once made his covenant with the Jews, it was
preserved not so much by them as by its own strength, supported by which it
withstood their impiety. Such, then, is the certainty and constancy of the
divine goodness, that the covenant of the Lord continued there and his faith
could not be obliterated by their perfidy; nor could circumcision be so profaned
by their impure hands as not still to he a true sign and sacrament of his
covenant. Hence the children who were born to them the Lord called his own
(Ezek. 16:20), though, unless by special blessing, they in no respect belonged
to him. So having deposited his covenant in Gaul, Italy, Germany, Spain, and
England, when these countries were oppressed by the tyranny of Antichrist, He,
in order that his covenant might remain inviolable, first preserved baptism
there as an evidence of the covenant;-baptism, which, consecrated by his lips,
retains its power in spite of human depravity; secondly, He provided by his
providence that there should be other remains also to prevent the Church from
utterly perishing. But as in pulling down buildings the foundations and ruins
are often permitted to remain, so he did not suffer Antichrist either to subvert
his Church from its foundation, or to level it with the ground (though, to
punish the ingratitude of men who had despised his word, he allowed a fearful
shaking and dismembering to take place), but was pleased that amid the
devastation the edifice should remain, though half in ruins.
12.
Therefore, while we are unwilling simply to concede the name of Church to the
Papists, we do not deny that there are churches among them. The question we
raise only relates to the true and legitimate constitution of the Church,
implying communion in sacred rites, which are the signs of profession, and
especially in doctrine.53[2] Daniel
and Paul foretold that Antichrist would sit in the temple of God (Dan. 9:27; 2
Thess. 2:4); we regard the Roman Pontiff as the leader and standard-bearer of
that wicked and abominable
kingdom.53[3] By placing his seat in
the temple of God, it is intimated that his kingdom would not be such as to
destroy the name either of Christ or of his Church. Hence, then, it is obvious
that we do not at all deny that churches remain under his tyranny; churches,
however, which by sacrilegious impiety he has profaned, by cruel domination has
oppressed, by evil and deadly doctrines like poisoned potions has corrupted and
almost slain; churches where Christ lies half-buried, the gospel is suppressed,
piety is put to flight, and the worship of God almost abolished; where, in
short, all things are in such disorder as to present the appearance of Babylon
rather than the holy city of God. In one word, I call them churches, inasmuch as
the Lord there wondrously preserves some remains of his people, though miserably
torn and scattered, and inasmuch as some symbols of the Church still
remain-symbols especially whose efficacy neither the craft of the devil nor
human depravity can destroy. But as, on the other hand, those marks to which we
ought especially to have respect in this discussion are effaced, I say that the
whole body, as well as every single assembly, want the form of a legitimate
Church.
CHAPTER 3.
OF THE
TEACHERS AND MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH. THEIR ELECTION AND
OFFICE.
The three heads of this chapter are,-I. A few preliminary
remarks on Church order, on the end, utility, necessity, and dignity of the
Christian ministry, sec. 1-3. II. A separate consideration of the persons
performing Ecclesiastical functions, sec. 4-10. III. Of the Ordination or
calling of the ministers of the Church, sec. 10-16.
Sections.
1. Summary of the chapter. Reasons why God, in
governing the Church, uses the ministry of men. 1. To declare his condescension.
2. To train us to humility and obedience. 3. To bind us to each other in mutual
charity. These reasons confirmed by Scripture.
2. This ministry of men
most useful to the whole Church. Its advantages enumerated.
3. The
honourable terms in which the ministry is spoken of. Its necessity established
by numerous examples.
4. Second part of the chapter, treating of
Ecclesiastical office-bearers in particular. Some of them, as Apostles,
Prophets, and Evangelists, temporary. Others, as Pastors and Teachers, perpetual
and indispensable.
5. Considering the office of Evangelist and Apostle
as one, we have Pastors corresponding with Apostles, and Teachers with Prophets.
Why the name of Apostles specially conferred on the twelve.
6. As to
the Apostles so also to Pastors the preaching of the Word and the administration
of the sacraments has been committed. How the Word should be preached.
7. Regularly every Pastor should have a separate church assigned to
him. This, however, admits of modification, when duly and regularly made by
public authority.
8. Bishops, Presbyters, Pastors, and Ministers, are
used by the Apostles as one and the same. Some functions, as being temporary,
are omitted. Two-namely, those of Elders and Deacons-as pertaining to the
ministry of the Word, are retained.
9. Distinction between Deacons.
Some employed in distributing alms, others in taking care of the poor.
10. Third part of the chapter, treating of the Ordination or calling of
the ministers of the Church.
11. A twofold calling-viz. an external and
an internal. Mode in which both are to be viewed.
12. 1. Who are to be
appointed ministers? 2. Mode of appointment.
13. 3. By whom the
appointment is to be made. Why the Apostles were elected by Christ alone. Of the
calling and election of St Paul.
14. Ordinary Pastors are designated by
other Pastors. Why certain of the Apostles also were designated by men.
15. The election of Pastors does not belong to one individual. Other
Pastors should preside, and the people consent and approve.
16. Form in
which the ministers of the Church are to be ordained. No express precept but
one. Laying on of hands.
1. WE are now to speak of the order in which the
Lord has been pleased that his Church should be governed. For though it is right
that he alone should rule and reign in the Church, that he should preside and be
conspicuous in it, and that its government should be exercised and administered
solely by his word; yet as he does not dwell among us in visible presence, so as
to declare his will to us by his own lips, he in this (as we have said) uses the
ministry of men, by making them, as it were, his
substitutes,53[4] not by
transferring his right and honour to them, but only doing his own work by their
lips, just as an artificer uses a tool for any purpose. What I have previously
expounded (chap. 1 sec. 5) I am again forced to repeat. God might have acted, in
this respect, by himself, without any aid or instrument, or might even have done
it by angels; but there are several reasons why he rather chooses to employ
men.53[5] First, in this way he
declares his condescension towards us, employing men to perform the function of
his ambassadors in the world, to be the interpreters of his secret will; in
short, to represent his own person. Thus he shows by experience that it is not
to no purpose he calls us his temples, since by man’s mouth he gives
responses to men as from a sanctuary. Secondly, it forms a most excellent and
useful training to humility, when he accustoms us to obey his word though
preached by men like ourselves, or, it may be, our inferiors in worth. Did he
himself speak from heaven, it were no wonder if his sacred oracles were received
by all ears and minds reverently and without delay. For who would not dread his
present power? who would not fall prostrate at the first view of his great
majesty? who would not be overpowered by that immeasurable splendour? But when a
feeble man, sprung from the dust, speaks in the name of God, we give the best
proof of our piety and obedience, by listening with docility to his servant,
though not in any respect our superior. Accordingly, he hides the treasure of
his heavenly wisdom in frail earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7), that he may have a
more certain proof of the estimation in which it is held by us. Moreover,
nothing was fitter to cherish mutual charity than to bind men together by this
tie, appointing one of them as a pastor to teach the others who are enjoined to
be disciples, and receive the common doctrine from a single mouth. For did every
man suffice for himself, and stand in no need of another’s aid (such is
the pride of the human intellect), each would despise all others, and be in his
turn despised. The Lord, therefore, has astricted his Church to what he foresaw
would be the strongest bond of unity when he deposited the doctrine of eternal
life and salvation with men, that by their hands he might communicate it to
others. To this Paul had respect when he wrote to the Ephesians, “There is
one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according
to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on
high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended,
what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that
he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love,
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint
supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph
4:4-16).
2. By these words he shows that the ministry of men, which God
employs in governing the Church, is a principal bond by which believers are kept
together in one body. He also intimates, that the Church cannot be kept safe,
unless supported by those guards to which the Lord has been pleased to commit
its safety. Christ “ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill
all things” (Eph. 4:10). The mode of filling is this: By the ministers to
whom he has committed this office, and given grace to discharge it, he dispenses
and distributes his gifts to the Church, and thus exhibits himself as in a
manner actually present by exerting the energy of his Spirit in this his
institution, so as to prevent it from being vain or fruitless. In this way, the
renewal of the saints is accomplished, and the body of Christ is edified; in
this way we grow up in all things unto Him who is the Head, and unite with one
another; in this way we are all brought into the unity of Christ, provided
prophecy flourishes among us, provided we receive his apostles, and despise not
the doctrine which is administered to us. Whoever, therefore, studies to abolish
this order and kind of government of which we speak, or disparages it as of
minor importance, plots the devastation, or rather the ruin and destruction, of
the Church. For neither are the light and heat of the sun, nor meat and drink,
so necessary to sustain and cherish the present life, as is the apostolical and
pastoral office to preserve a Church in the earth.
3. Accordingly, I
have observed above, that God has repeatedly commended its dignity by the titles
which he has bestowed upon it, in order that we might hold it in the highest
estimation, as among the most excellent of our blessings. He declares, that in
raising up teachers, he confers a special benefit on men, when he bids his
prophet exclaim, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him
that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace” (Isa. 52:7); when he
calls the apostles the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Mt. 5:13,
14). Nor could the office be more highly eulogised than when he said, “He
that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me” (Luke
10:16). But the most striking passage of all is that in the Second Epistle to
the Corinthians, where Paul treats as it were professedly of this question. He
contends, that there is nothing in the Church more noble and glorious than the
ministry of the Gospel, seeing it is the administration of the Spirit of
righteousness and eternal life. These and similar passages should have the
effect of preventing that method of governing and maintaining the Church by
ministers, a method which the Lord has ratified for ever, from seeming worthless
in our eyes, and at length becoming obsolete by contempt. How very necessary it
is, he has declared not only by words but also by examples. When he was pleased
to shed the light of his truth in greater effulgence on Cornelius, he sent an
angel from heaven to despatch Peter to him (Acts 10:3). When he was pleased to
call Paul to the knowledge of himself, and ingraft him into the Church, he does
not address him with his own voice, but sends him to a man from whom he may both
obtain the doctrine of salvation and the sanctification of baptism (Acts
9:6-20). If it was not by mere accident that the angel, who is the interpreter
of God, abstains from declaring the will of God, and orders a man to be called
to declare it; that Christ, the only Master of believers, commits Paul to the
teaching of a man, that Paul whom he had determined to carry into the third
heaven, and honour with a wondrous revelation of things that could not be spoken
(2 Cor. 12:2), who will presume to despise or disregard as superfluous that
ministry, whose utility God has been pleased to attest by such evidence?
4. Those who preside over the government of the Church, according to the
institution of Christ, are named by Paul, first, Apostles; secondly,
Prophets; thirdly, Evangelists; fourthly, Pastors; and,
lastly, Teachers (Eph. 4:11). Of these, only the two last have an
ordinary office in the Church. The Lord raised up the other three at the
beginning of his kingdom, and still occasionally raises them up when the
necessity of the times requires. The nature of the apostolic function is clear
from the command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature” (Mark 16:15). No fixed limits are given them, but the
whole world is assigned to be reduced under the obedience of Christ, that by
spreading the Gospel as widely as they could, they might everywhere erect his
kingdom. Accordingly, Paul, when he would approve his apostleship, does not say
that he had acquired some one city for Christ, but had propagated the Gospel far
and wide-had not built on another man’s foundation, but planted churches
where the name of his Lord was unheard. The apostles, therefore, were sent forth
to bring back the world from its revolt to the true obedience of God, and
everywhere establish his kingdom by the preaching of the Gospel; or, if you
choose, they were like the first architects of the Church, to lay its
foundations throughout the world. By Prophets, he means not all
interpreters of the divine will, but those who excelled by special revelation;
none such now exist, or they are less manifest. By Evangelists, I mean
those who, while inferior in rank to the apostles, were next them in office, and
even acted as their substitutes. Such were Luke, Timothy, Titus, and the like;
perhaps, also, the seventy disciples whom our Saviour appointed in the second
place to the apostles (Luke 10:1). According to this interpretation, which
appears to me consonant both to the words and the meaning of Paul, those three
functions were not instituted in the Church to be perpetual, but only to endure
so long as churches were to be formed where none previously existed, or at least
where churches were to be transferred from Moses to Christ; although I deny not,
that afterward God occasionally raised up Apostles, or at least Evangelists, in
their stead, as has been done in our time. For such were needed to bring back
the Church from the revolt of Antichrist. The office I nevertheless call
extraordinary, because it has no place in churches duly constituted. Next come
Pastors and Teachers, with whom the Church never can dispense, and
between whom, I think, there is this difference, that teachers preside not over
discipline, or the administration of the sacraments, or admonitions, or
exhortations, but the interpretation of Scripture only, in order that pure and
sound doctrine may be maintained among believers. But all these are embraced in
the pastoral office.
5. We now understand what offices in the government
of the Church were temporary, and what offices were instituted to be of
perpetual duration. But if we class evangelists with apostles, we shall have two
like offices in a manner corresponding to each other. For the same resemblance
which our teachers have to the ancient prophets pastors have to the apostles.
The prophetical office was more excellent in respect of the special gift of
revelation which accompanied it, but the office of teachers was almost of the
same nature, and had altogether the same end. In like manner, the twelve, whom
the Lord chose to publish the new preaching of the Gospel to the world (Luke
6:13), excelled others in rank and dignity. For although, from the nature of the
case, and etymology of the word, all ecclesiastical officers may be properly
called apostles, because they are all sent by the Lord and are his messengers,
yet as it was of great importance that a sure attestation should be given to the
mission of those who delivered a new and extraordinary message, it was right
that the twelve (to the number of whom Paul was afterwards added) should be
distinguished from others by a peculiar title. The same name, indeed, is given
by Paul to Andronicus and Junia, who, he says, were “of note among the
apostles” (Rom. 16:7); but when he would speak properly, he confines the
term to that primary order. And this is the common use of Scripture. Still
pastors (except that each has the government of a particular church assigned to
him) have the same function as apostles. The nature of this function let us now
see still more clearly.
6. When our Lord sent forth the apostles, he
gave them a commission (as has been lately said) to preach the Gospel, and
baptise those who believed for the remission of sins. He had previously
commanded that they should distribute the sacred symbols of his body and blood
after his example (Mt. 28:19; Luke 22:19). Such is the sacred, inviolable, and
perpetual law, enjoined on those who succeed to the place of the apostles,-they
receive a commission to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments. Whence
we infer that those who neglect both of these falsely pretend to the office of
apostles. But what shall we say of pastors? Paul speaks not of himself only but
of all pastors, when he says, “Let a man so account of us, as of the
ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (I Cor. 4:1).
Again, in another passage, he describes a bishop as one “holding fast the
faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both
to exhort and convince the gainsayers” (Tit. 1:9). From these and similar
passages which everywhere occur, we may infer that the two principal parts of
the office of pastors are to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments.
But the method of teaching consists not merely in public addresses, it extends
also to private admonitions. Thus Paul takes the Ephesians to witness, “I
kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have showed you, and have
taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and
also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ.” A little after he says, “Remember, that, for the space of
three years, I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears”
(Acts 20:20, 31). Our present purpose, however, is not to enumerate the separate
qualities of a good pastor, but only to indicate what those profess who call
themselves pastors-viz. that in presiding over the Church they have not an
indolent dignity, but must train the people to true piety by the doctrine of
Christ, administer the sacred mysteries, preserve and exercise right discipline.
To those who are set as watchmen in the Church the Lord declares, “When I
say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor
speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same
wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine
hand” (Ezek. 3:18). What Paul says of himself is applicable to all
pastors: “For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for
necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel”
(1 Cor. 4:16). In short, what the apostles did to the whole world, every pastor
should do to the flock over which he is appointed.
7. While we assign a
church to each pastor, we deny not that he who is fixed to one church may assist
other churches, whether any disturbance has occurred which requires his
presence, or his advice is asked on some doubtful matter. But because that
policy is necessary to maintain the peace of the Church, each has his proper
duty assigned, lest all should become disorderly, run up and down without any
certain vocation, flock together promiscuously to one spot, and capriciously
leave the churches vacant, being more solicitous for their own convenience than
for the edification of the Church. This arrangement ought, as far as possible,
to be commonly observed, that every one, content with his own limits, may not
encroach on another’s province. Nor is this a human invention. It is an
ordinance of God. For we read that Paul and Barnabas appointed presbyters over
each of the churches of Lystra, Antioch, and Iconium (Acts 14:23); and Paul
himself enjoins Titus to ordain presbyters in every town (Tit. 1:5). In like
manner, he mentions the bishops of the Philippians, and Archippus, the bishop of
the Colossians (Phil. 1:1; Col. 4:17). And in the Acts we have his celebrated
address to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus (Acts 20:28). Let every one,
then, who undertakes the government and care of one church, know that he is
bound by this law of divine vocation, not that he is astricted to the soil (as
lawyers speak), that is, enslaved, and, as it were, fixed, as to be unable to
move a foot if public utility so require, and the thing is done duly and in
order; but he who has been called to one place ought not to think of removing,
nor seek to be set free when he deems it for his own advantage. Again, if it is
expedient for any one to be transferred to another place, he ought not to
attempt it of his own private motive, but to wait for public authority.
8. In giving the name of bishops, presbyters, and pastors,
indiscriminately to those who govern churches, I have done it on the authority
of Scripture, which uses the words as synonymous. To all who discharge the
ministry of the word it gives the name of bishops. Thus Paul, after enjoining
Titus to ordain elders in every city, immediately adds, “A bishop must be
blameless,” &c. (Tit. 1:5, 7). So in another place he salutes several
bishops in one church (Phil. 1:1). And in the Acts, the elders of Ephesus, whom
he is said to have called together, he, in the course of his address, designates
as bishops (Acts 20:17). Here it is to be observed, that we have hitherto
enumerated those offices only which consist in the ministry of the word; nor
does Paul make mention of any others in the passage which we have quoted from
the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. But in the Epistle to the
Romans, and the First Epistle to the Corinthians, he enumerates other offices,
as powers, gifts of healing, interpretation, government, care of the poor (Rom.
12:7; 1 Cor. 12:28). As to those which were temporary, I say nothing, for it is
not worth while to dwell upon them. But there are two of perpetual duration-viz.
government and care of the poor. By these governors I understand seniors
selected from the people to unite with the bishops in pronouncing censures and
exercising discipline. For this is the only meaning which can be given to the
passage, “He that ruleth with diligence” (Rom. 12:8). From the
beginning, therefore, each church had its
senate,53[6] composed of pious,
grave, and venerable men, in whom was lodged the power of correcting faults. Of
this power we shall afterwards speak. Moreover, experience shows that this
arrangement was not confined to one age, and therefore we are to regard the
office of government as necessary for all ages.
9. The care of the poor
was committed to deacons, of whom two classes are mentioned by Paul in the
Epistle to the Romans, “He that giveth, let him do it with
simplicity;” “he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness” (Rom.
12:8). As it is certain that he is here speaking of public offices of the
Church, there must have been two distinct classes. If I mistake not, he in the
former clause designates deacons, who administered alms; in the latter, those
who had devoted themselves to the care of the poor and the sick. Such were the
widows of whom he makes mention in the Epistle to Timothy (1 Tim. 5:10). For
there was no public office which women could discharge save that of devoting
themselves to the service of the poor. If we admit this (and it certainly ought
to be admitted), there will be two classes of deacons, the one serving the
Church by administering the affairs of the poor; the other, by taking care of
the poor themselves. For although the term ????????? has a more extensive
meaning, Scripture specially gives the name of deacons to those whom the Church
appoints to dispense alms, and take care of the poor, constituting them as it
were stewards of the public treasury of the poor. Their origin, institution, and
office, is described by Luke (Acts 6:3). When a murmuring arose among the
Greeks, because in the administration of the poor their widows were neglected,
the apostles, excusing themselves that they were unable to discharge both
offices, to preach the word and serve tables, requested the multitude to elect
seven men of good report, to whom the office might be committed. Such deacons as
the Apostolic Church had, it becomes us to have after her example.
10.
Now seeing that in the sacred assembly all things ought to be done decently and
in order (1 Cor. 14:40), there is nothing in which this ought to be more
carefully observed than in settling government, irregularity in any respect
being nowhere more perilous. Wherefore, lest restless and turbulent men should
presumptuously push themselves forward to teach or rule (an event which actually
was to happen), it was expressly provided that no one should assume a public
office in the Church without a call (Heb. 5:4; Jer. 17:16). Therefore, if any
one would be deemed a true minister of the Church, he must first be duly
called; and, secondly, he must answer to his calling; that is, undertake
and execute the office assigned to him. This may often be observed in Paul, who,
when he would approve his apostleship, almost always alleges a call, together
with his fidelity in discharging the office. If so great a minister of Christ
dares not arrogate to himself authority to be heard in the Church, unless as
having been appointed to it by the command of his Lord, and faithfully
performing what has been intrusted to him, how great the effrontery for any man,
devoid of one or both of them, to demand for himself such honour. But as we have
already touched on the necessity of executing the office, let us now treat only
of the call.
11. The subject is comprehended under four heads-viz.
who are to be appointed ministers, in what way, by whom, and
with what rite or initiatory ceremony. I am speaking of the external and
formal call which relates to the public order of the Church, while I say nothing
of that secret call of which every minister is conscious before God, but has not
the Church as a witness of it; I mean, the good testimony of our heart, that we
undertake the offered office neither from ambition nor avarice, nor any other
selfish feeling, but a sincere fear of God and desire to edify the Church. This,
as I have said, is indeed necessary for every one of us, if we would approve our
ministry to God. Still, however, a man may have been duly called by the Church,
though he may have accepted with a bad conscience, provided his wickedness is
not manifest. It is usual also to say, that private men are called to the
ministry when they seem fit and apt to discharge it; that is, because learning,
conjoined with piety and the other endowments of a good pastor, is a kind of
preparation for the office. For those whom the Lord has destined for this great
office he previously provides with the armour which is requisite for the
discharge of it, that they may not come empty and unprepared. Hence Paul, in the
First Epistle to the Corinthians, when treating of the offices, first enumerates
the gifts in which those who performed the offices ought to excel. But as this
is the first of the four heads which I mentioned, let us now proceed to it.
12. What persons should be elected bishops is treated at length by Paul
in two passages (Tit. 1:7; 1 Tim. 3:1). The substance is, that none are to be
chosen save those who are of sound doctrine and holy lives, and not notorious
for any defect which might destroy their authority and bring disgrace on the
ministry. The description of deacons and elders is entirely similar (see chapter
4 sec. 10-13). We must always take care that they are not unfit for or unequal
to the burden imposed upon them; in other words, that they are provided with the
means which will be necessary to fulfil their office. Thus our Saviour, when
about to send his apostles, provided them with the arms and instruments which
were indispensably requisite.53[7]
And Paul, after portraying the character of a good and genuine bishop,
admonishes Timothy not to contaminate himself by choosing an improper person for
the office. The expression, in what way, I use not in reference to the
rite of choosing, but only to the religious fear which is to be observed in
election. Hence the fastings and prayers which Luke narrates that the faithful
employed when they elected presbyters (Acts 14:23). For, understanding that the
business was the most serious in which they could engage, they did not venture
to act without the greatest reverence and solicitude. But above all, they were
earnest in prayer, imploring from God the spirit of wisdom and discernment.
13. The third division which we have adopted is, by whom
ministers are to be chosen. A certain rule on this head cannot be obtained from
the appointment of the apostles, which was somewhat different from the common
call of others. As theirs was an extraordinary ministry, in order to render it
conspicuous by some more distinguished mark, those who were to discharge it
behoved to be called and appointed by the mouth of the Lord himself. It was not,
therefore, by any human election, but at the sole command of God and Christ,
that they prepared themselves for the work. Hence, when the apostles were
desirous to substitute another in the place of Judas, they did not venture to
nominate any one certainly, but brought forward two, that the Lord might declare
by lot which of them he wished to succeed (Acts 1:23). In this way we ought to
understand Paul’s declaration, that he was made an apostle, “not of
men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father” (Gal. 1:1).
The former-viz. not of men-he had in common with all the pious ministers
of the word, for no one could duly perform the office unless called by God. The
other was proper and peculiar to him. And while he glories in it, he boasts that
he had not only what pertains to a true and lawful pastor, but he also brings
forward the insignia of his apostleship. For when there were some among the
Galatians who, seeking to disparage his authority, represented him as some
ordinary disciple, substituted in place of the primary apostles, he, in order to
maintain unimpaired the dignity of his ministry, against which he knew that
these attempts were made, felt it necessary to show that he was in no respect
inferior to the other apostles. Accordingly, he affirms that he was not chosen
by the judgment of men, like some ordinary bishop, but by the mouth and manifest
oracle of the Lord himself.
14. But no sober person will deny that the
regular mode of lawful calling is, that bishops should be designated by men,
since there are numerous passages of Scripture to this effect. Nor, as has been
said, is there anything contrary to this in Paul’s protestation, that he
was not sent either of man, or by man, seeing he is not there speaking of the
ordinary election of ministers, but claiming for himself what was peculiar to
the apostles: although the Lord in thus selecting Paul by special privilege,
subjected him in the meantime to the discipline of an ecclesiastical call: for
Luke relates, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost
said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called
them” (Acts 13:2). Why this separation and laying on of hands after the
Holy Spirit had attested their election, unless that ecclesiastical discipline
might be preserved in appointing ministers by men? God could not give a more
illustrious proof of his approbation of this order, than by causing Paul to be
set apart by the Church after he had previously declared that he had appointed
him to be the Apostle of the Gentiles. The same thing we may see in the election
of Matthias. As the apostolic office was of such importance that they did not
venture to appoint any one to it of their own judgment, they bring forward two,
on one of whom the lot might fall, that thus the election might have a sure
testimony from heaven, and, at the same time, the policy of the Church might not
be disregarded.
15. The next question is, Whether a minister should be
chosen by the whole Church, or only by colleagues and
elders, who have the charge of discipline; or whether they may be
appointed by the authority of one
individual?53[8] Those who attribute
this right to one individual quote the words of Paul to Titus “For this
cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are
wanting, and ordain elders in every city” (Tit. 1:5); and also to Timothy,
“Lay hands suddenly on no man” (l Tim. 5:22). But they are mistaken
if they suppose that Timothy so reigned at Ephesus, and Titus in Crete, as to
dispose of all things at their own pleasure. They only presided by previously
giving good and salutary counsels to the people, not by doing alone whatever
pleased them, while all others were excluded. Lest this should seem to be a
fiction of mine, I will make it plain by a similar example. Luke relates that
Barnabas and Paul ordained elders throughout the churches, but he at the same
time marks the plan or mode when he says that it was done by suffrage. The words
are, ??????????????????????????????????????????????? (Acts 14:23). They
therefore selected (creabant) two; but the whole body, as was the custom
of the Greeks in elections, declared by a show of hands which of the two they
wished to have. Thus it is not uncommon for Roman historians to say, that the
consul who held the comitia elected the new magistrates, for no other reason but
because he received the suffrages, and presided over the people at the election.
Certainly it is not credible that Paul conceded more to Timothy and Titus than
he assumed to himself. Now we see that his custom was to appoint bishops by the
suffrages of the people. We must therefore interpret the above passages, so as
not to infringe on the common right and liberty of the Church. Rightly,
therefore, does Cyprian contend for it as of divine authority, that the priest
be chosen in presence of the people, before the eyes of all, and be approved as
worthy and fit by public judgment and testimony, (Cyprian, Lib. 1 Ep. 3).
Indeed, we see that by the command of the Lord, the practice in electing the
Levitical priests was to bring them forward in view of the people before
consecration. Nor is Matthias enrolled among the number of the apostles, nor are
the seven deacons elected in any other way, than at the sight and approval of
the people (Acts 6:2). “Those examples,” says Cyprian, “show
that the ordination of a priest behoved not to take place, unless under the
consciousness of the people assisting, so that that ordination was just and
legitimate which was vouched by the testimony of all.” We see, then, that
ministers are legitimately called according to the word of God, when those who
may have seemed fit are elected on the consent and approbation of the people.
Other pastors, however, ought to preside over the election, lest any error
should be committed by the general body either through levity, or bad passion,
or tumult.
16. It remains to consider the form of ordination, to which
we have assigned the last place in the call (see chap. 4, sec. 14, 15). It is
certain, that when the apostles appointed any one to the ministry, they used no
other ceremony than the laying on of hands. This form was derived, I think, from
the custom of the Jews, who, by the laying on of hands, in a manner presented to
God whatever they wished to be blessed and consecrated. Thus Jacob, when about
to bless Ephraim and Manasseh, placed his hands upon their heads (Gen. 48:14).
The same thing was done by our Lord, when he prayed over the little children
(Mt. 19:15). With the same intent (as I imagine), the Jews, according to the
injunction of the law, laid hands upon their sacrifices. Wherefore, the
apostles, by the laying on of hands, intimated that they made an offering to God
of him whom they admitted to the ministry; though they also did the same thing
over those on whom they conferred the visible gifts of the Spirit (Acts 8:17;
19:6). However this be, it was the regular form, whenever they called any one to
the sacred ministry. In this way they consecrated pastors and teachers; in this
way they consecrated deacons. But though there is no fixed precept concerning
the laying on of hands, yet as we see that it was uniformly observed by the
apostles, this careful observance ought to be regarded by us in the light of a
precept (see chap. 14, sec. 20; chap. 19, sec. 31). And it is certainly useful,
that by such a symbol the dignity of the ministry should be commended to the
people, and he who is ordained, reminded that he is no longer his own, but is
bound in service to God and the Church. Besides, it will not prove an empty
sign, if it be restored to its genuine origin. For if the Spirit of God has not
instituted anything in the Church in vain, this ceremony of his appointment we
shall feel not to be useless, provided it be not superstitiously abused. Lastly,
it is to observed, that it was not the whole people, but only pastors, who laid
hands on ministers, though it is uncertain whether or not several always laid
their hands: it is certain, that in the case of the deacons, it was done by Paul
and Barnabas, and some few others (Acts 6:6; 13:3). But in another place, Paul
mentions that he himself, without any others, laid hands on Timothy.
“Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God
which is in thee, by the putting on of my hands” (2 Tim. 1:6). For what is
said in the First Epistle, of the laying on of the hands of the
presbytery, I do not understand as if Paul were speaking of the college of
Elders. By the expression, I understand the ordination itself; as if he had
said, Act so, that the gift which you received by the laying on of hands, when I
made you a presbyter, may not be in vain.
CHAPTER
4.
OF THE STATE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, AND THE
MODE OF GOVERNMENT IN USE BEFORE THE PAPACY.
The divisions of this
chapter are,-I. The mode of government in the primitive Church, sec 1-10. II.
The formal ordination of Bishops and Ministers in the primitive Church, sec.
10-15.
Sections.
1. The method of government in the
primitive Church. Not in every respect conformable to the rule of the word of
God. Three distinct orders of Ministers.
2. First, the Bishop, for the
sake of preserving order, presided over the Presbyters or Pastors. The office of
Bishop. Presbyter and Bishop the same. The institution of this order ancient.
3. The office of Bishop and Presbyters. Strictly preserved in the
primitive Church.
4. Of Archbishops and Patriarchs. Very seldom used.
For what end instituted. Hierarchy an improper name, and not used in
Scripture.
5. Deacons, the second order of Ministers in the primitive
Church. Their proper office. The Bishop their inspector. Subdeacons, their
assistants. Archdeacons, their presidents. The reading of the Gospel, an
adventitious office conferred in honour on the Deacons.
6. Mode in which
the goods of the Church were anciently dispensed. 1. The support of the poor. 2.
Due provision for the ministers of the Church.
7. The administration at
first free and voluntary. The revenues of the Church afterwards classed under
four heads.
8. A third part of the revenues devoted to the fabric of
churches. To this, however, when necessary, the claim of the poor was preferred.
Sayings, testimonies, and examples to this effect, from Cyril, Acatius, Jerome,
Exuperius, Ambrose.
9. The Clerici, among whom were the Doorkeepers and
Acolytes, were the names given to exercises used as a kind of training for
tyros.
10. Second part of the chapter, treating of the calling of
Ministers. Some error introduced in course of time in respect to celibacy from
excessive strictness. In regard to the ordination of Ministers, full regard not
always paid to the consent of the people. Why the people less anxious to
maintain their right. Ordinations took place at stated times.
11. In the
ordination of Bishops the liberty of the people maintained.
12. Certain
limits afterwards introduced to restrain the inconsiderate licence of the
multitude.
13. This mode of election long prevailed. Testimony of
Gregory. Nothing repugnant to this in the decretals of Gratian.
14. The
form of ordination in the ancient Church.
15. This form gradually
changed.
1. HITHERTO we have discoursed of the order of church government
as delivered to us in the pure word of God, and of ministerial offices as
instituted by Christ (chap. 1 sec. 5, 6; chap. 3). Now that the whole subject
may be more clearly and familiarly explained, and also better fixed in our
minds, it will be useful to attend to the form of the early church, as this will
give us a kind of visible representation of the divine institution. For although
the bishops of those times published many canons, in which they seemed to
express more than is expressed by the sacred volume, yet they were so cautious
in framing all their economy on the word of God, the only standard, that it is
easy to see that they scarcely in any respect departed from it. Even if
something may be wanting in these enactments, still, as they were sincerely
desirous to preserve the divine institution, and have not strayed far from it,
it will be of great benefit here briefly to explain what their observance was.
As we have stated that three classes of ministers are set before us in
Scripture, so the early Church distributed all its ministers into three orders.
For from the order of presbyters, part were selected as pastors and teachers,
while to the remainder was committed the censure of manners and discipline. To
the deacons belonged the care of the poor and the dispensing of alms. Readers
and Acolytes were not the names of certain offices; but those whom they called
clergy, they accustomed from their youth to serve the Church by certain
exercises, that they might the better understand for what they were destined,
and afterwards come better prepared for their duty, as I will shortly show at
greater length. Accordingly, Jerome, in setting forth five orders in the Church,
enumerates Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, Believers, Catechumens: to the other
Clergy and Monks he gives no proper
place53[9] (Hieron. in Jes. c. 9).
2. All, therefore, to whom the office of teaching was committed, they
called presbyters, and in each city these presbyters selected one of their
number to whom they gave the special title of bishop, lest, as usually happens,
from equality dissension should arise. The bishop, however, was not so superior
in honour and dignity as to have dominion over his colleagues, but as it belongs
to a president in an assembly to bring matters before them, collect their
opinions, take precedence of others in consulting, advising, exhorting, guide
the whole procedure by his authority, and execute what is decreed by common
consent, a bishop held the same office in a meeting of presbyters. And the
ancients themselves confess that this practice was introduced by human
arrangement, according to the exigency of the times. Thus Jerome, on the Epistle
to Titus, cap. 1, says, “A bishop is the same as a presbyter. And before
dissensions were introduced into religion by the instigation of the devil, and
it was said among the people, I am of Paul, and I of Cephas, churches were
governed by a common council of presbyters. Afterwards, that the seeds of
dissension might be plucked up, the whole charge was devolved upon mendatory
rescripts, preventions, and the like. But they all conduct one. Therefore, as
presbyters know that by the custom of the Church they are subject to him who
presides, so let bishops know that they are greater than presbyters more by
custom than in consequence of our Lord’s appointment, and ought to rule
the Church for the common good.” In another place he shows how ancient the
custom was (Hieron. Epist. ad Evang.). For he says that at Alexandria, from Mark
the Evangelist, as far down as Heraclas and Dionysius, presbyters always placed
one, selected from themselves, in a higher rank, and gave him the name of
bishop. Each city, therefore, had a college of presbyters, consisting of pastors
and teachers. For they all performed to the people that office of teaching,
exhorting, and correcting, which Paul enjoins on bishops (Tit. 1:9); and that
they might leave a seed behind them, they made it their business to train the
younger men who had devoted themselves to the sacred warfare. To each city was
assigned a certain district which took presbyters from it, and was considered as
it were incorporated into that church. Each presbyter, as I have said, merely to
preserve order and peace, was under one bishop, who, though he excelled others
in dignity, was subject to the meeting of the brethren. But if the district
which was under his bishopric was too large for him to be able to discharge all
the duties of bishop, presbyters were distributed over it in certain places to
act as his substitutes in minor matters. These were called Chorepiscopi
(rural bishops), because they represented the bishops throughout the province.
3. But, in regard to the office of which we now treat, the bishop as
well as the presbyters behoved to employ themselves in the administration of
word and sacraments. For, at Alexandria only (as Arius had there troubled the
Church), it was enacted, that no presbyter should deliver an address to the
people, as Socrates says, Tripartit. Hist. Lib. 9. Jerome does not conceal his
dissatisfaction with the enactment (Hieron. Epist. ad Evagr.). It certainly
would have been deemed monstrous for one to give himself out as a bishop, and
yet not show himself a true bishop by his conduct. Such, then, was the
strictness of those times, that all ministers were obliged to fulfil the office
as the Lord requires of them. Nor do I refer to the practice of one age only,
since not even in the time of Gregory, when the Church had almost fallen
(certainly had greatly degenerated from ancient purity), would any bishop have
been tolerated who abstained from preaching. In some part of his twenty-fourth
Epistle he says, “The priest dies when no sound is heard from him: for he
calls forth the wrath of the unseen Judge against him if he walks without the
sound of preaching.” Elsewhere he says, “When Paul testifies that he
is pure from the blood of all men (Acts 20:26), by his words, we, who are called
priests, are charged, are arraigned, are shown to be guilty, since to those sins
which we have of our own we add the deaths of other men, for we commit murder as
often as lukewarm and silent we see them daily going to destruction”
(Gregor. Hom. in Ezek. 11:26 ). He calls himself and others silent when less
assiduous in their work than they ought to be. Since he does not spare even
those who did their duty partially, what think you would he do in the case of
those who entirely neglected it? For a long time, therefore, it was regarded in
the Church as the first duty of a bishop to feed the people by the word of God,
or to edify the Church, in public and private, with sound doctrine.
4.
As to the fact, that each province had an archbishop among the bishops (see
chap. 7 sec. 15), and, moreover, that, in the Council of Nice, patriarchs were
appointed to be superior to archbishops, in order and dignity, this was designed
for the preservation of discipline, although, in treating of the subject here,
it ought not to be omitted, that the practice was very rare. The chief reason
for which these orders were instituted was, that if anything occurred in any
church which could not well be explicated by a few, it might be referred to a
provincial synod. If the magnitude or difficulty of the case demanded a larger
discussion, patriarchs were employed along with
synods,54[0] and from them there was
no appeal except to a General Council. To the government thus constituted some
gave the name of Hierarchy-a name, in my opinion, improper, certainly one not
used by Scripture. For the Holy Spirit designed to provide that no one should
dream of primacy or domination in regard to the government of the Church. But
if, disregarding the term, we look to the thing, we shall find that the ancient
bishops had no wish to frame a form of church government different from that
which God has prescribed in his word.
5. Nor was the case of deacons
then different from what it had been under the apostles (chap. 3 sec. 6). For
they received the daily offerings of the faithful, and the annual revenues of
the Church, that they might apply them to their true uses; in other words,
partly in maintaining ministers, and partly in supporting the poor; at the sight
of the bishop, however, to whom they every year gave an account of their
stewardship. For, although the canons uniformly make the bishop the dispenser of
all the goods of the Church, this is not to be understood as if he by himself
undertook that charge, but because it belonged to him to prescribe to the deacon
who were to be admitted to the public alimony of the Church, and point out to
what persons, and in what portions, the residue was to be distributed, and
because he was entitled to see whether the deacon faithfully performed his
office. Thus, in the canons which they ascribe to the apostles, it is said,
“We command that the bishop have the affairs of the Church under his
control. For if the souls of men, which are more precious, have been intrusted
to him, much more is he entitled to have the charge of money matters, so that
under his control all may be dispensed to the poor by the presbyters and
deacons, that the ministration may be made reverently and with due care.”
And in the Council of Antioch, it was decreed (cap. 35), that bishops, who
inter-meddled with the effects of the Church, without the knowledge of the
presbyters and deacons, should be restrained. But there is no occasion to
discuss this point farther, since it is evident, from many of the letters of
Gregory, that even at that time, when the ecclesiastical ordinances were
otherwise much vitiated, it was still the practice for the deacons to be, under
the bishops, the stewards of the poor. It is probable that at the first
subdeacons were attached to the deacons, to assist them in the management of the
poor; but the distinction was gradually lost. Archdeacons began to be appointed
when the extent of the revenues demanded a new and more exact method of
administration, though Jerome mentions that it already existed in his
day.54[1] To them belonged the
amount of revenues, possessions, and furniture, and the charge of the daily
offerings. Hence Gregory declares to the Archdeacon Solitanus, that the blame
rested with him, if any of the goods of the Church perished through his fraud or
negligence. The reading of the word to the people, and exhortation to prayer,
was assigned to them, and they were permitted, moreover, to give the cup in the
sacred Supper; but this was done for the purpose of honouring their office, that
they might perform it with greater reverence, when they were reminded by such
symbols that what they discharged was not some profane stewardship, but a
spiritual function dedicated to God.
6. Hence, also, we may judge what
was the use, and of what nature was the distribution of ecclesiastical goods.
You may everywhere find, both from the decrees of synods, and from ancient
writers, that whatever the Church possessed, either in lands or in money, was
the patrimony of the poor. Accordingly, the saying is ever and anon sounded in
the ears of bishops and deacons, Remember that you are not handling your own
property, but that destined for the necessities of the poor; if you dishonestly
conceal or dilapidate it, you will be guilty of blood. Hence they are admonished
to distribute them to those to whom they are due, with the greatest fear and
reverence, as in the sight of God, without respect of persons. Hence, also, in
Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, and other like bishops, those grave obtestations
in which they assert their integrity before the people. But since it is just in
itself, and was sanctioned by a divine law, that those who devote their labour
to the Church shall be supported at the public expense of the Church, and some
presbyters in that age having consecrated their patrimony to God, had become
voluntarily poor, the distribution was so made that aliment was afforded to
ministers, and the poor were not neglected. Meanwhile, it was provided that the
ministers themselves, who ought to be an example of frugality to others, should
not have so much as might be abused for luxury or delicacy; but only what might
be needful to support their wants: “For those clergy, who can be supported
by their own patrimony,” says Jerome, “commit sacrilege if they
accept what belongs to the poor, and by such abuse eat and drink judgment to
themselves.”
7. At first the administration was free and voluntary,
when bishops and deacons were faithful of their own accord, and when integrity
of conscience and purity of life supplied the place of laws. Afterwards, when,
from the cupidity and depraved desires of some, bad examples arose, canons were
framed, to correct these evils, and divided the revenues of the Church into four
parts, assigning one to the clergy, another to the poor, another to the repair
of churches and other edifices, a fourth to the poor,
whether54[2] strangers or natives.
For though other canons attribute this last part to the bishop, it differs in no
respect from the division which I have mentioned. For they do not mean that it
is his property, which he may devour alone or squander in any way he pleases,
but that it may enable him to use the hospitality which Paul requires in that
order (1 Tim. 3:2). This is the interpretation of Gelasius and Gregory. For the
only reason which Gelasius gives why the bishop should claim anything to himself
is, that he may be able to bestow it on captives and strangers. Gregory speaks
still more clearly: “It is the custom of the Apostolic See,” says
he, “to give command to the bishop who has been ordained, to divide all
the revenues into four portions-namely, one to the bishop and his household for
hospitality and maintenance, another to the clergy, a third to the poor, a
fourth to the repair of churches.” The bishop, therefore, could not
lawfully take for his own use more than was sufficient for moderate and frugal
food and clothing. When any one began to wanton either in luxury or ostentation
and show, he was immediately reprimanded by his colleagues, and if he obeyed
not, was deprived of his honours.
8. Moreover, the sum expended on the
adorning of churches was at first very trifling, and even afterwards, when the
Church had become somewhat more wealthy, they in that matter observed
mediocrity. Still, whatever money was then collected was reserved for the poor,
when any greater necessity occurred. Thus Cyril, when a famine prevailed in the
province of Jerusalem, and the want could not otherwise be supplied, took the
vessels and robes and sold them for the support of the poor. In like manner,
Acatius, Bishop of Amida, when a great multitude of the Persians were almost
destroyed by famine, having assembled the clergy, and delivered this noble
address, “Our God has no need either of chalices or salvers, for he
neither eats nor drinks” (Tripart. Hist. Lib. 5 and Lib. 11 c. 16) melted
down the plate, that he might be able to furnish food and obtain the means of
ransoming the miserable. Jerome also, while inveighing against the excessive
splendour of churches, relates that Exuperius, Bishop of Tholouse, in his day,
though he carried the body of the Lord in a wicker basket, and his blood in a
glass, nevertheless suffered no poor man to be hungry (Hieron. ad Nepotian).
What I lately said of Acatius, Ambrose relates of himself. For when the Arians
assailed him for having broken down the sacred vessels for the ransom of
captives, he made this most admirable excuse: “He who sent the apostles
without gold has also gathered churches without gold. The Church has gold not to
keep but to distribute, and give support in necessity. What need is there of
keeping what is of no benefit? Are we ignorant how much gold and silver the
Assyrians carried off from the temple of the Lord? Is it not better for a priest
to melt them for the support of the poor, if other means are wanting, than for a
sacrilegious enemy to carry them away? Would not the Lord say, Why have you
suffered so many poor to die of hunger, and you certainly had gold wherewith to
minister to their support? Why have so many captives been carried away and not
redeemed? Why have so many been slain by the enemy? It had been better to
preserve living than metallic vessels. These charges you will not be able to
answer: for what could you say? I feared lest the temple of God should want
ornament. He would answer, Sacraments require not gold, and things which are not
bought with gold please not by gold. The ornament of the Sacraments is the
ransom of captives” (Ambros. de Offic. Lib. 2 c. 28). In a word, we see
the exact truth of what he elsewhere says-viz. that whatever the Church then
possessed was the revenue of the needy. Again, A bishop has nothing but what
belongs to the poor (Ambros. Lib. 5 Ep. 31, 33).
9. We have now reviewed
the ministerial offices of the ancient Church. For others, of which
ecclesiastical writers make mention, were rather exercises and preparations than
distinct offices. These holy men, that they might leave a nursery of the Church
behind them, received young men, who, with the consent and authority of their
parents, devoted themselves to the spiritual warfare under their guardianship
and training, and so formed them from their tender years, that they might not
enter on the discharge of the office as ignorant novices. All who received this
training were designated by the general name of Clerks. I could wish that
some more appropriate name had been given them, for this appellation had its
origin in error, or at least improper feeling, since the whole church is by
Peter denominated ?????? (clerus), that is, the inheritance of the Lord
(1 Pet. 5:3). It was in itself, however, a most sacred and salutary institution,
that those who wished to devote themselves and their labour to the Church should
be brought up under the charge of the bishop; so that no one should minister in
the Church unless he had been previously well trained, unless he had in early
life imbibed sound doctrine, unless by stricter discipline he had formed habits
of gravity and severer morals, been withdrawn from ordinary business, and
accustomed to spiritual cares and studies. For as tyros in the military art are
trained by mock fights for true and serious warfare, so there was a rudimental
training by which they were exercised in clerical duty before they were actually
appointed to office. First, then, they intrusted them with the opening and
shutting of the church, and called them Ostiarii. Next, they gave the name of
Acolytes to those who assisted the bishop in domestic services, and constantly
attended him, first, as a mark of respect; and, secondly, that no suspicion
might arise.54[3] Moreover, that
they might gradually become known to the people, and recommend themselves to
them, and at the same time might learn to stand the gaze of all, and speak
before all, that they might not, when appointed presbyters, be overcome with
shame when they came forward to teach, the office of reading in the desk was
given them.54[4] In this way they
were gradually advanced, that they might prove their carefulness in separate
exercises, until they were appointed subdeacons. All I mean by this is, that
these were rather the rudimentary exercises of tyros than functions which were
accounted among the true ministries of the Church.
10. In regard to what
we have set down as the first and second heads in the calling of ministers-viz.
the persons to be elected and the religious care to be therein exercised-the
ancient Church followed the injunction of Paul, and the examples of the
apostles. For they were accustomed to meet for the election of pastors with the
greatest reverence, and with earnest prayer to God. Moreover, they had a form of
examination by which they tested the life and doctrine of those who were to be
elected by the standard of Paul (1 Tim. 3:2); only here they sometimes erred
from excessive strictness, by exacting more of a bishop than Paul requires, and
especially, in process of time, by exacting celibacy: but in other respects
their practice corresponded with Paul’s description. In regard to our
third head, however-viz. Who were entitled to appoint ministers?-they did not
always observe the same rule. Anciently none were admitted to the number of the
clergy without the consent of the whole people: and hence Cyprian makes a
laboured apology for having appointed Aurelius a reader without consulting the
Church, because, although done contrary to custom, it was not done without
reason. He thus premises: “In ordaining clergy, dearest brethren, we are
wont previously to consult you, and weigh the manners and merits of each by the
common advice” (Cyprian. Lib. 2 Ep. 5). But as in these minor
exercises54[5] there was no great
danger, inasmuch as they were appointed to a long probation and unimportant
function, the consent of the people ceased to be asked. Afterwards, in other
orders also, with the exception of the bishopric, the people usually left the
choice and decision to the bishop and presbyters, who thus determined who were
fit and worthy, unless, perhaps, when new presbyters were appointed to parishes,
for then the express consent of the inhabitants of the place behoved to be
given. Nor is it strange that in this matter the people were not very anxious to
maintain their right, for no subdeacon was appointed who had not given a long
proof of his conduct in the clerical office, agreeably to the strictness of
discipline then in use. After he had approved himself in that degree, he was
appointed deacon, and thereafter, if he conducted himself faithfully, he
attained to the honour of a presbyter. Thus none were promoted whose conduct had
not, in truth, been tested for many years under the eye of the people. There
were also many canons for punishing their faults, so that the Church, if she did
not neglect the remedies, was not burdened with bad presbyters or deacons. In
the case of presbyters, indeed, the consent of the citizens was always required,
as is attested by the canon (Primus Distinct. 67), which is attributed to
Anacletus. In fine, all ordinations took place at stated periods of the year,
that none might creep in stealthily without the consent of the faithful, or be
promoted with too much facility without witnesses.
11. In electing
bishops, the people long retained their right of preventing any one from being
intruded who was not acceptable to all. Accordingly, it was forbidden by the
Council of Antioch to induct any one on the unwilling. This also Leo I.
carefully confirms. Hence these passages: “Let him be elected whom the
clergy and people or the majority demand.” Again. “Let him who is to
preside over all be elected by all” (Leo, Ep. 90, cap. 2). He, therefore,
who is appointed while unknown and unexamined, must of necessity be violently
intruded. Again, “Let him be elected who is chosen by the clergy, and
called by the people, and let him be consecrated by the provincials with the
judgment of the metropolitan.” So careful were the holy fathers that this
liberty of the people should on no account be diminished, that when a general
council, assembled at Constantinople, were ordaining Nectarius, they declined to
do it without the approbation of the whole clergy and people, as their letter to
the Roman synod testified. Accordingly, when any bishop nominated his successor,
the act was not ratified without consulting the whole people. Of this you have
not only an example, but the form, in Augustine, in the nomination of Eradius
(August. Ep. 110). And Theodoret, after relating that Peter was the successor
nominated by Athanasius, immediately adds, that the sacerdotal order ratified
it, that the magistracy, chief men, and whole people, by their acclamation
approved.54[6]
12. It was,
indeed, decreed (and I admit on the best grounds) by the Council of Laodicea
(Can. 18) that the election should not be left to crowds. For it scarcely ever
happens that so many heads, with one consent, settle any affair well. It
generally holds true, “Incertum scindi studia in contraria
vulgus;”-”Opposing wishes rend the fickle crowd.” For, first,
the clergy alone selected, and presented him whom they had selected to the
magistrate, or senate, and chief men. These, after deliberation, put their
signature to the election, if it seemed proper, if not, they chose another whom
they more highly approved. The matter was then laid before the multitude, who,
although not bound by those previous proceedings, were less able to act
tumultuously. Or, if the matter began with the multitude, it was only that it
might be known whom they were most desirous to have; the wishes of the people
being heard, the clergy at length elected. Thus, it was neither lawful for the
clergy to appoint whom they chose, nor were they, however, under the necessity
of yielding to the foolish desires of the people. Leo sets down this order, when
he says, “The wishes of the citizens, the testimonies of the people, the
choice of the honourable, the election of the clergy, are to be waited
for” (Leo, Ep. 87). Again, “Let the testimony of the honourable, the
subscription of the clergy, the consent of the magistracy and people, be
obtained; otherwise (says he) it must on no account be done.” Nor is
anything more intended by the decree of the Counci1 of Laodicea, than that the
clergy and rulers were not to allow themselves to be carried away by the rash
multitude, but rather by their prudence and gravity to repress their foolish
desires whenever there was occasion.
13. This mode of election was still
in force in the time of Gregory, and probably continued to a much later period.
Many of his letters which are extant clearly prove this, for whenever a new
bishop is to be elected, his custom is to write to the clergy, magistrates, and
people; sometimes also to the governor, according to the nature of the
government. But if, on account of the unsettled state of the Church, he gives
the oversight of the election to a neighbouring bishop, he always requires a
formal decision confirmed by the subscriptions of all. Nay, when one Constantius
was elected Bishop of Milan, and in consequence of the incursions of the
Barbarians many of the Milanese had fled to Genoa, he thought that the election
would not be lawful unless they too were called together and gave their assent
(Gregor. Lib. 2 Ep. 69). Nay, five hundred years have not elapsed since Pope
Nicholas fixed the election of the Roman Pontiff in this way, first, that the
cardinals should precede; next, that they should join to themselves the other
clergy; and, lastly, that the election should be ratified by the consent of the
people. And in the end he recites the decree of Leo, which I lately quoted, and
orders it to be enforced in future. But should the malice of the wicked so
prevail that the clergy are obliged to quit the city, in order to make a pure
election, he, however, orders that some of the people shall, at the same time,
be present. The suffrage of the Emperor, as far as we can understand, was
required only in two churches, those of Rome and Constantinople, these being the
two seats of empire. For when Ambrose was sent by Valentinianus to Milan with
authority to superintend the election of a new bishop, it was an extraordinary
proceeding, in consequence of the violent factions which raged among the
citizens. But at Rome the authority of the Emperor in the election of the bishop
was so great, that Gregory says he was appointed to the government of the Church
by his order (Gregor. Lib. 1 Ep. 5), though he had been called by the people in
regular form. The custom, however, was, that when the magistrates, clergy, and
people, nominated any one, he was forthwith presented to the Emperor, who either
by approving ratified, or by disapproving annulled the election. There is
nothing contrary to this practice in the decretals which are collected by
Gratian. where all that is said is, that it was on no account to be tolerated,
that canonical election should be abolished, and a king should at pleasure
appoint a bishop, and that one thus promoted by violent authority was not to be
consecrated by the metropolitans. For it is one thing to deprive the Church of
her right, and transfer it entirely to the caprice of a single individual; it is
another thing to assign to a king or emperor the honour of confirming a
legitimate election by his authority.
14. It now remains to treat of the
form by which the ministers of the ancient Church were initiated to their office
after election. This was termed by the Latins, Ordination or consecration, and
by the Greeks ???????????, sometimes also ???????????, though ???????????
properly denotes that mode of election by which suffrages are declared by a show
of hands. There is extant a decree of the Council of Nice, to the effect that
the metropolitans, with all the bishops of the province, were to meet to ordain
him who was chosen. But if, from distance, or sickness, or any other necessary
cause, part were prevented, three at least should meet, and those who were
absent signify their consent by letter. And this canon, after it had fallen into
desuetude, was afterwards renewed by several councils. All, or at least all who
had not an excuse, were enjoined to be present, in order that a stricter
examination might be had of the life and doctrine of him who was to be ordained;
for the thing was not done without examination. And it appears, from the words
of Cyprian, that, in old time, they were not wont to be called after the
election, but to be present at the election, and with the view of their acting
as moderators, that no disorder might be committed by the crowd. For after
saying that the people had the power either of choosing worthy or refusing
unworthy priests, he immediately adds, “For which reason, we must
carefully observe and hold by the divine and apostolic tradition (which is
observed by us also, and almost by all the provinces), that for the due
performance of ordinations all the nearest bishops of the province should meet
with the people over whom the person is proposed to be ordained, and the bishop
should be elected in presence of the people. But as they were sometimes too
slowly assembled, and there was a risk that some might abuse the delay for
purposes of intrigue, it was thought that it would be sufficient if they came
after the designation was made, and on due investigation consecrated him who had
been approved.
15. While this was done everywhere without exception, a
different custom gradually gained ground-namely, that those who were elected
should go to the metropolitan to obtain ordination. This was owing more to
ambition, and the corruption of the ancient custom, than to any good reason. And
not long after, the authority of the Romish See being now increased, another
still worse custom was introduced, of applying to it for the consecration of the
bishops of almost all Italy. This we may observe from the letters of Gregory
(Lib. 2 Ep. 69, 76). The ancient right was preserved by a few cities only which
had not yielded so easily; for instance, Milan. Perhaps metropolitan sees only
retained their privilege. For, in order to consecrate an archbishop, it was the
practice for all the provincial bishops to meet in the metropolitan city. The
form used was the laying on of hands (chap. 19 sec. 28, 31). I do not read that
any other ceremonies were used, except that, in the public meeting, the bishops
had some dress to distinguish them from the other presbyters. Presbyters, also,
and deacons, were ordained by the laying on of hands; but each bishop, with the
college of presbyters, ordained his own presbyters. But though they all did the
same act, yet because the bishop presided, and the ordination was performed as
it were under his auspices, it was said to be his. Hence ancient writers often
say that a presbyter does not differ in any respect from a bishop except in not
having the power of ordaining.
CHAPTER
5.
THE ANCIENT FORM OF GOVERNMENT UTTERLY CORRUPTED
BY THE TYRANNY OF THE PAPACY.
This chapter consists of two
parts,-I. Who are called to the ministry under the Papacy, their character, and
the ground of their appointment, sec. l-7. II. How far they fulfil their office,
sec. 8-19.
Sections.
1. Who and what kind of persons are
uniformly appointed bishops in the Papacy. 1. No inquiry into doctrine. 2. In
regard to character, the unlearned and dissolute, boys, or men of wicked lives,
chosen.
2. The right of the people taken away, though maintained by
Leo, Cyprian, and Councils. It follows that there is no Canonical election in
the Papacy. Two objections answered. Papal elections, what. Kind of persons
elected.
3. A fuller explanation of the answer to the second objection,
unfolding the errors of people, bishops, and princes.
4. No election of
presbyters and deacons in the Papacy. 1. Because they are ordained for a
different end. 2. Contrary to the command of Scripture and the Council of
Chalcedon, no station is assigned them. 3. Both the name and thing adulterated
by a thousand frauds.
5. Refutation of those corruptions. Proper end of
ordination. Of trial, and other necessary things. For these, wicked and
sanguinary men have substituted vain show and deplorable blindness.
6.
Second corruption relating to the assignation of benefices which they call
collation. Manifold abuses here exposed. Why the offices of priests are in the
Papacy called benefices.
7. One individual appointed over five or six
churches. This most shameful corruption severely condemned by many Councils.
8. Second part of the chapter-viz. how the office is discharged. Monks
who have no place among Presbyters. Objection answered.
9. Presbyters
divided into beneficiaries and mercenaries. The beneficiaries are bishops,
parsons, canons, chaplains, abbots, priors. The mercenaries condemned by the
word of God.
10. The name of beneficiaries given to idle priests who
perform no office in the church. Objection answered. What kind of persons the
canons should be. Another objection answered. The beneficiaries not true
presbyters.
11. The bishops and rectors of parishes, by deserting their
churches, glory only in an empty name.
12. The seeds of this evil in
the age of Gregory, who inveighs against mercenaries. More sharply rebuked by
Bernard.
13. The supreme Popish administration described. Ridiculous
allegation of those so-called ministers of the Church. Answer.
14.
Their shameful morals. Scarcely one who would not have been excommunicated or
deposed by the ancient canons.
15. No true diaconate existing in the
Papacy, though they have still the shadow of it. Corruption of the practice of
the primitive Church in regard to deacons.
16. Ecclesiastical property,
which was formerly administered by true deacons, plundered by bishops and
canons, in defraud of the poor.
17. Blasphemous defence of these
robbers. Answer. Kings doing homage to Christ. Theodosius. A saying of Ambrose.
18. Another defence with regard to the adorning of churches. Answer.
19. Concluding answer, showing that the diaconate is completely
subverted by the Papacy.
1. IT may now be proper to bring under the eye
of the reader the order of church government observed by the Roman See and all
its satellites, and the whole of that hierarchy, which they have perpetually in
their mouths, and compare it with the description we have given of the primitive
and early Church, that the contrast may make it manifest what kind of church
those have who plume themselves on the very title, as sufficient to outweigh, or
rather overwhelm us. It will be best to begin with the call, that we may see who
are called to the ministry, with what character, and on what grounds. Thereafter
we will consider how far they faithfully fulfil their office. We shall give the
first place to the bishops; would that they could claim the honour of holding
the first rank in this disscussion! But the subject does not allow me even to
touch it lightly, without exposing their disgrace. Still, let me remember in
what kind of writing I am engaged, and not allow my discourse, which ought to be
framed for simple teaching, to wander beyond its proper limits. But let any of
them, who have not laid aside all modesty, tell me what kind of bishops are
uniformly elected in the present day. Any examination of doctrine is too old
fashioned, but if any respect is had to doctrine, they make choice of some
lawyer who knows better how to plead in the forum than to preach in the church.
This much is certain, that for a hundred years, scarcely one in a hundred has
been elected who had any acquaintance with sacred doctrine. I do not spare
former ages because they were much better, but because the question now relates
only to the present Church. If morals be inquired into, we shall find few or
almost none whom the ancient canons would not have judged unworthy. If one was
not a drunkard, he was a fornicator; if one was free from this vice, he was
either a gambler or sportsman, or a loose liver in some respect. For there are
lighter faults which, according to the ancient canons, exclude from the
episcopal office. But the most absurd thing of all is, that even boys scarcely
ten years of age are, by the permission of the Pope, made bishops. Such is the
effrontery and stupidity to which they have arrived, that they have no dread
even of that last and monstrous iniquity, which is altogether abhorrent even
from natural feeling. Hence it appears what kind of elections these must have
been, when such supine negligence existed.
2. Then in election, the
whole right has been taken from the people. Vows, assents, subscriptions, and
all things of this sort, have disappeared; the whole power has been given to the
canons alone. First, they confer the episcopal office on whomsoever they please;
by-and-by they bring him forth into the view of the people, but it is to be
adored, not examined. But Leo protests that no reason permits this, and declares
it to be a violent imposition (Leo, Ep. 90, cap. 2). Cyprian, after declaring it
to be of divine authority, that election should not take place without the
consent of the people, shows that a different procedure is at variance with the
word of God. Numerous decrees of councils most strictly forbid it to be
otherwise done, and if done, order it to be null. If this is true, there is not
throughout the whole Papacy in the present day any canonical election in
accordance either with divine or ecclesiastical law. Now, were there no other
evil in this, what excuse can they give for having robbed the Church of her
right? But the corruption of the times required (they say), that since hatred
and party-spirit prevailed with the people and magistrates in the election of
bishops more than right and sound judgment, the determination should be confined
to a few. Allow that this was the last remedy in desperate circumstances. When
the cure was seen to be more hurtful than the disease, why was not a remedy
provided for this new evil? But it is said that the course which the Canons must
follow is strictly prescribed. But can we doubt, that even in old times the
people, on meeting to elect a bishop, were aware that they were bound by the
most sacred laws, when they saw a rule prescribed by the word of God? That one
sentence in which God describes the true character of a bishop ought justly to
be of more weight than ten thousand canons. Nevertheless, carried away by the
worst of feelings, they had no regard to law or equity. So in the present day,
though most excellent laws have been made, they remain buried in writing.
Meanwhile, the general and approved practice is (and it is carried on as it were
systematically), that drunkards, fornicators, gamblers, are everywhere promoted
to this honour; nay, this is little: bishoprics are the rewards of adulterers
and panders: for when they are given to hunters and hawkers, things may be
considered at the best. To excuse such unworthy procedure in any way, were to be
wicked over much. The people had a most excellent canon prescribed to them by
the word of God-viz. that a bishop must be blameless, apt to teach, not a
brawler, &c. (1 Tim. 3:2). Why, then, was the province of electing
transferred from the people to these men? Just because among the tumults and
factions of the people the word of God was not heard. And, on the other hand,
why is it not in the present day transferred from these men, who not only
violate all laws, but having cast off shame, libidinously, avariciously, and
ambitiously, mix and confound things human and divine?
3. But it is not
true to say that the thing was devised as a remedy. We read, that in old times
tumults often arose in cities at the election of bishops; yet no one ever
ventured to think of depriving the citizens of their right: for they had other
methods by which they could either prevent the fault, or correct it when
committed. I will state the matter as it truly is. When the people began to be
negligent in making their choice, and left the business, as less suited to them,
to the presbyters, these abused the opportunity to usurp a domination, which
they afterwards established by putting forth new canons. Ordination is now
nothing else than a mere mockery. For the kind of examination of which they make
a display is so empty and trifling, that it even entirely wants the semblance.
Therefore. when sovereigns, by paction with the Roman Pontiffs, obtained for
themselves the right of nominating bishops, the Church sustained no new injury,
because the canons were merely deprived of an election which they had seized
without any right, or acquired by stealth. Nothing, indeed, can be more
disgraceful, than that bishops should be sent from courts to take possession of
churches, and pious princes would do well to desist from such corruption. For
there is an impious spoliation of the Church whenever any people have a bishop
intruded whom they have not asked, or at least freely approved. But that
disorderly practice, which long existed in churches, gave occasion to sovereigns
to assume to themselves the presentation of bishops. They wished the benefice to
belong to themselves, rather than to those who had no better right to it, and
who equally abused it.
4. Such is the famous call, on account of which
bishops boast that they are the successors of the apostles. They say, moreover,
that they alone can competently appoint presbyters. But herein they most
shamefully corrupt the ancient institution, that they by their ordination
appoint not presbyters to guide and feed the people, but priests to sacrifice.
In like manner, when they consecrate deacons, they pay no regard to their true
and proper office, but only ordain to certain ceremonies concerning the cup and
patent. But in the Council of Chalcedon it was, on the contrary, decreed that
there should be no absolute ordinations, that is, ordinations without assigning
to the ordained a place where they were to exercise their office. This decree is
most useful for two reasons-first, That churches may not be burdened with
superfluous expense, nor idle men receive what ought to be distributed to the
poor; and, secondly, That those who are ordained may consider that they are not
promoted merely to an honorary office, but intrusted with a duty which they are
solemnly bound to discharge. But the Roman authorities (who think that nothing
is to be cared for in religion but their belly) consider the first title to be a
revenue adequate to their support, whether it be from their own patrimony or
from the priesthood. Accordingly, when they ordain presbyters or deacons,
without any anxiety as to where they ought to minister, they confer the order,
provided those ordained are sufficiently rich to support themselves. But what
man can admit that the title which the decree of the council requires is an
annual revenue for sustenance? Again, when more recent canons made bishops
liable in the support of those whom they had ordained without a fit title, that
they might thus repress too great facility, a method was devised of eluding the
penalty. For he who is ordained promises that whatever be the title named he
will be contented with it. In this way he is precluded from an action for
aliment. I say nothing of the thousand frauds which are here committed, as when
some falsely claim the empty titles of benefices, from which they cannot obtain
a sixpence of revenue, and others by secret stipulation obtain a temporary
appointment, which they promise that they will immediately restore, but
sometimes do not. There are still more mysteries of the same kind.
5.
But although these grosser abuses were removed, is it not at all times absurd to
appoint a presbyter without assigning him a locality? For when they ordain it is
only to sacrifice. But the legitimate ordination of a presbyter is to the
government of the Church, while deacons are called to the charge of alms. It is
true, many pompous ceremonies are used to disguise the act, that mere show may
excite veneration in the simple; but what effect can these semblances have upon
men of sound minds, when beneath them there is nothing solid or true? They used
ceremonies either borrowed from Judaism or devised by themselves; from these it
were better if they would abstain. Of the trial (for it is unnecessary to say
anything of the shadow which they retain), of the consent of the people, of
other necessary things, there is no mention. By shadow, I mean those ridiculous
gesticulations framed in inept and frigid imitation of antiquity. The bishops
have their vicars, who, previous to ordination, inquire into doctrine. But what
is the inquiry? Is it whether they are able to read their Missals, or whether
they can decline some common noun which occurs in the lesson, or conjugate a
verb, or give the meaning of some one word? For it is not necessary to give the
sense of a single sentence. And yet even those who are deficient in these
puerile elements are not repelled, provided they bring the recommendation of
money or influence. Of the same nature is the question which is thrice put in an
unintelligible voice, when the persons who are to be ordained are brought to the
altar-viz. Are they worthy of the honour? One (who never saw them, but has his
part in the play, that no form may be wanting) answers, They are
worthy.54[7] What can you accuse in
these venerable fathers save that, by indulging in such sacrilegious sport, they
shamelessly laugh at God and man? But as they have long been in possession of
the thing, they think they have now a legal title to it. For any one who
ventures to open his lips against these palpable and flagrant iniquities is
hurried off to a capital trial, like one who had in old time divulged the
mysteries of Ceres. Would they act thus if they had any belief in a God?
6. Then in the collation of benefices (which was formerly conjoined with
ordination, but is now altogether separate), how much better do they conduct
themselves? But they have many reasons to give, for it is not bishops alone who
confer the office of priests (and even in their case, where they are called
Collators, they have not always the full right), but others have the
presentation, while they only retain the honorary title of collations. To these
are added nominations from schools, resignations, either simple or by way of
exchange, commendatory rescripts, preventions, and the like. But they all
conduct themselves in such a way that one cannot upbraid another. I maintain
that, in the Papacy in the present day, scarcely one benefice in a hundred is
conferred without simony, as the ancients have defined it (Calv. in Art. 8:21).
I say not that all purchase for a certain sum; but show me one in twenty who
does not attain to the priesthood by some sinister method. Some owe their
promotion to kindred or affinity, others to the influence of their parents,
while others procure favour by obsequiousness. In short, the end for which the
offices are conferred is, that provision may be made not for churches, but for
those who receive them. Accordingly, they call them benefices, by which name
they sufficiently declare, that they look on them in no other light than as the
largesses by which princes either court the favour or reward the services of
their soldiers. I say nothing of the fact, that these rewards are conferred on
barbers, cooks, grooms, and dross of that sort. At present, indeed, there are no
cases in law courts which make a greater noise than those concerning sacerdotal
offices, so that you may regard them as nothing else than game set before dogs
to be hunted. Is it tolerable even to hear the name of pastors given to those
who have forced their way into the possession of a church as into an
enemy’s country? who have evicted it by forensic brawls? who have bought
it for a price? who have laboured for it by sordid sycophancy? who, while
scarcely lisping boys, have obtained it like heritage from uncles and relatives?
Sometimes even bastards obtain it from their fathers.
7. Was the
licentiousness of the people, however corrupt and lawless, ever carried to such
a height? But a more monstrous thing still is, that one man (I say not what kind
of man, but certainly one who cannot govern himself) is appointed to the charge
of five or six churches. In the courts of princes in the present day, you may
see youths who are thrice abbots, twice bishops, once archbishops. Everywhere
are Canons loaded with five, six, or seven cures, of not one of which they take
the least charge, except to draw the income. I will not object that the word of
God cries aloud against this: it has long ceased to have the least weight with
them. I will not object that many councils denounce the severest punishment
against this dishonest practice; these, too, when it suits them, they boldly
contemn. But I say that it is monstrous wickedness, altogether opposed to God,
to nature, and to ecclesiastical government, that one thief should lie brooding
over several churches, that the name of pastor should be given to one who, even
if he were willing, could not be present among his flock, and yet (such is their
impudence) they cloak these abominations with the name of church, that they may
exempt them from all blame. Nay, if you please, in these iniquities is contained
that sacred succession to which, as they boast, it is owing that the Church does
not perish.
8. Let us now see, as the second mark for estimating a
legitimate pastor, how faithfully they discharge their office. Of the priests
who are there elected, some are called monks, others seculars. The former herd
was unknown to the early Church; even to hold such a place in the Church is so
repugnant to the monastic profession, that in old times, when persons were
elected out of monasteries to clerical offices, they ceased to be monks. And,
accordingly, Gregory, though in his time there were many abuses, did not suffer
the offices to be thus confounded (Gregor. Lib. 3 Ep. 11). For he insists that
those who have been appointed abbots shall resign the clerical office, because
no one can be properly at the same time a monk and a clerk, the one being an
obstacle to the other. Now, were I to ask how he can well fulfil his office who
is declared by the canons to be unfit, what answer, pray, will they give? They
will quote those abortive decrees of Innocent and Boniface, by which monks are
admitted to the honour and power of the priesthood, though they remain in their
monasteries. But is it at all reasonable that any unlearned ass, as soon as he
has seized upon the Roman See, may by one little word overturn all antiquity?
But of this matter afterwards. Let it now suffice, that in the purer times of
the Church it was regarded as a great absurdity for a monk to hold the office of
priest. For Jerome declares that he does not the office of priest while he is
living among monks, and ranks himself as one of the people to be governed by the
priests. But to concede this to them, what duty do they perform? Some of the
mendicants preach, while all the other monks chant or mutter masses in their
cells; as if either our Saviour had wished, or the nature of the office permits,
presbyters to be made for such a purpose. When Scripture plainly testifies that
it is the duty of a presbyter to rule his own church (Acts 20:28), is it not
impious profanation to transfer it to another purpose, nay, altogether to change
the sacred institution of God? For when they are ordained, they are expressly
forbidden to do what God enjoins on all presbyters. For this is their cant, Let
a monk, contented with his cell, neither presume to administer the sacraments,
nor hold any other public office. Let them deny, if they can, that it is open
mockery of God when any one is appointed a presbyter in order to abstain from
his proper and genuine office, and when he who has the name is not able to have
the thing.
9. I come to the seculars, some of whom are (as they speak)
beneficiaries; that is, have offices by which they are maintained, while others
let out their services, day by day, to chant or say masses, and live in a manner
on a stipend thus collected. Benefices either have a cure of souls, as
bishoprics and parochial charges, or they are the stipends of delicate men, who
gain a livelihood by chanting; as prebends, canonries, parsonships, deaneries,
chaplainships, and the like; although, things being now turned upside down, the
offices of abbot and prior are not only conferred on secular presbyters, but on
boys also by privilege, that is, by common and usual custom. In regard to the
mercenaries who seek their food from day to day, what else could they do than
they actually do, in other words, prostitute themselves in an illiberal and
disgraceful manner for gain, especially from the vast multitude of them with
which the world now teems? Hence, as they dare not beg openly, or think that in
this way they would gain little, they go about like hungry dogs, and by a kind
of barking importunity extort from the unwilling what they may deposit in their
hungry stomachs. Were I here to attempt to describe how disgraceful it is to the
Church, that the honour and office of a presbyter should come to this, I should
never have done. My readers, therefore, must not expect from me a discourse
which can fully represent this flagitious indignity. I briefly say, that if it
is the office of a presbyter (and this both the word of God prescribes (1 Cor.
4:1) and the ancient canons enjoin) to feed the Church, and administer the
spiritual kingdom of Christ, all those priests who have no work or stipend, save
in the traffic of masses, not only fail in their office, but have no lawful
office to discharge. No place is given them to teach, they have no people to
govern. In short, nothing is left them but an altar on which to sacrifice
Christ; this is to sacrifice not to God but to demons, as we shall afterwards
show (see chap.18 sec. 3, 9, 14).
10. I am not here touching on
extraneous faults,54[8] but only on
the intestine evil which lies at the root of the very institution. I will add a
sentence which will sound strange in their ears, but which, as it is true, it is
right to express, that canons, deans, chaplains, provosts, and all who are
maintained in idle offices of priesthood, are to be viewed in the same light.
For what service can they perform to the Church? The preaching of the word, the
care of discipline, and the administration of the Sacraments, they have shaken
off as burdens too grievous to be borne. What then remains on which they can
plume themselves as being true presbyters? Merely chanting and pompous
ceremonies. But what is this to the point? If they allege custom, use, or the
long prescription, I, on the contrary, appeal to the definition by which our
Saviour has described true presbyters, and shown the qualities of those who are
to be regarded as presbyters. But if they cannot endure the hard law of
submitting to the rule of Christ, let them at least allow the cause to be
decided by the authority of the primitive Church. Their condition will not be
one whit improved when decided according to the ancient canons. Those who have
degenerated into Canons ought to be presbyters, as they formerly were, to rule
the Church in common with the bishop, and be, as it were, his colleagues in the
pastoral office. What they call deaneries of the chapter have no concern with
the true government of the Church, much less chaplainships and other similar
worthless names. In what light then are they all to be regarded? Assuredly, both
the word of Christ and the practice of the primitive Church exclude them from
the honour of presbyters. They maintain, however, that they are presbyters; but
we must unmask them, and we shall find that their whole profession is most alien
from the office of presbyters, as that office is described to us by the
apostles, and was discharged in the primitive Church. All such offices,
therefore, by whatever titles they are distinguished, as they are novelties, and
certainly not supported either by the institution of God or the ancient practice
of the Church, ought to have no place in a description of that spiritual
government which the Church received, and was consecrated by the mouth of the
Lord himself. Or (if they would have me express it in ruder and coarser terms),
since chaplains, canons, deans, provosts, and such like lazy-bellies, do not
even, with one finger, touch a particle of the office, which is necessarily
required in presbyters, they must not be permitted falsely to usurp the honour,
and thereby violate the holy institution of Christ.
11. There still
remain bishops and rectors of parishes; and I wish that they would contend for
the maintenance of their office. I would willingly grant that they have a pious
and excellent office if they would discharge it; but when they desert the
churches committed to them, and throwing the care upon others, would still be
considered pastors, they just act as if the office of pastor were to do nothing.
If any usurer, who never stirs from the city, were to give himself out as a
ploughman or vine-dresser; or a soldier, who has constantly been in the field or
the camp, and has never seen books or the forum, to pass for a lawyer, who could
tolerate the absurdity? Much more absurdly do those act who would be called and
deemed lawful pastors of the Church, and are unwilling so to be. How few are
those who in appearance even take the superintendence of their church? Many
spend their lives in devouring the revenues of churches which they never visit
even for the purpose of inspection. Some once a-year go themselves or send a
steward, that nothing may be lost in the letting of them. When the corruption
first crept in, those who wished to enjoy this kind of vacation pleaded
privilege, but it is now a rare case for any one to reside in his church. They
look upon them merely in the light of farms, over which they appoint their
vicars as grieves or husbandmen. But it is repugnant to common sense to regard
him as a shepherd who has never seen a sheep of his flock.
12. It
appears that in the time of Gregory some of the seeds of this corruption
existed, the rulers of churches having begun to be more negligent in teaching;
for he thus bitterly complains: “The world is full of priests, and yet
labourers in the harvest are rare, for we indeed undertake the office of the
priesthood, but we perform not the work of the office” (Gregor. Hom. 17).
Again, “As they have no bowels of love, they would be thought lords, but
do not at all acknowledge themselves to be fathers. They change a post of
humility into the elevation of ascendancy.” Again, “But we, O
pastors! what are we doing, we who obtain the hire but are not labourers? We
have fallen off to extraneous business; we undertake one thing, we perform
another; we leave the ministry of the word, and, to our punishment, as I see,
are called bishops, holding the honour of the name, not the power.” Since
he uses such bitterness of expression against those who were only less diligent
or sedulous in their office, what, pray, would he have said if he had seen that
very few bishops, if any at all, and scarcely one in a hundred of the other
clergy, mounted the pulpit once in their whole lifetime? For to such a degree of
infatuation have men come, that it is thought beneath the episcopal dignity to
preach a sermon to the people. In the time of Bernard things had become still
worse. Accordingly, we see how bitterly he inveighs against the whole order, and
yet there is reason to believe that matters were then in a much better state
than now.
13. Whoever will duly examine and weigh the whole form of
ecclesiastical government as now existing in the Papacy, will find that there is
no kind of spoliation in which robbers act more licentiously, without law or
measure. Certainly all things are so unlike, nay, so opposed to the institution
of Christ, have so degenerated from the ancient customs and practices of the
Church, are so repugnant to nature and reason, that a greater injury cannot be
done to Christ than to use his name in defending this disorderly rule. We (say
they) are the pillars of the Church, the priests of religion, the vicegerents of
Christ, the heads of the faithful, because the apostolic authority has come to
us by succession. As if they were speaking to stocks, they perpetually plume
themselves on these absurdities. Whenever they make such boasts, I, in my turn,
will ask, What have they in common with the apostles? We are not now treating of
some hereditary honour which can come to men while they are asleep, but of the
office of preaching, which they so greatly shun. In like manner, when we
maintain that their kingdom is the tyranny of Antichrist, they immediately
object that their venerable hierarchy has often been extolled by great and holy
men, as if the holy fathers, when they commended the ecclesiastical hierarchy or
spiritual government handed down to them by the apostles, ever dreamed of that
shapeless and dreary chaos where bishoprics are held for the most part by
ignorant asses, who do not even know the first and ordinary rudiments of the
faith, or occasionally by boys who have just left their nurse; or if any are
more learned (this, however, is a rare case), they regard the episcopal office
as nothing else than a title of magnificence and splendour; where the rectors of
churches no more think of feeding the flock than a cobbler does of ploughing,
where all things are so confounded by a confusion worse than that of Babel, that
no genuine trace of paternal government is any longer to be seen.
14.
But if we descend to conduct, where is that light of the world which Christ
requires, where the salt of the earth, where that sanctity which might operate
as a perpetual censorship? In the present day, there is no order of men more
notorious for luxury, effeminacy, delicacy, and all kinds of licentiousness; in
no order are more apt or skilful teachers of imposture, fraud, treachery, and
perfidy; nowhere is there more skill or audacity in mischief, to say nothing of
ostentation, pride, rapacity, and cruelty. In bearing these the world is so
disgusted, that there is no fear lest I seem to exaggerate. One thing I say,
which even they themselves will not be able to deny: Among bishops there is
scarcely an individual, and among the parochial clergy not one in a hundred,
who, if sentence were passed on his conduct according to the ancient canons,
would not deserve to be excommunicated, or at least deposed from his office. I
seem to say what is almost incredible, so completely has that ancient discipline
which enjoined strict censure of the morals of the clergy become obsolete; but
such the fact really is. Let those who serve under the banner and auspices of
the Romish See now go and boast of their sacerdotal order. It is certain that
that which they have is neither from Christ, nor his apostles, nor the fathers,
nor the early Church.
15. Let the deacons now come forward and show
their most sacred distribution of ecclesiastical goods (see chap. 19 sec. 32).
Although their deacons are not at all elected for that purpose, for the only
injunction which they lay upon them is to minister at the altar, to read the
Gospel, or chant and perform I know not what frivolous acts. Nothing is said of
alms, nothing of the care of the poor, nothing at all of the function which they
formerly performed. I am speaking of the institution itself; for if we look to
what they do, theirs, in fact, is no office, but only a step to the priesthood.
In one thing, those who hold the place of deacons in the mass exhibit an empty
image of antiquity, for they receive the offerings previous to consecration.
Now, the ancient practice was, that before the communion of the Supper the
faithful mutually kissed each other, and offered alms at the altar; thus
declaring their love, first by symbol, and afterwards by an act of beneficence.
The deacon, who was steward of the poor, received what was given that he might
distribute it. Now, of these alms no more comes to the poor than if they were
cast into the sea. They, therefore, delude the Church by that lying deaconship.
Assuredly in this they have nothing resembling the apostolical institution or
the ancient practice. The very distribution of goods they have transferred
elsewhere, and have so settled it that nothing can be imagined more disorderly.
For as robbers, after murdering their victims, divide the plunder, so these men,
after extinguishing the light of God’s word, as if they had murdered the
Church, have imagined that whatever had been dedicated to pious uses was set
down for prey and plunder. Accordingly, they have made a division, each seizing
for himself as much as he could.
16. All those ancient methods which we
have explained are not only disturbed but altogether disguised and expunged. The
chief part of the plunder has gone to bishops and city presbyters, who, having
thus enriched themselves, have been converted into canons. That the partition
was a mere scramble is apparent from this, that even to this day they are
litigating as to the proportions. Be this as it may, the decision has provided
that out of all the goods of the Church not one penny shall go to the poor, to
whom at least the half belonged. The canons expressly assign a fourth part to
them, while the other fourth they destine to the bishops, that they may expend
it in hospitality and other offices of kindness. I say nothing as to what the
clergy ought to do with their portion, or the use to which they ought to apply
it, for it has been clearly shown that what is set apart for churches,
buildings, and other expenditure, ought in necessity to be given to the poor. If
they had one spark of the fear of God in their heart, could they, I ask, bear
the consciousness that all their food and clothing is the produce of theft, nay,
of sacrilege? But as they are little moved by the judgment of God, they should
at least reflect that those whom they would persuade that the orders of their
Church are so beautiful and well arranged as they are wont to boast, are men
endued with sense and reason. Let them briefly answer whether the diaconate is a
licence to rob and steal. If they deny this, they will be forced to confess that
no diaconate remains among them, since the whole administration of their
ecclesiastical resources has been openly converted into sacrilegious
depredation.
17. But here they use a very fair gloss, for they say that
the dignity of the Church is not unbecomingly maintained by this magnificence.
And certain of their sect are so impudent as to dare openly to boast that thus
only are fulfilled the prophecies, in which the ancient prophets describe the
splendour of Christ’s kingdom, where the sacerdotal order is exhibited in
royal attire, that it was not without cause that God made the following promises
to his Church: “All kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall
serve him” (Ps. 72:11). “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Sion;
put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city” (Isa. 52:1).
“All they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and
they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be
gathered together unto thee” (Isa. 60:6, 7). I fear I should seem childish
were I to dwell long in refuting this dishonesty. I am unwilling, therefore, to
use words unnecessarily; I ask, however, were any Jew to misapply these
passages, what answer would they give? They would rebuke his stupidity in making
a carnal and worldly application of things spiritually said of Christ’s
spiritual kingdom. For we know that under the image of earthly objects the
prophets have delineated to us the heavenly glory which ought to shine in the
Church. For in those blessings with these words literally express, the Church
never less abounded than under the apostles; and yet all admit that the power of
Christ’s kingdom was then most flourishing. What, then, is the meaning of
the above passages? That everything which is precious, sublime, and illustrious,
ought to be made subject to the Lord. As to its being said expressly of kings,
that they will submit to Christ, that they will throw their diadems at his feet,
that they will dedicate their resources to the Church, when was this more truly
and fully manifested than when Theodosius, having thrown aside the purple and
left the insignia of empire, like one of the people humbled himself before God
and the Church in solemn repentance? than when he and other like pious princes
made it their study and their care to preserve pure doctrine in the Church, to
cherish and protect sound teachers? But that priests did not then luxuriate in
superfluous wealth is sufficiently declared by this one sentence of the Counci1
of Aquileia, over which Ambrose presided, “Poverty in the priests of
the Lord is glorious.” It is certain that the bishops then had some
means by which they might have rendered the glory of the Church conspicuous, if
they had deemed them the true ornaments of the Church. But knowing that nothing
was more adverse to the duty of pastors than to plume themselves on the
delicacies of the table, on splendid clothes, numerous attendants, and
magnificent places, they cultivated and followed the humility and modesty, nay,
the very poverty, which Christ has consecrated among his servants.
18.
But not to be tedious, let us again briefly sum up and show how far that
distribution, or rather squandering, of ecclesiastical goods which now exists
differs from the true diaconate, which both the word of God recommends and the
ancient Church observed (Book 1 chap. 11. sec. 7, 13; Book 3 chap. 20 sec. 30;
supra, chap. 4 sec. 8). I say, that what is employed on the adorning of
churches is improperly laid out, if not accompanied with that moderation which
the very nature of sacred things prescribes, and which the apostles and other
holy fathers prescribed, both by precept and example. But is anything like this
seen in churches in the present day? Whatever accords, I do not say with that
ancient frugality, but with decent mediocrity, is rejected. Nought pleases but
what savours of luxury and the corruption of the times. Meanwhile, so far are
they from taking due care of living temples, that they would allow thousands of
the poor to perish sooner than break down the smallest cup or platter to relieve
their necessity. That I may not decide too severely at my own hand, I would only
ask the pious reader to consider what Exuperius, the Bishop of Thoulouse, whom
we have mentioned, what Acatius, or Ambrose, or any one like minded, if they
were to rise from the dead, would say? Certainly, while the necessities of the
poor are so great, they would not approve of their funds being carried away from
them as superfluous; not to mention that, even were there no poor, the uses to
which they are applied are noxious in many respects and useful in none. But I
appeal not to men. These goods have been dedicated to Christ, and ought to be
distributed at his pleasure. In vain, however, will they make that to be
expenditure for Christ which they have squandered contrary to his commands,
though, to confess the truth, the ordinary revenue of the Church is not much
curtailed by these expenses. No bishoprics are so opulent, no abbacies so
productive, in short, no benefices so numerous and ample, as to suffice for the
gluttony of priests. But while they would spare themselves, they induce the
people by superstition to employ what ought to have been distributed to the poor
in building temples, erecting statues, buying plate, and providing costly
garments. Thus the daily alms are swallowed up in this abyss.
19. Of the
revenue which they derive from lands and property, what else can I say than what
I have already said, and is manifest before the eyes of all? We see with what
kind of fidelity the greatest portion is administered by those who are called
bishops and abbots. What madness is it to seek ecclesiastical order here? Is it
becoming in those whose life ought to have been a singular example of frugality,
modesty, continence, and humility, to rival princes in the number of their
attendants, the splendour of their dwellings, the delicacies of dressing and
feasting? Can anything be more contrary to the duty of those whom the eternal
and inviolable edict of God forbids to long for filthy lucre, and orders to be
contented with simple food, not only to lay hands on villages and castles, but
also invade the largest provinces, and even seize on empire itself? If they
despise the word of God, what answer will they give to the ancient canons of
councils, which decree that the bishop shall have a little dwelling not far from
the church, a frugal table and furniture? (Conc. Carth. cap. 14, 15). What
answer will they give to the declaration of the Council of Aquileia, in which
poverty in the priests of the Lord is pronounced glorious? For, the injunction
which Jerome gives to Nepotian, to make the poor and strangers acquainted with
his table, and have Christ with them as a guest, they would, perhaps, repudiate
as too austere. What he immediately adds it would shame them to acknowledge-viz.
that the glory of a bishop is to provide for the sustenance of the poor, that
the disgrace of all priests is to study their own riches. This they cannot admit
without covering themselves with disgrace. But it is unnecessary here to press
them so hard, since all we wished was to demonstrate that the legitimate order
of deacons has long ago been abolished, and that they can no longer plume
themselves on this order in commendation of their Church. This, I think, has
been completely established.
CHAPTER
6.
OF THE PRIMACY OF THE ROMISH
SEE.
The divisions of this chapter are,-I. Question stated, and an
argument for the primacy of the Roman Pontiff drawn from the Old Testament
refuted, sec. 1, 2. II. Reply to various arguments in support of the Papacy
founded on the words, “Thou art Peter,” &c., sec. 3-17.
Sections.
1. Brief recapitulation. Why the subject of
primacy not yet mentioned. Represented by Papists as the bond of ecclesiastical
unity. Setting out with this axiom, they begin to debate about their hierarchy.
2. Question stated. An attempted proof from the office of High Priest
among the Jews. Two answers.
3. Arguments for primacy from the New
Testament. Two answers.
4. Another answer. The keys given to the other
apostles as well as to Peter. Other two arguments answered by passages of
Cyprian and Augustine.
5. Another argument answered.
6. Answer
to the argument that the Church is founded on Peter, from its being said,
“Upon this rock I will build my Church.”
7. Answer
confirmed by passages of Scripture.
8. Even allowing Peter’s
superiority in some respect, this is no proof of the primacy of the Roman
Pontiff. Other arguments answered.
9. Distinction between civil and
ecclesiastical government. Christ alone the Head of the Church. Argument that
there is still a ministerial head answered.
10. Paul, in giving a
representation of the Church, makes no mention of this ministerial head.
11. Even though Peter were ministerial head, it does not follow that
the Pope is so also. Argument founded on Paul’s having lived and died at
Rome.
12. On the hypothesis of the Papists, the primacy belongs to the
Church of Antioch.
13. Absurdity of the Popish hypothesis.
14.
Peter was not the Bishop of Rome.
15. Same subject continued.
16. Argument that the unity of the Church cannot be maintained without
a supreme head on earth. Answer, stating three reasons why great respect was
paid in early times to the See of Rome.
17. Opinion of early times on
the subject of the unity of the Church. No primacy attributed to the Church of
Rome. Christ alone regarded as the Head of the Universal Church.
1.
HITHERTO we have reviewed those ecclesiastical orders which existed in the
government of the primitive Church; but afterwards corrupted by time, and
thereafter more and more vitiated, now only retain the name in the Papal Church,
and are, in fact, nothing but mere masks, so that the contrast will enable the
pious reader to judge what kind of Church that is, for revolting from which we
are charged with schism. But, on the head and crown of the whole matter, I mean
the primacy of the Roman See, from which they undertake to prove that the
Catholic Church is to be found only with
them,54[9] we have not yet touched,
because it did not take its origin either in the institution of Christ, or the
practice of the early Church, as did those other parts, in regard to which we
have shown, that though they were ancient in their origin, they in process of
time altogether degenerated, nay, assumed an entirely new form. And yet they
endeavour to persuade the world that the chief and only bond of ecclesiastical
unity is to adhere to the Roman See, and continue in subjection to it. I say,
the prop on which they chiefly lean, when they would deprive us of the Church,
and arrogate it to themselves, is, that they retain the head on which the unity
of the Church depends, and without which it must necessarily be rent and go to
pieces. For they regard the Church as a kind of mutilated trunk if it be not
subject to the Romish See as its head. Accordingly, when they debate about their
hierarchy they always set out with the axiom: The Roman Pontiff (as the vicar of
Christ, who is the Head of the Church) presides in his stead over the universal
Church, and the Church is not rightly constituted unless that See hold the
primacy over all others. The nature of this claim must, therefore, be
considered, that we may not omit anything which pertains to the proper
government of the Church.
2. The question, then, may be thus stated, Is
it necessary for the true order of the hierarchy (as they term it), or of
ecclesiastical order, that one See should surpass the others in dignity and
power, so as to be the head of the whole body? We subject the Church to unjust
laws if we lay this necessity upon her without sanction from the word of God.
Therefore, if our opponents would prove what they maintain, it behoves them
first of all to show that this economy was instituted by Christ. For this
purpose, they refer to the office of high priest under the law, and the supreme
jurisdiction which God appointed at
Jerusalem.55[0] But the solution is
easy, and it is manifold if one does not satisfy them. First, no reason obliges
us to extend what was useful in one nation to the whole world; nay, the cases of
one nation and of the whole world are widely different. Because the Jews were
hemmed in on every side by idolaters, God fixed the seat of his worship in the
central region of the earth, that they might not be distracted by a variety of
religions; there he appointed one priest to whom they might all look up, that
they might be the better kept in unity. But now when the true religion has been
diffused over the whole globe, who sees not that it is altogether absurd to give
the government of East and West to one individual? It is just as if one were to
contend that the whole world ought to be governed by one prefect, because one
district has not several
prefects.55[1] But there is still
another reason why that institution ought not to be drawn into a precedent.
Every one knows that the high priest was a type of Christ; now, the priesthood
being transferred, that right must also be transferred. To whom, then, was it
transferred? certainly not to the Pope, as he dares impudently to boast when he
arrogates this title to himself, but to Christ, who, as he alone holds the
office without vicar or successor, does not resign the honour to any other. For
this priesthood consists not in doctrine only, but in the propitiation which
Christ made by his death, and the intercession which he now makes with the
Father (Heb. 7:11).
3. That example, therefore, which is seen to have
been temporary, they have no right to bind upon us as by a perpetual law. In the
New Testament there is nothing which they can produce in confirmation of their
opinion, but its having been said to one, “Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my Church” (Mt. 16:18). Again, “Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me?” “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15). But to
give strength to these proofs, they must, in the first place, show, that to him
who is ordered to feed the flock of Christ power is given over all churches, and
that to bind and loose is nothing else than to preside over the whole world. But
as Peter had received a command from the Lord, so he exhorts all other
presbyters to feed the Church (1 Pet. 5:2). Hence we are entitled to infer,
that, by that expression of Christ, nothing more was given to Peter than to the
others, or that the right which Peter had received he communicated equally to
others. But not to argue to no purpose, we elsewhere have, from the lips of
Christ himself, a clear exposition of what it is to bind and loose. It is just
to retain and remit sins (John 10:23). The mode of loosing and binding is
explained throughout Scripture: but especially in that passage in which Paul
declares that the ministers of the Gospel are commissioned to reconcile men to
God, and at the same time to exercise discipline over those who reject the
benefit (2 Cor. 5:18; 10:16).
4. How unbecomingly they wrest the
passages of binding and loosing I have elsewhere glanced at, and will in a short
time more fully explain. It may now be worth while merely to see what they can
extract from our Saviour’s celebrated answer to Peter. He promised him the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and said, that whatever things he bound on earth
should be bound in heaven (Mt. 16:19). The moment we are agreed as to the
meaning of the keys, and the mode of binding, all dispute will cease. For the
Pope will willingly omit that office assigned to the apostles, which, full of
labour and toil, would interfere with his luxuries without giving any gain.
Since heaven is opened to us by the doctrine of the Gospel, it is by an elegant
metaphor distinguished by the name of keys. Again, the only mode in which
men are bound and loosed is, in the latter case, when they are reconciled to God
by faith, and in the former, more strictly bound by unbelief. Were this all that
the Pope arrogated to himself, I believe there would be none to envy him or stir
the question. But because this laborious and very far from lucrative succession
is by no means pleasing to the Pope, the dispute immediately arises as to what
it was that Christ promised to Peter. From the very nature of the case, I infer
that nothing more is denoted than the dignity which cannot be separated from the
burden of the apostolic office. For, admitting the definition which I have given
(and it cannot without effrontery be rejected), nothing is here given to Peter
that was not common to him with his colleagues. On any other view, not only
would injustice be done to their persons, but the very majesty of the doctrine
would be impaired. They object; but what, pray, is gained by striking against
this stone? The utmost they can make out is, that as the preaching of the same
gospel was enjoined on all the apostles, so the power of binding and loosing was
bestowed upon them in common. Christ (they say) constituted Peter prince of the
whole Church when he promised to give him the keys. But what he then promised to
one he elsewhere delivers, and as it were hands over, to all the rest. If the
same right, which was promised to one, is bestowed upon all, in what respect is
that one superior to his colleagues? He excels (they say) in this, that he
receives both in common, and by himself, what is given to the others in common
only. What if I should answer with Cyprian, and Augustine, that Christ did not
do this to prefer one to the other, but in order to commend the unity of his
Church? For Cyprian thus speaks: “In the person of one man he gave the
keys to all, that he might denote the unity of all; the rest, therefore, were
the same that Peter was, being admitted to an equal participation of honour and
power, but a beginning is made from unity that the Church of Christ may be shown
to be one” (Cyprian, de Simplic. PrÊlat.). Augustine’s words
are, “Had not the mystery of the Church been in Peter, our Lord would not
have said to him, I will give thee the keys. For if this was said to Peter, the
Church has them not; but if the Church has them, then when Peter received the
keys he represented the whole Church” (August. Hom. in Joann. 50). Again,
“All were asked, but Peter alone answers, Thou art the Christ; and it is
said to him, I will give thee the keys; as if he alone had received the power of
loosing and binding; whereas he both spoke for all, and received in common with
all, being, as it were, the representative of unity. One received for all,
because there is unity in all” (Hom. 124).
5. But we nowhere read
of its being said to any other, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my Church”! (Mt. 16:18); as if Christ then affirmed anything else of
Peter, than Paul and Peter himself affirm of all Christians (Eph. 2:20; 1 Peter
2:5). The former describes Christ as the chief corner-stone, on whom are built
all who grow up into a holy temple in the Lord; the latter describes us as
living stones who are founded on that elect and precious stone, and being so
joined and compacted, are united to our God, and to each other. Peter (they say)
is above others, because the name was specially given to him. I willingly
concede to Peter the honour of being placed among the first in the building of
the Church, or (if they prefer it) of being the first among the faithful; but I
will not allow them to infer from this that he has a primacy over others. For
what kind of inference is this? Peter surpasses others in fervid zeal, in
doctrine, in magnanimity; therefore, he has power over them: as if we might not
with greater plausibility infer, that Andrew is prior to Peter in order, because
he preceded him in time, and brought him to Christ (John 1:40, 42); but this I
omit. Let Peter have the preeminence, still there is a great difference between
the honour of rank and the possession of power. We see that the Apostles usually
left it to Peter to address the meeting, and in some measure take precedence in
relating, exhorting, admonishing, but we nowhere read anything at all of power.
6. Though we are not yet come to that part of the discussion, I would
merely observe at present, how futilely those argue who, out of the mere name of
Peter, would rear up a governing power over the whole Church. For the ancient
quibble which they at first used to give a colour-viz. The Church is founded
upon Peter, because it is said, “On this rock,” &c.-is
undeserving of notice, not to say of refutation. Some of the Fathers so
expounded!55[2] But when the whole
of Scripture is repugnant to the exposition, why is their authority brought
forward in opposition to God? nay, why do we contend about the meaning of these
words, as if it were obscure or ambiguous, when nothing can be more clear and
certain? Peter had confessed in his own name, and that of his brethren, that
Christ was the Son of God (Mt. 16:16). On this rock Christ builds his Church,
because it is the only foundation; as Paul says, “Other foundation than
this can no man lay” (1 Cor. 3:11). Therefore, I do not here repudiate the
authority of the Fathers, because I am destitute of passages from them to prove
what I say, were I disposed to quote them; but as I have observed, I am
unwilling to annoy my readers by debating so clear a matter, especially since
the subject has long ago been fully handled and expounded by our writers.
7. And yet, in truth, none can solve this question better than
Scripture, if we compare all the passages in which it shows what office and
power Peter held among the apostles, how he acted among them, how he was
received by them (Acts 15:7). Run over all these passages, and the utmost you
will find is, that Peter was one of twelve, their equal and colleague, not their
master. He indeed brings the matter before the council when anything is to be
done, and advises as to what is necessary, but he, at the same time, listens to
the others, not only conceding to them an opportunity of expressing their
sentiments, but allowing them to decide; and when they have decided, he follows
and obeys. When he writes to pastors, he does not command authoritatively as a
superior, but makes them his colleagues, and courteously advises as equals are
wont to do (1 Pet. 5:1). When he is accused of having gone in to the Gentiles,
though the accusation is unfounded, he replies to it, and clears himself (Acts
11:3). Being ordered by his colleagues to go with John into Samaria, he declines
not (Acts 8:14). The apostles, by sending him, declare that they by no means
regard him as a superior, while he, by obeying and undertaking the embassy
committed to him, confesses that he is associated with them, and has no
authority over them. But if none of these facts existed, the one Epistle to the
Galatians would easily remove all doubt, there being almost two chapters in
which the whole for which Paul contends is, that in regard to the honour of the
apostleship, he is the equal of Peter (Gal. 1:18; 2:8). Hence he states, that he
went to Peter, not to acknowledge subjection, but only to make their agreement
in doctrine manifest to all; that Peter himself asked no acknowledgment of the
kind, but gave him the right hand of fellowship, that they might be common
labourers in the vineyard; that not less grace was bestowed on him among the
Gentiles than on Peter among the Jews: in fine, that Peter, when he was not
acting with strict fidelity, was rebuked by him, and submitted to the rebuke
(Gal. 2:11). All these things make it manifest, either that there was an
equality between Paul and Peter, or, at least, that Peter had no more authority
over the rest than they had over him. This point, as I have said, Paul handles
professedly, in order that no one might give a preference over him, in respect
of apostleship, to Peter or John, who were colleagues, not masters.
8.
But were I to concede to them what they ask with regard to Peter-viz. that he
was the chief of the apostles, and surpassed the others in dignity-there is no
ground for making a universal rule out of a special example, or wresting a
single fact into a perpetual enactment, seeing that the two things are widely
different. One was chief among the apostles, just because they were few in
number. If one man presided over twelve, will it follow that one ought to
preside over a hundred thousand? That twelve had one among them to direct all is
nothing strange. Nature admits, the human mind requires, that in every meeting,
though all are equal in power, there should be one as a kind of moderator to
whom the others should look up. There is no senate without a consul, no bench of
judges without a president or chancellor, no college without a provost, no
company without a master. Thus there would be no absurdity were we to confess
that the apostles had conferred such a primacy on Peter. But an arrangement
which is effectual among a few must not be forthwith transferred to the whole
world, which no one man is able to govern. But (say they) it is observed that
not less in nature as a whole, than in each of its parts, there is one supreme
head. Proof of this it pleases them to derive from cranes and bees, which always
place themselves under the guidance of one, not of several. I admit the examples
which they produce; but do bees flock together from all parts of the world to
choose one queen? Each queen is contented with her own hive. So among cranes,
each flock has its own king. What can they prove from this, except that each
church ought to have its bishop? They refer us to the examples of states,
quoting from Homer, ?????????????????????????, “a many-headed rule is not
good;” and other "passages to the same effect from heathen writers in
commendation of monarchy. The answer is easy. Monarchy is not lauded by
Homer’s Ulysses, or by others, as if one individual ought to govern the
whole world; but they mean to intimate that one kingdom does not admit of two
kings, and that empire, as one expresses it (Lucan. Lib. 1), cannot bear a
partner.
9. Be it, however, as they will have it (though the thing is
most absurd; be it), that it were good and useful for the whole world to be
under one monarchy, I will not, therefore, admit that the same thing should take
effect in the government of the Church. Her only Head is Christ, under whose
government we are all united to each other, according to that order and form of
policy which he himself has prescribed. Wherefore they offer an egregious insult
to Christ, when under this pretext they would have one man to preside over the
whole Church, seeing the Church can never be without a head, “even Christ,
from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of
every part, maketh increase of the body” (Eph. 4:15, 16). See how all men,
without exception, are placed in the body, while the honour and name of Head is
left to Christ alone. See how to each member is assigned a certain measure, a
finite and limited function, while both the perfection of grace and the supreme
power of government reside only in Christ. I am not unaware of the cavilling
objection which they are wont to urge-viz. that Christ is properly called the
only Head, because he alone reigns by his own authority and in his own name; but
that there is nothing in this to prevent what they call another
ministerial head from being under him, and acting as his substitute. But
this cavil cannot avail them, until they previously show that this office was
ordained by Christ. For the apostle teaches, that the whole subministration is
diffused through the members, while the power flows from one celestial
Head;55[9] or, if they will have it
more plainly, since Scripture testifies that Christ is Head, and claims this
honour for himself alone, it ought not to be transferred to any other than him
whom Christ himself has made his vicegerent. But not only is there no passage to
this effect, but it can be amply refuted by many passages.
10. Paul
sometimes depicts a living image of the Church, but makes no mention of a single
head. On the contrary, we may infer from his description, that it is foreign to
the institution of Christ. Christ, by his ascension, took away his visible
presence from us, and yet he ascended that he might fill all things: now,
therefore, he is present in the Church, and always will be. When Paul would show
the mode in which he exhibits himself, he calls our attention to the ministerial
offices which he employs: “Unto every one of us is given grace according
to the measure of the gift of Christ;” “And he gave some, apostles;
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers.”55[4] Why does he
not say, that one presided over all to act as his substitute? The passage
particularly required this, and it ought not on any account to have been omitted
if it had been true. Christ, he says, is present with us. How? By the ministry
of men whom he appointed over the government of the Church. Why not rather by a
ministerial head whom he appointed his substitute? He speaks of unity, but it is
in God and in the faith of Christ. He attributes nothing to men but a common
ministry, and a special mode to each. Why, when thus commending unity, does he
not, after saying, “one body, one Spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:4),
immediately add, one Supreme Pontiff to keep the Church in unity? Nothing could
have been said more aptly if the case had really been so. Let that passage be
diligently pondered, and there will be no doubt that Paul there meant to give a
complete representation of that sacred and ecclesiastical government to which
posterity have given the name of hierarchy. Not only does he not place a
monarchy among ministers, but even intimates that there is none. There can also
be no doubt, that he meant to express the mode of connection by which believers
unite with Christ the Head. There he not only makes no mention of a ministerial
head, but attributes a particular operation to each of the members, according to
the measure of grace distributed to each. Nor is there any ground for subtle
philosophical comparisons between the celestial and the earthly hierarchy. For
it is not safe to be wise above measure with regard to the former, and in
constituting the latter, the only type which it behoves us to follow is that
which our Lord himself has delineated in his own word.
11. I will now
make them another concession, which they will never obtain from men of sound
mind-viz. that the primacy of the Church was fixed in Peter, with the view of
remaining for ever by perpetual succession. Still how will they prove that his
See was so fixed at Rome, that whosoever becomes Bishop of that city is to
preside over the whole world? By what authority do they annex this dignity to a
particular place, when it was given without any mention of place? Peter, they
say, lived and died at Rome. What did Christ himself do? Did he not discharge
his episcopate while he lived, and complete the office of the priesthood by
dying at Jerusalem? The Prince of pastors, the chief Shepherd, the Head of the
Church, could not procure honour for a place, and Peter, so far his inferior,
could! Is not this worse than childish trifling? Christ conferred the honour of
primacy on Peter. Peter had his See at Rome, therefore he fixed the seat of the
primacy there. In this way the Israelites of old must have placed the seat of
the primacy in the wilderness, where Moses, the chief teacher and prince of
prophets, discharged his ministry and died.
12. Let us see, however, how
admirably they reason. Peter, they say, had the first place among the apostles;
therefore, the church in which he sat ought to have the privilege. But where did
he first sit? At Antioch, they say. Therefore, the church of Antioch justly
claims the primacy. They acknowledge that she was once the first, but that
Peter, by removing from it, transferred the honour which he had brought with him
to Rome. For there is extant, under the name of Pope Marcellus, a letter to the
presbyters of Antioch, in which he says, “The See of Peter, at the outset,
was with you, and was afterwards, by the order of the Lord, translated
hither.” Thus the church of Antioch, which was once the first, yielded to
the See of Rome. But by what oracle did that good man learn that the Lord had so
ordered? For if the question is to be determined in regular form, they must say
whether they hold the privilege to be personal, or real, or mixed. One of the
three it must be. If they say personal, then it has nothing to do with place; if
real, then when once given to a place it is not lost by the death or departure
of the person. It remains that they must hold it to be mixed; then the mere
consideration of place is not sufficient unless the person also correspond. Let
them choose which they will, I will forthwith infer, and easily prove, that Rome
has no ground to arrogate the primacy.
13. However, be it so. Let the
primacy have been (as they vainly allege) transferred from Antioch to Rome. Why
did not Antioch retain the second place? For if Rome has the first, simply
because Peter had his See there at the end of his life, to which place should
the second be given sooner than to that where he first had his See? How comes
it, then, that Alexandria takes precedence of Antioch? How can the church of a
disciple be superior to the See of Peter? If honour is due to a church according
to the dignity of its founder, what shall we say of other churches? Paul names
three individuals who seemed to be pillars-viz. James, Peter, and John (Gal.
2:9). If, in honour of Peter, the first place is given to the Roman See, do not
the churches of Ephesus and Jerusalem, where John and James were fixed, deserve
the second and third places? But in ancient times Jerusalem held the last place
among the Patriarchates, and Ephesus was not able to secure even the lowest
corner. Other churches too have passed away, churches which Paul founded, and
over which the apostles presided. The See of Mark, who was only one of the
disciples, has obtained honour. Let them either confess that that arrangement
was preposterous, or let them concede that it is not always true that each
church is entitled to the degree of honour which its founder possessed.
14. But I do not see that any credit is due to their allegation of
Peter’s occupation of the Roman See. Certainly it is, that the statement
of Eusebius, that he presided over it for twenty-five years, is easily refuted.
For it appears from the first and second chapters of Galatians, that he was at
Jerusalem about twenty years after the death of Christ, and afterwards came to
Antioch. [0] How long he remained
here is uncertain; Gregory counts seven, and Eusebius twenty-five years. But
from our Saviour’s death to the end of Nero’s reign (under which
they state that he was put to death), will be found only thirty-seven
years. [1] For our Lord suffered in
the eighteenth year of the reign of Tiberius. If you cut off the twenty years,
during which, as Paul testifies, Peter dwelt at Jerusalem, there will remain at
most seventeen years; and these must be divided between his two episcopates. If
he dwelt long at Antioch, his See at Rome must have been of short duration. This
we may demonstrate still more clearly. Paul wrote to the Romans while he was on
his journey to Jerusalem, where he was apprehended and conveyed to Rome (Rom.
15:15, 16). It is therefore probable that this letter was written four years
before his arrival at Rome. [2]
Still there is no mention of Peter, as there certainly would have been if he had
been ruling that church. Nay, in the end of the Epistle, where he enumerates a
long list of individuals whom he orders to be saluted, and in which it may be
supposed he includes all who were known to him, he says nothing at all of Peter.
To men of sound judgment, there is no need here of a long and subtle
demonstration; the nature of the case itself, and the whole subject of the
Epistle, proclaim that he ought not to have passed over Peter if he had been at
Rome.
15. Paul is afterwards conveyed as a prisoner to Rome. Luke
relates that he was received by the brethren, but says nothing of Peter. From
Rome he writes to many churches. He even sends salutations from certain
individuals, but does not by a single word intimate that Peter was then there.
Who, pray, will believe that he would have said nothing of him if he had been
present? Nay, in the Epistle to the Philippians, after saying that he had no one
who cared for the work of the Lord so faithfully as Timothy, he complains, that
“all seek their own” (Phil. 2:21)
[3]. And to Timothy he makes the more
grievous complaint, that no man was present at his first defence, that all men
forsook him (2 Tim. 4:16). Where then was Peter?
[4] If they say that he was at Rome, how
disgraceful the charge which Paul brings against him of being a deserter of the
Gospel! For he is speaking of believers, since he adds, “The Lord lay it
not to their charge.” At what time, therefore, and how long, did Peter
hold that See? The uniform opinion of authors is, that he governed that church
until his death. But these authors are not agreed as to who was his successor.
Some say Linus, others Clement. And they relate many absurd fables concerning a
discussion between him and Simon Magus. Nor does Augustine, when treating of
superstition, disguise the fact, that owing to an opinion rashly entertained, it
had become customary at Rome to fast on the day on which Peter carried away the
palm from Simon Magus (August. ad Januar. Ep. 2). In short, the affairs of that
period are so involved from the variety of opinions, that credit is not to be
given rashly to anything we read concerning it. And yet, from this agreement of
authors, I do not dispute that he died there, but that he was bishop,
particularly for a long period, I cannot believe.
[5] I do not, however, attach much
importance to the point, since Paul testifies, that the apostleship of Peter
pertained especially to the Jews, but his own specially to us. Therefore, in
order that that compact which they made between themselves, nay, that the
arrangement of the Holy Spirit may be firmly established among us, we ought to
pay more regard to the apostleship of Paul than to that of Peter, since the Holy
Spirit, in allotting them different provinces, destined Peter for the Jews and
Paul for us. Let the Romanists, therefore, seek their primacy somewhere else
than in the word of God, which gives not the least foundation for it.
16. Let us now come to the Primitive Church, that it may also appear
that our opponents plume themselves on its support, not less falsely and
unadvisedly than on the testimony of the word of God. When they lay it down as
an axiom, that the unity of the Church cannot be maintained unless there be one
supreme head on earth whom all the members should obey; and that, accordingly,
our Lord gave the primacy to Peter, and thereafter, by right of succession, to
the See of Rome, there to remain even to the end, they assert that this has
always been observed from the beginning. But since they improperly wrest many
passages, I would first premise, that I deny not that the early Christians
uniformly give high honour to the Roman Church, and speak of it with reverence.
This, I think, is owing chiefly to three causes. The opinion which had prevailed
(I know not how), that that Church was founded and constituted by the ministry
of Peter, had great effect in procuring influence and authority. Hence, in the
East, it was, as a mark of honour, designated the Apostolic See. Secondly, as
the seat of empire was there, and it was for this reason to be presumed, that
the most distinguished for learning, prudence, skill, and experience, were there
more than elsewhere, account was justly taken of the circumstance, lest the
celebrity of the city, and the much more excellent gifts of God also, might seem
to be despised. To these was added a third cause, that when the churches of the
East, of Greece and of Africa, were kept in a constant turmoil by differences of
opinion, the Church of Rome was calmer and less troubled. To this it was owing,
that pious and holy bishops, when driven from their sees, often betook
themselves to Rome as an asylum or haven. For as the people of the West are of a
less acute and versatile turn of mind than those of Asia or Africa, so they are
less desirous of innovations. It therefore added very great authority to the
Roman Church, that in those dubious times it was not so much unsettled as
others, and adhered more firmly to the doctrine once delivered, as shall
immediately be better explained. For these three causes, I say, she was held in
no ordinary estimation, and received many distinguished testimonies from ancient
writers.
17. But since on this our opponents would rear up a primacy and
supreme authority over other churches, they, as I have said, greatly err. That
this may better appear, I will first briefly show what the views of early
writers are as to this unity which they so strongly urge. Jerome, in writing to
Nepotian, after enumerating many examples of unity, descends at length to the
ecclesiastical hierarchy. He says, “Every bishop of a church, every
archpresbyter, every archdeacon, and the whole ecclesiastical order, depends on
its own rulers.” Here a Roman presbyter speaks and commends unity in
ecclesiastical order. Why does he not mention that all the churches are bound
together by one Head as a common bond? There was nothing more appropriate to the
point in hand, and it cannot be said that he omitted it through forgetfulness;
there was nothing he would more willingly have mentioned had the fact permitted.
He therefore undoubtedly owns, that the true method of unity is that which
Cyprian admirably describes in these words: “The episcopate is one, part
of which is held entire by each bishop, and the Church is one, which, by the
increase of fecundity, extends more widely in numbers. As there are many rays of
the sun and one light, many branches of a tree and one trunk, upheld by its
tenacious root, and as very many streams flow from one fountain, and though
numbers seem diffused by the largeness of the overflowing supply, yet unity is
preserved entire in the source, so the Church, pervaded with the light of the
Lord, sends her rays over the whole globe, and yet is one light, which is
everywhere diffused without separating the unity of the body, extends her
branches over the whole globe, and sends forth flowing streams; still the head
is one, and the source one” (Cyprian, de Simplie. PrÊlat.).
Afterwards he says, “The spouse of Christ cannot be an adulteress: she
knows one house, and with chaste modesty keeps the sanctity of one bed.”
See how he makes the bishopric of Christ alone universal, as comprehending under
it the whole Church: See how he says that part of it is held entire by all who
discharge the episcopal office under this head. Where is the primacy of the
Roman See, if the entire bishopric resides in Christ alone, and a part of it is
held entire by each? My object in these remarks is, to show the reader, in
passing, that that axiom of the unity of an earthly kind in the hierarchy, which
the Romanists assume as confessed and indubitable, was altogether unknown to the
ancient Church.
CHAPTER 7.
OF
THE BEGINNING AND RISE OF THE ROMISH PAPACY, TILL IT ATTAINED A HEIGHT BY WHICH
THE LIBERTY OF THE CHURCH WAS DESTROYED, AND ALL TRUE RULE
OVERTHROWN.
There are five heads in this chapter. I. The
Patriarchate given and confirmed to the Bishop of Rome, first by the Council of
Nice, and afterwards by that of Chalcedon though by no means approved of by
other bishops, was the commencement of the Papacy, sec. 1-4. II. The Church at
Rome, by taking pious exiles under its protection, and also thereby protecting
wicked men who fled to her, helped forward the mystery of iniquity, although at
that time neither the ordination of bishops, nor admonitions and censures, nor
the right of convening Councils, nor the right of receiving appeals, belonged to
the Roman Bishop, whose profane meddling with these things was condemned by
Gregory, sec. 5-13. III. After the Council of Turin, disputes arose as to the
authority of Metropolitans. Disgraceful strife between the Patriarchs of Rome
and Constantinople. The vile assassin Phocas put an end to these brawls at the
instigation of Boniface, sec. 14-18. IV. To the dishonest arts of Boniface
succeeded fouler frauds devised in more modern times, and expressly condemned by
Gregory and Bernard. sec. 19-21. V. The Papacy at length appeared complete in
all its parts, the seat of Antichrist. Its impiety, execrable tyranny, and
wickedness, portrayed, sec. 23-30.
Sections.
1. First
part of the chapter, in which the commencement of the Papacy is assigned to the
Council of Nice. In subsequent Councils other bishops presided. No attempt then
made to claim the first place.
2. Though the Roman Bishop presided in
the Council of Chalcedon, this was owing to special circumstances. The same
right not given to his successors in other Councils.
3. The ancient
Fathers did not give the title of Primate to the Roman Bishop.
4.
Gregory was vehement in opposition to the title when claimed by the Bishop of
Constantinople, and did not claim it for himself.
5. Second part of the
chapter, explaining the ambitious attempts of the Roman See to obtain the
primacy. Their reception of pious exiles. Hearing the appeals and complaints of
heretics. Their ambition in this respect offensive to the African Church.
6. The power of the Roman Bishops in ordaining bishops, appointing
councils, deciding controversies, &c., confined to their own
Patriarchate.
7. If they censured other bishops, they themselves were
censured in their turn.
8. They had no right of calling provincial
councils except within their own boundaries. The calling of a universal council
belonged solely to the Emperor.
9. Appeal to the Roman See not
acknowledged by other bishops. Stoutly resisted by the Bishops of France and
Africa. The impudence and falsehood of the Roman Pontiff detected.
10.
Proof from history that the Roman had no jurisdiction over other churches.
11. The decretal epistles of no avail in support of this usurped
jurisdiction.
12. The authority of the Roman Bishop extended in the
time of Gregory. Still it only consisted in aiding other bishops with their own
consent, or at the command of the Emperor.
13. Even the extent of
jurisdiction, thus voluntarily conferred, objected to by Gregory as interfering
with better duties.
14. Third part of the chapter, showing the increase
of the power of the Papacy in defining the limits of Metropolitans. This gave
rise to the decree of the Council of Turin. This decree haughtily annulled by
Innocent.
15. Hence the great struggle for precedency between the Sees
of Rome and Constantinople. The pride and ambition of the Roman Bishops
unfolded.
16. Many attempts of the Bishop of Constantinople to deprive
the Bishop of Rome of the primacy.
17. Phocas murders the Emperor, and
gives Rome the primacy.
18. The Papal tyranny shortly after
established. Bitter complaints by Bernard.
19. Fourth part of the
chapter. Altered appearance of the Roman See since the days of Gregory.
20. The present demands of the Romanists not formerly conceded.
Fictions of Gregory IX. and Martin.
21. Without mentioning the
opposition of Cyprian, of councils, and historical facts, the claims now made
were condemned by Gregory himself.
22. The abuses of which Gregory and
Bernard complained now increased and sanctioned.
23. The fifth and last
part of the chapter, containing the chief answer to the claims of the
Papacy-viz. that the Pope is not a bishop in the house of God. This answer
confirmed by an enumeration of the essential parts of the episcopal office.
24. A second confirmation by appeal to the institution of Christ. A
third confirmation e contrario-viz. That in doctrine and morals the Roman
Pontiff is altogether different from a true bishop. Conclusion, that Rome is not
the Apostolic See, but the Papacy.
25. Proof from Daniel and Paul that
the Pope is Antichrist.
26. Rome could not now claim the primacy, even
though she had formerly been the first See, especially considering the base
trafficking in which she has engaged.
27. Personal character of Popes.
Irreligious opinions held by some of them.
28. John XXII. heretical in
regard to the immortality of the soul. His name, therefore, ought to be expunged
from the catalogue of Popes, or rather, there is no foundation for the claim of
perpetuity of faith in the Roman See.
29. Some Roman Pontiffs atheists,
or sworn enemies of religion. Their immoral lives. Practice of the Cardinals and
Romish clergy.
30. Cardinals were formerly merely presbyters of the
Roman Church, and far inferior to bishops. As they now are, they have no true
and legitimate office in the Church. Conclusion.
1. IN regard to the
antiquity of the primacy of the Roman See, there is nothing in favour of its
establishment more ancient than the decree of the Council of Nice, by which the
first place among the Patriarchs is assigned to the Bishop of Rome, and he is
enjoined to take care of the suburban churches. While the council, in dividing
between him and the other Patriarchs, assigns the proper limits of each, it
certainly does not appoint him head of all, but only one ofthe chief. Vitus and
Vincentius attended on the part of Julius, who then governed the Roman Church,
and to them the fourth place was given. I ask, if Julius was acknowledged the
head of the Church, would his legates have been consigned to the fourth place?
Would Athanasius have presided in the council where a representative of the
hierarchal order should have been most conspicuous? In the Council of Ephesus,
it appears that Celestinus (who was then Roman Pontiff) used a cunning device to
secure the dignity of his See. For when he sent his deputies, he made Cyril of
Alexandria, who otherwise would have presided, his substitute. Why that
commission, but just that his name might stand connected with the first See? His
legates sit in an inferior place, are asked their opinion along with others, and
subscribe in their order, while, at the same time, his name is coupled with that
of the Patriarch of Alexandria. What shall I say of the second Council of
Ephesus, where, while the deputies of Leo were present, the Alexandrian
Patriarch Dioscorus presided as in his own right? They wil1 object that this was
not an orthodox council, since by it the venerable Flavianus was condemned,
Eutyches acquitted, and his heresy approved. Yet when the council was met, and
the bishops distributed the places among themselves, the deputies of the Roman
Church sat among the others just as in a sacred and lawful Council. Still they
contend not for the first place, but yield it to another: this they never would
have done if they had thought it their own by right. For the Roman bishops were
never ashamed to stir up the greatest strife in contending for honours, and for
this cause alone, to trouble and harass the Church with many pernicious
contests; but because Leo saw that it would be too extravagant to ask the first
place for his legates, he omitted to do it.
2. Next came the Council of
Chalcedon, in which, by concession of the Emperor, the legates of the Roman
Church occupied the first place. But Leo himself confesses that this was an
extraordinary privilege; for when he asks it of the Emperor Marcian and
Pulcheria Augusta, he does not maintain that it is due to him, but only pretends
that the Eastern bishops who presided in the Council of Ephesus had thrown all
into confusion, and made a bad use of their power. Therefore, seeing there was
need of a grave moderator, and it was not probable that those who had once been
so fickle and tumultuous would be fit for this purpose, he requests that,
because of the fault and unfitness of others, the office of governing should be
transferred to him. That which is asked as a special privilege, and out of the
usual order, certainly is not due by a common law. When it is only pretended
that there is need of a new president, because the former ones had behaved
themselves improperly, it is plain that the thing asked was not previously done,
and ought not to be made perpetual, being done only in respect of a present
danger. The Roman Pontiff, therefore, holds the first place in the Council of
Chalcedon, not because it is due to his See, but because the council is in want
of a grave and fit moderator, while those who ought to have presided exclude
themselves by their intemperance and passion. This statement the successor of
Leo approved by his procedure. For when he sent his legates to the fifth
Council, that of Constantinople, which was held long after, he did not quarrel
for the first seat, but readily allowed Mennas, the patriarch of Constantinople,
to preside. In like manner, in the Council of Carthage, at which Augustine was
present, we perceive that not the legates of the Roman See, but Aurelius, the
archbishop of the place, presided, although there was then a question as to the
authority of the Roman Pontiff. Nay, even in Italy itself, a universal council
was held (that of Aquileia), at which the Roman Bishop was not present. Ambrose,
who was then in high favour with the Emperor, presided, and no mention is made
of the Roman Pontiff. Therefore, owing to the dignity of Ambrose, the See of
Milan was then more illustrious than that of Rome.
3. In regard to the
mere title of primate and other titles of pride, of which that pontiff now makes
a wondrous boast, it is not difficult to understand how and in what way they
crept in. Cyprian often makes mention of Cornelius (Cyprian. Lib. 2 Ep. 2; Lib.
4 Ep. 6), nor does he distinguish him by any other name than that of brother, or
fellow bishop, or colleague. When he writes to Stephen, the successor of
Cornelius, he not only makes him the equal of himself and others, but addresses
him in harsh terms, charging him at one time with presumption, at another with
ignorance. After Cyprian, we have the judgment of the whole African Church on
the subject. For the Council of Carthage enjoined that none should be called
chief of the priests, or first bishop, but only bishop of the first See. But any
one who will examine the more ancient records will find that the Roman Pontiff
was then contented with the common appellation of brother. Certainly, as long as
the true and pure form of the Church continued, all these names of pride on
which the Roman See afterwards began to plume itself, were altogether unheard
of; none knew what was meant by the supreme Pontiff, and the only head of the
Church on earth. Had the Roman Bishop presumed to assume any such title, there
were right-hearted men who would immediately have repressed his folly. Jerome,
seeing he was a Roman presbyter, was not slow to proclaim the dignity of his
church, in as far as fact and the circumstances of the times permitted, and yet
we see how he brings it under due subordination. “If authority is asked,
the world is greater than a city. Why produce to me the custom of one city? Why
vindicate a small number with whom superciliousness has originated against the
laws of the Church? Wherever the bishop be, whether at Rome, or Eugubium, or
Constantinople, or Rhegium, the merit is the same, and the priesthood the same.
The power of riches, or the humbleness of poverty, do not make a bishop superior
or inferior” (Hieron. Ep. ad Evagr.).
4. The controversy
concerning the title of universal bishop arose at length in the time of Gregory,
and was occasioned by the ambition of John of Constantinople. For he wished to
make himself universal, a thing which no other had ever attempted. In that
controversy, Gregory does not allege that he is deprived of a right which
belonged to him, but he strongly insists that the appellation is profane, nay,
blasphemous, nay the forerunner of Antichrist. “The whole Church falls
from its state, if he who is called universal falls” (Greg. Lib. 4 Ep.
76). Again, “It is very difficult to bear patiently that one who is our
brother and fellow bishop should alone be called bishop, while all others are
despised. But in this pride of his, what else is intimated but that the days of
Antichrist are already near? For he is imitating him, who, despising the company
of angels, attempted to ascend the pinnacle of greatness” (Lib. 4 Ep. 76).
He elsewhere says to Eulogius of Alexandria and Anastasius of Antioch:
“None of my predecessors ever desired to use this profane term: for if one
patriarch is called universal, it is derogatory to the name of patriarch in
others. But far be it from any Christian mind to wish to arrogate to itself that
which would in any degree, however slight, impair the honour of his
brethren” (Lib. 4 Ep. 80). “To consent to that impious term is
nothing else than to lose the faith” (Lib. 4 Ep. 83). “What we owe
to the preservation of the unity of the faith is one thing, what we owe to the
suppression of pride is another. I speak with confidence, for every one that
calls himself, or desires to be called, universal priest, is by his pride a
forerunner of Antichrist, because he acts proudly in preferring himself to
others” (Lib. 7 Ep. 154). Thus, again, in a letter to Anastasius of
Antioch, “I said, that he could not have peace with us unless he corrected
the presumption of a superstitious and haughty term which the first apostate
invented; and (to say nothing of the injury to your honour) if one bishop is
called universal, the whole Church goes to ruin when that universal bishop
falls” (Lib. 4 Ep. 188). But when he writes, that this honour was offered
to Leo in the Council of Chalcedon (Lib. 4 Ep. 76, 80; Lib. 7 Ep. 76), he says
what has no semblance of truth; nothing of the kind is found among the acts of
that council. And Leo himself, who, in many letters, impugns the decree which
was then made in honour of the See of Constantinople, undoubtedly would not have
omitted this argument, which was the most plausible of all, if it was true that
he himself repudiated what was given to him. One who, in other respects, was
rather too desirous of honour, would not have omitted what would have been to
his praise. Gregory, therefore, is incorrect in saying, that that title was
conferred on the Roman See by the Council of Chalcedon; not to mention how
ridiculous it is for him to say, that it proceeded from that sacred council, and
yet to term it wicked, profane, nefarious, proud, and blasphemous, nay, devised
by the devil, and promulgated by the herald of Antichrist. And yet he adds, that
his predecessor refused it, lest by that which was given to one individually,
all priests should be deprived of their due honour. In another place, he says,
“None ever wished to be called by such a name; none arrogated this rash
name to himself, lest, by seizing on the honour of supremacy in the office of
the Pontificate, he might seem to deny it to all his brethren” (Gregor.
Lib. 4 Ep. 82).
5. I come now to jurisdiction, which the Roman Pontiff
asserts as an incontrovertible proposition that he possesses over all churches.
I am aware of the great disputes which anciently existed on this subject: for
there never was a time when the Roman See did not aim at authority over other
churches. And here it will not be out of place to investigate the means by which
she gradually attained to some influence. I am not now referring to that
unlimited power which she seized at a comparatively recent period. The
consideration of that we shall defer to its own place. But it is worth while
here briefly to show in what way, and by what means, she formerly raised
herself, so as to arrogate some authority over other churches. When the churches
of the East were troubled and rent by the factions of the Arians, under the
Emperors Constantius and Constans, sons of Constantine the Great; and
Athanasius, the principal defender of the orthodox faith, had been driven from
his see, the calamity obliged him to come to Rome, in order that by the
authority of this see he might both repress the rage of his enemies, and confirm
the orthodox under their distress. He was honourably received by Julius, who was
then bishop, and engaged those of the West to undertake the defence of his
cause. Therefore, when the orthodox stood greatly in need of external aid, and
perceived that their chief protection lay in the Roman See, they willingly
bestowed upon it all the authority they could. But the utmost extent of this
was, that its communion was held in high estimation, and it was deemed
ignominious to be excommunicated by it. Dishonest bad men afterwards added much
to its authority, for when they wished to escape lawful tribunals, they betook
themselves to Rome as an asylum. Accordingly, if any presbyter was condemned by
his bishop, or if any bishop was condemned by the synod of his province, he
appealed to Rome. These appeals the Roman bishops received more eagerly than
they ought, because it seemed a species of extraordinary power to interpose in
matters with which their connection was so very remote. Thus, when Eutyches was
condemned by Flavianus, Bishop of Constantinople, he complained to Leo that the
sentence was unjust. He, nothing loth, no less presumptuously than abruptly,
undertook the patronage of a bad cause, and inveighed bitterly against
Flavianus, as having condemned an innocent man without due investigation: and
thus the effect of Leo’s ambition was, that for some time the impiety of
Eutyches was confirmed. It is certain that in Africa the same thing repeatedly
occurred, for whenever any miscreant had been condemned by his ordinary judge,
he fled to Rome, and brought many calumnious charges against his own people. The
Roman See was always ready to interpose. This dishonesty obliged the African
bishops to decree that no one should carry an appeal beyond sea under pain of
excommunication.
6. Be this as it may, let us consider what right or
authority the Roman See then possessed. Ecclesiastical power may be reduced to
four heads-viz. ordination of bishops, calling of councils, hearing of appeals
(or jurisdiction), inflicting monitory chastisements or censures. All ancient
councils enjoin that bishops shall be ordained by their own Metropolitans; they
nowhere enjoin an application to the Roman Bishop, except in his own
patriarchate. Gradually, however, it became customary for all Italian bishops to
go to Rome for consecration, with the exception of the Metropolitans, who did
not allow themselves to be thus brought into subjection; but when any
Metropolitan was to be ordained, the Roman Bishop sent one of his presbyters
merely to be present, but not to preside. An example of this kind is extant in
Gregory (Lib. 2 Ep. 68, 70), in the consecration of Constantius of Milan, after
the death of Laurence. I do not, however, think that this was a very ancient
custom. At first, as a mark of respect and good-will, they sent deputies to one
another to witness the ordination, and attest their communion. What was thus
voluntary afterwards began to be regarded as necessary. However this be, it is
certain that anciently the Roman Bishop had no power of ordaining except within
the bounds of his own patriarchate, that is, as a canon of the Council of Nice
expresses it, in suburban churches. To ordination was added the sending of a
synodical epistle, but this implied no authority. The patriarchs were
accustomed, immediately after consecration, to attest their faith by a formal
writing, in which they declared that they assented to sacred and orthodox
councils. Thus, by rendering an account of their faith, they mutually approved
of each other. If the Roman Bishop had received this confession from others, and
not given it, he would therein have been acknowledged superior; but when it
behoved to give as well as to receive, and to be subject to the common law, this
was a sign of equality, not of lordship. Of this we have an example in a letter
of Gregory to Anastasius and Cyriac of Constantinople, and in another letter to
all the patriarchs together (Gregor. Lib. 1 Ep. 24, 25; Lib. 6 Ep. 169).
7. Next come admonitions or censures. These the Roman
Bishops anciently employed towards others, and in their turn received.
IrenÊus sharply rebuked Victor for rashly troubling the Church with a
pernicious schism, for a matter of no moment. He submitted without objecting.
Holy bishops were then wont to use the freedom as brethren, of admonishing and
rebuking the Roman Prelate when he happened to err. He in his turn, when the
case required, reminded others of their duty, and reprimanded them for their
faults. For Cyprian, when he exhorts Stephen to admonish the bishops of France,
does not found on his larger power, but on the common right which priests have
in regard to each other (Cyprian. Lib. 3 Ep. 13). I ask if Stephen had then
presided over France, would not Cyprian have said, “Check them, for they
are yours”? but his language is very different. “The brotherly
fellowship which binds us together requires that we should mutually admonish
each other” (Cyprian. ad Pomp. Cont. Epist. Steph.) And we see also with
what severity of expression, a man otherwise of a mild temper, inveighs against
Stephen himself, when he thinks him chargeable with insolence. Therefore, it
does not yet appear in this respect that the Roman Bishop possessed any
jurisdiction over those who did not belong to his province.
8. In regard
to calling of councils, it was the duty of every Metropolitan to assemble a
provincial synod at stated times. Here the Roman Bishop had no jurisdiction,
while the Emperor alone could summon a general council. Had any of the bishops
attempted this, not only would those out of the province not have obeyed the
call, but a tumult would instantly have arisen. Therefore the Emperor gave
intimation to all alike to attend. Socrates, indeed, relates that Julius
expostulated with the Eastern bishops for not having called him to the Council
of Antioch, seeing it was forbidden by the canons that anything should be
decided without the knowledge of the Roman Bishop (Tripart. Hist. Lib. 4). But
who does not perceive that this is to be understood of those decrees which bind
the whole Church? At the same time, it is not strange if, in deference both to
the antiquity and largeness of the city, and the dignity of the see, no
universal decree concerning religion should be made in the absence of the Bishop
of Rome, provided he did not refuse to be present. But what has this to do with
the dominion of the whole Church? For we deny not that he was one of the
principal bishops, though we are unwilling to admit what the Romanists now
contend for-viz. that he had power over all.
9. The fourth remaining
species of power is that of hearing appeals. It is evident that the
supreme power belongs to him to whose tribunal appeals are made. Many had
repeatedly appealed to the Roman Pontiff. He also had endeavoured to bring
causes under his cognisance, but he had always been derided whenever he went
beyond his own boundaries. I say nothing of the East and of Greece, but it is
certain, that the bishops of France stoutly resisted when he seemed to assume
authority over them. In Africa, the subject was long disputed, for in the
Council of Milevita, at which Augustine was present, when those who carried
appeals beyond seas were excommunicated, the Roman Pontiff attempted to obtain
an alteration of the decree, and sent legates to show that the privilege of
hearing appeals was given him by the Council of Nice. The legates produced acts
of the council drawn from the armoury of their church. The African bishops
resisted, and maintained, that credit was not to be given to the Bishop of Rome
in his own cause; accordingly, they said that they would send to Constantinople,
and other cities of Greece, where less suspicious copies might be had. It was
found that nothing like what the Romanists had pretended was contained in the
acts, and thus the decree which abrogated the supreme jurisdiction of the Roman
Pontiff was confirmed. In this matter was manifested the egregious effrontery of
the Roman Pontiff. For when he had fraudulently substituted the Council of
Sardis for that of Nice, he was disgracefully detected in a palpable falsehood;
but still greater and more impudent was the iniquity of those who added a
fictitious letter to the Council, in which some Bishop of Carthage condemns the
arrogance of Aurelius his predecessor, in promising to withdraw himself from
obedience to the Apostolic See, and making a surrender of himself and his
church, suppliantly prays for pardon. These are the noble records of antiquity
on which the majesty of the Roman See is founded, while, under the pretext of
antiquity, they deal in falsehoods so puerile, that even a blind man might feel
them. “Aurelius (says he), elated by diabolical audacity and contumacy,
was rebellious against Christ and St Peter, and, accordingly, deserved to be
anathematised.” What does Augustine say? and what the many Fathers who
were present at the Council of Milevita? But what need is there to give a
lengthened refutation of that absurd writing, which not even Romanists, if they
have any modesty left them, can look at without a deep feeling of shame? Thus
Gratian, whether through malice or ignorance, I know not, after quoting the
decree, That those are to be deprived of communion who carry appeals beyond
seas, subjoins the exception, Unless, perhaps, they have appealed to the Roman
See (Grat. 2, QuÊst. 4, cap. Placuit.). What can you make of creatures
like these, who are so devoid of common sense that they set down as an exception
from the law the very thing on account of which, as everybody sees, the law was
made? For the Council, in condemning transmarine appeals, simply prohibits an
appeal to Rome. Yet this worthy expounder excepts Rome from the common law.
10. But (to end the question at once) the kind of jurisdiction which
belonged to the Roman Bishop one narrative will make manifest. Donatus of Casa
Nigra had accused Cecilianus the Bishop of Carthage. Cecilianus was condemned
without a hearing: for, having ascertained that the bishops had entered into a
conspiracy against him, he refused to appear. The case was brought before the
Emperor Constantine. who, wishing the matter to be ended by an ecclesiastical
decision; gave the cognisance of it to Melciades, the Roman Bishop, appointing
as his colleagues some bishops from Italy, France, and Spain. If it formed part
of the ordinary jurisdiction of the Roman See to hear appeals in ecclesiastical
causes, why did he allow others to be conjoined with him at the Emperor’s
discretion? nay, why does he undertake to decide more from the command of the
Emperor than his own office? But let us hear what afterwards happened (see
August. Ep. 162, et alibi). Cecilianus prevails. Donatus of Casa Nigra is
thrown in his calumnious action and appeals. Constantine devolves the decision
of the appeal on the Bishop of Arles, who sits as judge, to give sentence after
the Roman Pontiff.55[5] If the Roman
See has supreme power not subject to appeal, why does Melciades allow himself to
be so greatly insulted as to have the Bishop of Arles preferred to him? And who
is the Emperor that does this? Constantine, who they boast not only made it his
constant study, but employed all the resources of the empire to enlarge the
dignity of that see. We see, therefore, how far in every way the Roman Pontiff
was from that supreme dominion, which he asserts to have been given him by
Christ over all churches, and which he falsely alleges that he possessed in all
ages, with the consent of the whole world.
11. I know how many epistles
there are, how many rescripts and edicts in which there is nothing which the
pontiffs do not ascribe and confidently arrogate to themselves. But all men of
the least intellect and learning know, that the greater part of them are in
themselves so absurd, that it is easy at the first sight to detect the forge
from which they have come. Does any man of sense and soberness think that
Anacletus is the author of that famous interpretation which is given in Gratian,
under the name of Anacletus-viz. that Cephas is head? (Dist. 22, cap.
Sacrosancta.) Numerous follies of the same kind which Gratian has heaped
together without judgment, the Romanists of the present day employ against us in
defence of their see. The smoke, by which, in the former days of ignorance, they
imposed upon the ignorant, they would still vend in the present light. I am
unwilling to take much trouble in refuting things which, by their extreme
absurdity, plainly refute themselves. I admit the existence of genuine epistles
by ancient Pontiffs, in which they pronounce magnificent eulogiums on the extent
of their see. Such are some of the epistles of Leo. For as he possessed learning
and eloquence, so he was excessively desirous of glory and dominion; but the
true question is, whether or not, when he thus extolled himself, the churches
gave credit to his testimony? It appears that many were offended with his
ambition, and also resisted his cupidity. He in one place appoints the Bishop of
Thessalonica his vicar throughout Greece and other neighbouring regions (Leo,
Ep. 85), and elsewhere gives the same office to the Bishop of Arles or some
other throughout France (Ep. 83). In like manner, he appointed Hormisdas, Bishop
of Hispala, his vicar throughout Spain, but he uniformly makes this reservation,
that in giving such commissions, the ancient privileges of the Metropolitans
were to remain safe and entire. These appointments, therefore, were made on the
condition, that no bishop should be impeded in his ordinary jurisdiction, no
Metropolitan in taking cognisance of appeals, no provincial council in
constituting churches. But what else was this than to decline all jurisdiction,
and to interpose for the purpose of settling discord only, in so far as the law
and nature of ecclesiastical communion admit?
12. In the time of
Gregory, that ancient rule was greatly changed. For when the empire was
convulsed and torn, when France and Spain were suffering from the many disasters
which they ever and anon received, when Illyricum was laid waste, Italy
harassed, and Africa almost destroyed by uninterrupted calamities, in order
that, during these civil convulsions, the integrity of the faith might remain,
or at least not entirely perish, the bishops in all quarters attached themselves
more to the Roman Pontiff. In this way, not only the dignity, but also the power
of the see, exceedingly increased, although I attach no great importance to the
means by which this was accomplished. It is certain, that it was then greater
than in former ages. And yet it was very different from the unbridled dominion
of one ruling others as he pleased. Still the reverence paid to the Roman See
was such, that by its authority it could guide and repress those whom their own
colleagues were unable to keep to their duty; for Gregory is careful ever and
anon to testify that he was not less faithful in preserving the rights of
others, that in insisting that his own should be preserved. “I do
not,” says he, “under the stimulus of ambition, derogate from any
man’s right, but desire to honour my brethren in all things”
(Gregor. Lib. 2 Ep. 68). There is no sentence in his writings in which he boasts
more proudly of the extent of his primacy than the following: “I know not
what bishop is not subject to the Roman See, when he is discovered in a
fault” (Leo. Lib. 2, Epist. 68). However, he immediately adds,
“Where faults do not call for interference, all are equal according to the
rule of humility.” He claims for himself the right of correcting those who
have sinned; if all do their duty, he puts himself on a footing of equality. He,
indeed, claimed this right, and those who chose assented to it, while those who
were not pleased with it were at liberty to object with impunity; and it is
known that the greater part did so. We may add, that he is then speaking of the
primate of Byzantium, who, when condemned by a provincial synod, repudiated the
whole judgment. His colleagues had informed the Emperor of his contumacy, and
the Emperor had given the cognisance of the matter to Gregory. We see,
therefore, that he does not interfere in any way with the ordinary jurisdiction,
and that, in acting as a subsidiary to others, he acts entirely by the
Emperor’s command.
13. At this time, therefore, the whole power of
the Roman Bishop consisted in opposing stubborn and ungovernable spirits, where
some extraordinary remedy was required, and this in order to assist other
bishops, not to interfere with them. Therefore, he assumes no more power over
others than he elsewhere gives others over himself, when he confesses that he is
ready to be corrected by all, amended by all (Lib. 2 Ep. 37). So, in another
p]ace, though he orders the Bishop of Aquileia to come to Rome to plead his
cause in a controversy as to doctrine which had arisen between himself and
others, he thus orders not of his own authority, but in obedience to the
Emperor’s command. Nor does he declare that he himself will be sole judge,
but promises to call a synod, by which the whole business may be determined. But
although the moderation was still such, that the power of the Roman See had
certain limits which it was not permitted to overstep, and the Roman Bishop
himself was not more above than under others, it appears how much Gregory was
dissatisfied with this state of matters. For he ever and anon complains, that
he, under the colour of the episcopate, was brought back to the world, and was
more involved in earthly cares than when living as a laic; that he, in that
honourable office, was oppressed by the tumult of secular affairs. Elsewhere he
says, “So many burdensome occupations depress me, that my mind cannot at
all rise to things above. I am shaken by the many billows of causes, and after
they are quieted, am afflicted by the tempests of a tumultuous life, so that I
may truly say I am come into the depths of the sea, and the flood has
overwhelmed me.” From this I infer what he would have said if he had
fallen on the present times. If he did not fulfil, he at least did the duty of a
pastor. He declined the administration of civil power, and acknowledged himself
subject, like others, to the Emperor. He did not interfere with the management
of other churches, unless forced by necessity. And yet he thinks himself in a
labyrinth, because he cannot devote himself entirely to the duty of a bishop.
14. At that time, as has already been said, the Bishop of Constantinople
was disputing with the Bishop of Rome for the primacy. For after the seat of
empire was fixed at Constantinople, the majesty of the empire seemed to demand
that that church should have the next place of honour to that of Rome. And
certainly, at the outset, nothing had tended more to give the primacy to Rome,
than that it was then the capital of the empire. In Gratian, (Dist. 80), there
is a rescript under the name of Pope Lucinus, to the effect that the only way in
which the cities where Metropolitans and Primates ought to preside were
distinguished, was by means of the civil government which had previously
existed. There is a similar rescript under the name of Pope Clement, in which he
says, that patriarchs were appointed in those cities which had previously had
the first flamens. Although this is absurd, it was borrowed from what was true.
For it is certain, that in order to make as little change as possible, provinces
were distributed according to the state of matters then existing, and Primates
and Metropolitans were placed in those cities which surpassed others in honours
and power. Accordingly, it was decreed in the Council of Turin, that the cities
of every province which were first in the civil government should be the first
sees of bishops. But if it should happen that the honour of civil government was
transferred from one city to another, then the right of the metropolis should be
at the same time transferred thither. But Innocent, the Roman Pontiff, seeing
that the ancient dignity of the city had been decaying ever since the seat of
empire had been transferred to Constantinople, and fearing for his see, enacted
a contrary law, in which he denies the necessity of changing metropolitan
churches as imperial metropolitan cities were changed. But the authority of a
synod is justly to be preferred to the opinion of one individual, and Innocent
himself should be suspected in his own cause. However this be, he by his caveat
shows the original rule to have been, that Metropolitans should be distributed
according to the order of the empire.
15. Agreeably to this ancient
custom, the first Council of Constantinople decreed that the bishop of that city
should take precedence after the Roman Pontiff, because it was a new Rome. But
long after, when a similar decree was made at Chalcedon, Leo keenly protested
(Socrat. Hist. Trop. Lib. 9 cap. 13). And not only did he permit himself to set
at nought what six hundred bishops or more had decreed, but he even assailed
them with bitter reproaches, because they had derogated from other sees in the
honour which they had presumed to confer on the Church of Constantinople (in
Decr. 22, Distinct. cap. Constantinop.). What, pray, could have incited the man
to trouble the world for so small an affair but mere ambition? He says, that
what the Council of Nice had once sanctioned ought to have been inviolable; as
if the Christian faith was in any danger if one church was preferred to another;
or as if separate Patriarchates had been established on any other grounds than
that of policy. But we know that policy varies with times, nay, demands various
changes. It is therefore futile in Leo to pretend that the See of Constantinople
ought not to receive the honour which was given to that of Alexandria, by the
authority of the Council of Nice. For it is the dictate of common sense, that
the decree was one of those which might be abrogated, in respect of a change of
times. What shall we say to the fact, that none of the Eastern churches, though
chiefly interested, objected? Proterius, who had been appointed at Alexandria
instead of Dioscorus, was certainly present; other patriarchs whose honour was
impaired were present. It belonged to them to interfere, not to Leo, whose
station remained entire. While all of them are silent, many assent, and the
Roman Bishop alone resists, it is easy to judge what it is that moves him; just
because he foresaw what happened not long after, that when the glory of ancient
Rome declined, Constantinople, not contented with the second place, would
dispute the primacy with her. And yet his clamour was not so successful as to
prevent the decree of the council from being ratified. Accordingly, his
successors seeing themselves defeated, quietly desisted from that petulance, and
allowed the Bishop of Constantinople to be regarded as the second Patriarch.
16. But shortly after, John, who, in the time of Gregory, presided over
the church of Constantinople, went so far as to say that he was universal
Patriarch. Here Gregory, that he might not be wanting to his See in a most
excellent cause, constantly opposed. And certainly it was impossible to tolerate
the pride and madness of John, who wished to make the limits of his bishopric
equal to the limits of the empire. This, which Gregory denies to another, he
claims not for himself, but abominates the title by whomsoever used, as wicked,
impious, and nefarious. Nay, he is offended with Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria,
who had honoured him with this title, “See (says he, Lib. 8 Ep. 30) in the
address of the letter which you have directed to me, though I prohibited you,
you have taken care to write a word of proud signification by calling me
Universa1 Pope. What I ask is, that your holiness do not go farther, because,
whatever is given to another more than reason demands is withdrawn from you. I
do not regard that as honour by which I see that the honour of my brethren is
diminished. For my honour is the universal honour of the Church, and entire
prerogative of my brethren. If your holiness calls me universal Pope, it denies
itself to be this whole which it acknowledges me to be.” The cause of
Gregory was indeed good and honourable; but John, aided by the favour of the
Emperor Maurice, could not be dissuaded from his purpose. Cyriac also, his
successor, never allowed himself to be spoken to on the subject.
17. At
length Phocas, who had slain Maurice, and usurped his place (more friendly to
the Romans, for what reason I know not, or rather because he had been crowned
king there without opposition), conceded to Boniface III. what Gregory by no
means demanded-viz. that Rome should be the head of all the churches. In this
way the controversy was ended. And yet this kindness of the Emperor to the
Romans would not have been of very much avail had not other circumstances
occurred. For shortly after Greece and all Asia were cut off from his communion,
while all the reverence which he received from France was obedience only in so
far as she pleased. She was brought into subjection for the first time when
Pepin got possession of the throne. For Zachary, the Roman Pontiff, having aided
him in his perfidy and robbery when he expelled the lawful sovereign, and seized
upon the kingdom, which lay exposed as a kind of prey, was rewarded by having
the jurisdiction of the Roman See established over the churches of France. In
the same way as robbers are wont to divide and share the common spoil, those two
worthies arranged that Pepin should have the worldly and civil power by spoiling
the true prince, while Zachary should become the head of all the bishops, and
have the spiritual power. This, though weak at the first (as usually happens
with new power), was afterwards confirmed by the authority of Charlemagne for a
very similar cause. For he too was under obligation to the Roman Pontiff, to
whose zeal he was indebted for the honour of empire. Though there is reason to
believe that the churches had previously been greatly altered, it is certain
that the ancient form of the Church was then only completely effaced in Gaul and
Germany. There are still extant among the archives of the Parliament of Paris
short commentaries on those times, which, in treating of ecclesiastical affairs,
make mention of the compacts both of Pepin and Charlemagne with the Roman
Pontiff. Hence we may infer that the ancient state of matters was then changed.
18. From that time, while everywhere matters were becoming daily worse,
the tyranny of the Roman Bishop was established, and ever and anon increased,
and this partly by the ignorance, partly by the sluggishness, of the bishops.
For while he was arrogating everything to himself, and proceeding more and more
to exalt himself without measure, contrary to law and right, the bishops did not
exert themselves so zealously as they ought in curbing his pretensions. And
though they had not been deficient in spirit, they were devoid of true doctrine
and experience, so that they were by no means fit for so important an effort.
Accordingly, we see how great and monstrous was the profanation of all sacred
things, and the dissipation of the whole ecclesiastical order at Rome, in the
age of Bernard. He complains (Lib. 1 de Consider. ad Eugen.) that the ambitious,
avaricious, demoniacal, sacrilegious, fornicators, incestuous, and similar
miscreants, flocked from all quarters of the world to Rome, that by apostolic
authority they might acquire or retain ecclesiastical honours: that fraud,
circumvention, and violence, prevailed. The mode of judging causes then in use
he describes as execrable, as disgraceful, not only to the Church, but the bar.
He exclaims that the Church is filled with the ambitious: that not one is more
afraid to perpetrate crimes than robbers in their den when they share the spoils
of the traveller. “Few (say he) look to the mouth of the legislator, but
all to his hands. Not without cause, however: for their hands do the whole
business of the Pope. What kind of thing is it when those are bought by the
spoils of the Church, who say to you, Well done, well done? The life of the poor
is sown in the highways of the rich: silver glitters in the mire: they run
together from all sides: it is not the poorer that takes it up, but the
stronger, or, perhaps, he who runs fastest. That custom, however, or rather that
death, comes not of you: I wish it would end in you. While these things are
going on, you, a pastor, come forth robed in much costly clothing. If I might
presume to say it, this is more the pasture of demons than of sheep. Peter,
forsooth, acted thus; Paul sported thus. Your court has been more accustomed to
receive good men than to make them. The bad do not gain much there, but the good
degenerate.” Then when he describes the abuses of appeals, no pious man
can read them without being horrified. At length, speaking of the unbridled
cupidity of the Roman See in usurping jurisdiction, he thus concludes (Lib. 3 de
Concil.), “I express the murmur and common complaint of the churches.
Their cry is, that they are maimed and dismembered. There are none, or very few,
who do not lament or fear that plague. Do you ask what plague? Abbots are
encroached upon by bishops, bishops by archbishops, &c. It is strange if
this can be excused. By thus acting, you prove that you have the fulness of
power, but not the fulness of righteousness. You do this because you are able;
but whether you also ought to do it is the question. You are appointed to
preserve, not to envy, the honour and rank of each.” I have thought it
proper to quote these few passages out of many, partly that my readers may see
how grievously the Church had then fallen, partly, too, that they may see with
what grief and lamentation all pious men beheld this calamity.
19. But
though we were to concede to the Roman Pontiff of the present day the eminence
and extent of jurisdiction which his see had in the middle ages, as in the time
of Leo and Gregory, what would this be to the existing Papacy? I am not now
speaking of worldly dominion, or of civil power, which will afterwards be
explained in their own place (chap. 11 sec. 8-14); but what resemblance is there
between the spiritual government of which they boast and the state of those
times? The only definition which they give of the Pope is, that he is the
supreme head of the Church on earth, and the universal bishop of the whole
globe. The Pontiffs themselves, when they speak of their authority, declare with
great superciliousness, that the power of commanding belongs to them,-that the
necessity of obedience remains with others,-that all their decrees are to be
regarded as confirmed by the divine voice of Peter,-that provincial synods, from
not having the presence of the Pope, are deficient in authority,-that they can
ordain the clergy of any church,-and can summon to their See any who have been
ordained elsewhere. Innumerable things of this kind are contained in the farrago
of Gratian, which I do not mention, that I may not be tedious to my readers. The
whole comes to this, that to the Roman Pontiff belongs the supreme cognisance of
all ecclesiastical causes, whether in determining and defining doctrines, or in
enacting laws, or in appointing discipline, or in giving sentences. It were also
tedious and superfluous to review the privileges which they assume to themselves
in what they call reservations. But the most intolerable of all things is their
leaving no judicial authority in the world to restrain and curb them when they
licentiously abuse their immense power. “No man (say
they55[6]) is entitled to alter the
judgment of this See, on account of the primacy of the Roman Church.”
Again, “The judge shall not be judged either by the emperor, or by kings,
or by the clergy, or by the people.” It is surely imperious enough for one
man to appoint himself the judge of all, while he will not submit to the
judgment of any. But what if he tyrannises over the people of God? if he
dissipates and lays waste the kingdom of Christ? if he troubles the whole
Church? if he convert the pastoral office into robbery? Nay, though he should be
the most abandoned of all, he insists that none can call him to account. The
language of Pontiffs is, “God has been pleased to terminate the causes of
other men by men, but the Prelate of this See he has reserved unquestioned for
his own judgment.” Again, “The deeds of subjects are judged by us;
ours by God only.”
20. And in order that edicts of this kind might
have more weight, they falsely substituted the names of ancient Pontiffs, as if
matters had been so constituted from the beginning, while it is absolutely
certain that whatever attributes more to the Pontiff than we have stated to have
been given to him by ancient councils, is new and of recent fabrication. Nay,
they have carried their effrontery so far as to publish a rescript under the
name of Anastasius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, in which he testifies that
it was appointed by ancient regulations, that nothing should be done in the
remotest provinces without being previously referred to the Roman See. Besides
its extreme folly, who can believe it credible that such an eulogium on the
Roman See proceeded from an opponent and rival of its honour and dignity? But
doubtless it was necessary that those Antichrists should proceed to such a
degree of madness and blindness, that their iniquity might be manifest to all
men of sound mind who will only open their eyes. The decretal epistles collected
by Gregory IX., also the Clementines and Extravagants of Martin, breathe still
more plainly, and in more bombastic terms bespeak this boundless ferocity and
tyranny, as it were, of barbarian kings. But these are the oracles out of which
the Romanists would have their Papacy to be judged. Hence have sprung those
famous axioms which have the force of oracles throughout the Papacy in the
present day-viz. that the Pope cannot err; that the Pope is superior to
councils; that the Pope is the universal bishop of all churches, and the chief
Head of the Church on earth. I say nothing of the still greater absurdities
which are babbled by the foolish canonists in their schools, absurdities,
however, which Roman theologians not only assent to, but even applaud in
flattery of their idol.
21. I will not treat with them on the strictest
terms. In opposition to their great insolence, some would quote the language
which Cyprian used to the bishops in the council over which he presided:
“None of us styles himself bishop of bishops, or forces his colleagues to
the necessity of obeying by the tyranny of terror.” Some might object what
was long after decreed at Carthage, “Let no one be called the prince of
priests or first bishop;” and might gather many proofs from history, and
canons from councils, and many passages from ancient writers, which bring the
Roman Pontiff into due order. But these I omit, that I may not seem to press too
hard upon them. However, let these worthy defenders of the Roman See tell me
with what face they can defend the title of universal bishop, while they see it
so often anathematised by Gregory. If effect is to be given to his testimony,
then they, by making their Pontiff universal, declare him to be Antichrist. The
name of head was not more approved. For Gregory thus speaks: “Peter
was the chief member in the body, John, Andrew, and James, the heads of
particular communities. All, however, are under one head members of the Church:
nay, the saints before the law, the saints under the law, the saints under
grace, all perfecting the body of the Lord, are constituted members: none of
them ever wished to be styled universal” (Gregor. Lib. 4 Ep. 83). When the
Pontiff arrogates to himself the power of ordering, he little accords with what
Gregory elsewhere says. For Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, having said that he
had received an order from him, he replies in this manner: “This word
order I beg you to take out of my hearing, for I know who I am, and who
you are: in station you are my brethren, in character my fathers. I therefore
did not order, but took care to suggest what seemed useful” (Gregor. Lib.
7 Ep. 80). When the Pope extends his jurisdiction without limit, he does great
and atrocious injustice not only to other bishops, but to each single church,
tearing and dismembering them, that he may build his see upon their ruins. When
he exempts himself from all tribunals, and wishes to reign in the manner of a
tyrant, holding his own caprice to be his only law, the thing is too insulting,
and too foreign to ecclesiastical rule, to be on any account submitted to. It is
altogether abhorrent, not only from pious feeling, but also from common sense.
22. But that I may not be forced to discuss and follow out each point
singly, I again appeal to those who, in the present day, would be thought the
best and most faithful defenders of the Roman See, whether they are not ashamed
to defend the existing state of the Papacy, which is clearly a hundred times
more corrupt than in the days of Gregory and Bernard, though even then these
holy men were so much displeased with it. Gregory everywhere complains (Lib. 1
Ep. 5; item, Ep. 7, 25, &c.) that he was distracted above measure by
foreign occupations: that under colour of the episcopate he was taken back to
the world, being subject to more worldly cares than he remembered to have ever
had when a laic; that he was so oppressed by the trouble of secular affairs, as
to be unable to raise his mind to things above; that he was so tossed by the
many billows of causes, and afflicted by the tempests of a tumultuous life, that
he might well say, “I am come into the depths of the sea.” It is
certain, that amid these worldly occupations, he could teach the people in
sermons, admonish in private, and correct those who required it; order the
Church, give counsel to his colleagues, and exhort them to their duty. Moreover,
some time was left for writing, and yet he deplores it as his calamity, that he
was plunged into the very deepest sea. If the administration at that time was a
sea, what shall we say of the present Papacy? For what resemblance is there
between the periods? Now there are no sermons, no care for discipline, no zeal
for churches, no spiritual function; nothing, in short, but the world. And yet
this labyrinth is lauded as if nothing could be found better ordered and
arranged. What complaints also does Bernard pour forth, what groans does he
utter, when he beholds the vices of his own age? What then would he have done on
beholding this iron, or, if possible, worse than iron, age of ours? How
dishonest, therefore, not only obstinately to defend as sacred and divine what
all the saints have always with one mouth disapproved, but to abuse their
testimony in favour of the Papacy, which, it is evident, was altogether unknown
to them? Although I admit, in respect to the time of Bernard, that all things
were so corrupt as to make it not unlike our own. But it betrays a want of all
sense of shame to seek any excuse from that middle period-namely, from that of
Leo, Gregory, and the like-for it is just as if one were to vindicate the
monarchy of the CÊsars by lauding the ancient state of the Roman empire;
in other words, were to borrow the praises of liberty in order to eulogise
tyranny.
23. Lastly, Although all these things were granted, an entirely
new question arises, when we deny that there is at Rome a Church in which
privileges of this nature can reside; when we deny that there is a bishop to
sustain the dignity of these privileges. Assume, therefore, that all these
things are true (though we have already extorted the contrary from them), that
Peter was by the words of Christ constituted head of the universal Church, and
that the honour thus conferred upon him he deposited in the Roman See, that this
was sanctioned by the authority of the ancient Church, and confirmed by long
use; that supreme power was always with one consent devolved by all on the Roman
Pontiff, that while he was the judge of all causes and all men, he was subject
to the judgment of none. Let even more be conceded to them if they will, I
answer, in one word, that none of these things avail if there be not a Church
and a Bishop at Rome. They must of necessity concede to me that she is not a
mother of churches who is not herself a church, that he cannot be the chief of
bishops who is not himself a bishop. Would they then have the Apostolic See at
Rome? Let them give me a true and lawful apostleship. Would they have a supreme
pontiff, let them give me a bishop. But how? Where will they show me any
semblance of a church? They, no doubt, talk of one, and have it ever in their
mouths. But surely the Church is recognised by certain marks, and bishopric is
the name of an office. I am not now speaking of the people but of the
government, which ought perpetually to be conspicuous in the Church. Where,
then, is a ministry such as the institution of Christ requires? Let us remember
what was formerly said of the duty of presbyters and bishops. If we bring the
office of cardinals to that test, we will acknowledge that they are nothing less
than presbyters. But I should like to know what one quality of a bishop the Pope
himself has? The first point in the office of a bishop is to instruct the people
in the word of God; the second and next to it is to administer the sacraments;
the third is to admonish and exhort, to correct those who are in fault, and
restrain the people by holy discipline. Which of these things does he do? Nay,
which of these things does he pretend to do? Let them say, then, on what ground
they will have him to be regarded as a bishop, who does not even in semblance
touch any part of the duty with his little finger.
24. It is not with a
bishop as with a king; the latter, though he does not execute the proper duty of
a king, nevertheless retains the title and the honour; but in deciding on a
bishop respect is had to the command of Christ, to which effect ought always to
be given in the Church. Let the Romanists then untie this knot. I deny that
their pontiff is the prince of bishops, seeing he is no bishop. This allegation
of mine they must prove to be false if they would succeed in theirs. What then
do I maintain? That he has nothing proper to a bishop, but is in all things the
opposite of a bishop. But with what shall I here begin? With doctrine or with
morals? What shall I say, or what shall I pass in silence, or where shall I end?
This I maintain: while in the present day the world is so inundated with
perverse and impious doctrines, so full of all kinds of superstition, so blinded
by error and sunk in idolatry, there is not one of them which has not emanated
from the Papacy, or at least been confirmed by it. Nor is there any other reason
why the pontiffs are so enraged against the reviving doctrine of the Gospel, why
they stretch every nerve to oppress it, and urge all kings and princes to
cruelty, than just that they see their whole dominion tottering and falling to
pieces the moment the Gospel of Christ prevails. Leo was cruel and Clement
sanguinary, Paul is truculent. But in assailing the truth, it is not so much
natural temper that impels them as the conviction that they have no other method
of maintaining their power. Therefore, seeing they cannot be safe unless they
put Christ to flight, they labour in this cause as if they were fighting for
their altars and hearths, for their own lives and those of their adherents. What
then? Shall we recognise the Apostolic See where we see nothing but horrible
apostacy? Shall he be the vicar of Christ who, by his furious efforts in
persecuting the Gospel, plainly declares himself to be Antichrist? Shall he be
the successor of Peter who goes about with fire and sword demolishing everything
that Peter built? Shall he be the Head of the Church who, after dissevering the
Church from Christ, her only true Head, tears and lacerates her members? Rome,
indeed, was once the mother of all the churches, but since she began to be the
seat of Antichrist she ceased to be what she was.
25. To some we seem
slanderous and petulant, when we call the Roman Pontiff Antichrist. But those
who think so perceive not that they are bringing a charge of intemperance
against Paul, after whom we speak, nay, in whose very words we speak. But lest
any one object that Paul’s words have a different meaning, and are wrested
by us against the Roman Pontiff, I wil1 briefly show that they can only be
understood of the Papacy. Paul says that Antichrist would sit in the temple of
God (2 Thess. 2:4). In another passage, the Spirit, portraying him in the person
of Antiochus, says that his reign would be with great swelling words of vanity
(Dan. 7:25). Hence we infer that his tyranny is more over souls than bodies, a
tyranny set up in opposition to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Then his nature
is such, that he abolishes not the name either of Christ or the Church, but
rather uses the name of Christ as a pretext, and lurks under the name of Church
as under a mask. But though all the heresies and schisms which have existed from
the beginning belong to the kingdom of Antichrist, yet when Paul foretells that
defection will come, he by the description intimates that that seat of
abomination will be erected, when a kind of universal defection comes upon the
Church, though many members of the Church scattered up and down should continue
in the true unity of the faith. But when he adds, that in his own time, the
mystery of iniquity, which was afterwards to be openly manifested, had begun to
work in secret, we thereby understand that this calamity was neither to be
introduced by one man, nor to terminate in one man (see Calv. in 2 Thess. 2:3;
Dan. 7:9). Moreover, when the mark by which he distinguishes Antichrist is, that
he would rob God of his honour and take it to himself, he gives the leading
feature which we ought to follow in searching out Antichrist; especially when
pride of this description proceeds to the open devastation of the Church. Seeing
then it is certain that the Roman Pontiff has impudently transferred to himself
the most peculiar properties of God and Christ, there cannot be a doubt that he
is the leader and standard-bearer of an impious and abominable kingdom.
26. Let the Romanists now go and oppose us with antiquity; as if, amid
such a complete change in every respect, the honour of the See can continue
where there is no See. Eusebius says that God, to make way for his vengeance,
transferred the Church which was at Jerusalem to Pella (Euseb. Lib. 3 cap. 5).
What we are told was once done may have been done repeatedly. Hence it is too
absurd and ridiculous so to fix the honour of the primacy to a particular spot,
so that he who is in fact the most inveterate enemy of Christ, the chief
adversary of the Gospel, the greatest devastator and waster of the Church, the
most cruel slayer and murderer of the saints, should be, nevertheless, regarded
as the vicegerent of Christ, the successor of Peter, the first priest of the
Church, merely because he occupies what was formerly the first of all sees. I do
not say how great the difference is between the chancery of the Pope and
well-regulated order in the Church; although this one fact might well set the
question at rest. For no man of sound mind will include the episcopate in lead
and bulls, much less in that administration of captions and circumscriptions, in
which the spiritual government of the Pope is supposed to consist. It has
therefore been elegantly said, that that vaunted Roman Church was long ago
converted into a temporal court, the only thing which is now seen at Rome. I am
not here speaking of the vices of individuals, but demonstrating that the Papacy
itself is diametrically opposed to the ecclesiastical system.
27. But if
we come to individuals, it is well known what kind of vicars of Christ we shall
find. No doubt, Julius and Leo, and Clement and Paul, will be pillars of the
Christian faith, the first interpreters of religion, though they knew nothing
more of Christ than they had learned in the school of Lucian. But why give the
names of three or four pontiffs? as if there were any doubt as to the kind of
religion professed by pontiffs, with their College of Cardinals, and professors,
in the present day. The first head of the secret theology which is in vogue
among them is, that there is no God. Another, that whatever things have been
written and are taught concerning Christ are lies and
imposture.55[7] A third, that the
doctrine of a future life and final resurrection is a mere fable. All do not
think, few speak thus; I confess it. Yet it is long since this began to be the
ordinary religion of pontiffs; and though the thing is notorious to all who know
Rome, Roman theologians cease not to boast that by special privilege our Saviour
has provided that the Pope cannot err, because it was said to Peter, “I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not”(Luke 22:32). What, pray, do
they gain by their effrontery, but to let the whole world understand that they
have reached the extreme of wickedness, so as neither to fear God nor regard
man?
28. But let us suppose that the iniquity of these pontiffs whom I
have mentioned is not known, as they have not published it either in sermons or
writings, but betrayed it only at table or in their chamber, or at least within
the walls of their court. But if they would have the privilege which they claim
to be confirmed, they must expunge from their list of pontiffs John
XXII.,55[8] who publicly maintained
that the soul is mortal, and perishes with the body till the day of
resurrection. And to show you that the whole See with its chief props then
utterly fell, none of the Cardinals opposed his madness, only the Faculty of
Paris urged the king to insist on a recantation. The king interdicted his
subjects from communion with him, unless he would immediately recant, and
published his interdict in the usual way by a herald. Thus necessitated, he
abjured his error. This example relieves me from the necessity of disputing
further with my opponents, when they say that the Roman See and its pontiffs
cannot err in the faith, from its being said to Peter, “I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not.” Certainly by this shameful lapse he fell
from the faith, and became a noted proof to posterity, that all are not Peters
who succeed Peter in the episcopate; although the thing is too childish in
itself to need an answer: for if they insist on applying everything that was
said to Peter to the successors of Peter, it will follow, that they are all
Satans, because our Lord once said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan,
thou art an offence unto me.” It is as easy for us to retort the latter
saying as for them to adduce the former.
29. But I have no pleasure in
this absurd mode of disputation, and therefore return to the point from which I
digressed. To fix down Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Church to a particular
spot, so that every one who presides in it, should he be a devil, must still be
deemed vicegerent of Christ, and the head of the Church, because that spot was
formerly the See of Peter, is not only impious and insulting to Christ, but
absurd and contrary to common sense. For a long period, the Roman Pontiffs have
either been altogether devoid of religion, or been its greatest enemies. The see
which they occupy, therefore, no more makes them the vicars of Christ, than it
makes an idol to become God, when it is placed in the temple of God (2 Thess.
2:4). Then, if manners be inquired into, let the Popes answer for themselves,
what there is in them that can make them be recognised for bishops. First, the
mode of life at Rome, while they not only connive and are silent, but also
tacitly approve, is altogether unworthy of bishops, whose duty it is to curb the
licence of the people by the strictness of discipline. But I will not be so
rigid with them as to charge them with the faults of others. But when they with
their household, with almost the whole College of Cardinals, and the whole body
of their clergy, are so devoted to wickedness, obscenity, uncleanness, iniquity,
and crime of every description, that they resemble monsters more than men, they
herein betray that they are nothing less than bishops. They need not fear that I
will make a farther disclosure of their turpitude. For it is painful to wade
through such filthy mire, and I must spare modest ears. But I think I have amply
demonstrated what I proposed-viz. that though Rome was formerly the first of
churches, she deserves not in the present day to be regarded as one of her
minutest members.
30. In regard to those whom they call Cardinals, I
know not how it happened that they rose so suddenly to such a height. In the age
of Gregory, the name was applied to bishops only (Gregor. Lib. 2 Ep. 15, 77, 79;
Ep. 6, 25). For whenever he makes mention of cardinals, he assigns them not only
to the Roman Church, but to every other church, so that, in short, a Cardinal
priest is nothing else than a bishop. I do not find the name among the
writers of a former age. I see, however, that they were inferior to bishops,
whom they now far surpass. There is a well-known passage in Augustine:
“Although, in regard to terms of honour which custom has fixed in the
Church, the office of bishop is greater than that of presbyter, yet in many
things, Augustine is inferior to Jerome” (August. ad Hieron. Ep. 19).
Here, certainly, he is not distinguishing a presbyter of the Roman Church from
other presbyters, but placing all of them alike after bishops. And so strictly
was this observed, that at the Council of Carthage, when two legates of the
Roman See were present, one a bishop, and the other a presbyter, the latter was
put in the lowest place. But not to dwell too much on ancient times, we have
account of a Council held at Rome, under Gregory, at which the presbyters sit in
the lowest place, and subscribe by themselves, while deacons do not subscribe at
all. And, indeed, they had no office at that time, unless to be present under
the bishop, and assist him in the administration of word and sacraments. So much
is their lot now changed, that they have become associates of kings and
CÊsars. And there can be no doubt that they have grown gradually with
their head, until they reached their present pinnacle of dignity. This much it
seemed proper to say in passing, that my readers may understand how very widely
the Roman See, as it now exists, differs from the ancient See, under which it
endeavours to cloak and defend itself. But whatever they were formerly, as they
have no true and legitimate office in the Church, they only retain a colour and
empty mask; nay, as they are in all respects the opposite of true ministers, the
thing which Gregory so often writes must, of necessity, have befallen them. His
words are, “Weeping, I say, groaning, I declare it; when the sacerdotal
order has fallen within, it cannot long stand without” (Gregor. Lib. 4 Ep.
55, 56; Lib. 5 Ep. 7). Nay, rather what Malachi says of such persons must be
fulfilled in them: “Ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to
stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of
hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the
people” (Mal. 2:8, 9). I now leave all the pious to judge what the supreme
pinnacle of the Roman hierarchy must be, to which the Papists, with nefarious
effrontery, hesitate not to subject the word of God itself, that word which
should be venerable and holy in earth and heaven, to men and angels.
CHAPTER 8.
OF THE POWER OF
THE CHURCH IN ARTICLES OF FAITH. THE UNBRIDLED LICENCE OF THE PAPAL CHURCH IN
DESTROYING PURITY OF DOCTRINE.
This chapter is divided into two
parts,-I. The limits within which the Church ought to confine herself in matters
of this kind, sec. 1-9. II. The Roman Church convicted of having transgressed
these limits, sec. 10-16.
Sections.
1. The marks and
government of the Church having been considered in the seven previous chapters,
the power of the Church is now considered under three heads-viz. Doctrine,
Legislation, Jurisdiction.
2. The authority and power given to
Church-officers not given to themselves, but their office. This shown in the
case of Moses and the Levitical priesthood.
3. The same thing shown in
the case of the Prophets.
4. Same thing shown in the case of the
Apostles, and of Christ himself.
5. The Church astricted to the written
Word of God. Christ the only teacher of the Church. From his lips ministers must
derive whatever they teach for the salvation of others. Various modes of divine
teaching. 1. Personal revelations.
6. Second mode of teaching-viz. by
the Law and the Prophets. The Prophets were in regard to doctrine, the
expounders of the Law. To these were added Historical Narratives and the Psalms.
7. Last mode of teaching by our Saviour himself manifested in the
flesh. Different names given to this dispensation, to show that we are not to
dream of anything more perfect than the written word.
8. Nothing can be
lawfully taught in the Church, that is not contained in the writings of the
Prophets and Apostles, as dictated by the Spirit of Christ.
9. Neither
the Apostles, nor apostolic men. nor the whole Church, allowed to overstep these
limits. This confirmed by passages of Peter and Paul. Argument a
fortiori.
10. The Roman tyrants have taught a different
doctrine-viz. that Councils cannot err, and, therefore, may coin new dogmas.
11. Answer to the Papistical arguments for the authority of the Church.
Argument, that the Church is to be led into all truth. Answer. This promise made
not only to the whole Church, but to every individual believer.
12.
Answers continued.
13. Answers continued.
14. Argument, that
the Church should supply the deficiency of the written word by traditions.
Answer.
15. Argument founded on Mt. 18:17. Answer.
16.
Objections founded on Infant Baptism, and the Canon of the Council of Nice, as
to the consubstantiality of the Son. Answer.
1. WE come now to the third
division-viz. the Power of the Church, as existing either in individual
bishops, or in councils, whether provincial or general. I speak only of the
spiritual power which is proper to the Church, and which consists either in
doctrine, or jurisdiction, or in enacting laws. In regard to doctrine, there are
two divisions-viz. the authority of delivering dogmas, and the interpretation of
them. Before we begin to treat of each in particular, I wish to remind the pious
reader, that whatever is taught respecting the power of the Church, ought to
have reference to the end for which Paul declares (2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10) that it
was given-namely, for edification, and not for destruction, those who use it
lawfully deeming themselves to be nothing more than servants of Christ, and, at
the same time, servants of the people in Christ. Moreover, the only mode by
which ministers can edify the Church is, by studying to maintain the authority
of Christ, which cannot be unimpaired, unless that which he received of the
Father is left to him-viz. to be the only Master of the Church. For it was not
said of any other but of himself alone, “Hear him” (Mt. 17:5).
Ecclesiastical power, therefore, is not to be mischievously adorned, but it is
to be confined within certain limits, so as not to be drawn hither and thither
at the caprice of men. For this purpose, it will be of great use to observe how
it is described by Prophets and Apostles. For if we concede unreservedly to men
all the power which they think proper to assume, it is easy to see how soon it
will degenerate into a tyranny which is altogether alien from the Church of
Christ.
2. Therefore, it is here necessary to remember, that whatever
authority and dignity the Holy Spirit in Scripture confers on priests, or
prophets, or apostles, or successors of Apostles, is wholly given not to men
themselves, but to the ministry to which they are appointed; or, to speak more
plainly, to the word, to the ministry of which they are appointed. For were we
to go over the whole in order, we should find that they were not invested with
authority to teach or give responses, save in the name and word of the Lord. For
whenever they are called to office, they are enjoined not to bring anything of
their own, but to speak by the mouth of the Lord. Nor does he bring them forward
to be heard by the people, before he has instructed them what they are to speak,
lest they should speak anything but his own word. Moses, the prince of all the
prophets, was to be heard in preference to others (Exod. 3:4; Deut. 17:9); but
he is previously furnished with his orders, that he may not be able to speak at
all except from the Lord. Accordingly, when the people embraced his doctrine,
they are said to have believed the Lord, and his servant Moses (Exod. 14:31). It
was also provided under the severest sanctions, that the authority of the
priests should not be despised (Exod. 17:9). But the Lord, at the same time,
shows in what terms they were to be heard, when he says that he made his
covenant with Levi, that the law of truth might be in his mouth (Mal. 2:4-6). A
little after he adds, “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and
they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of
hosts.” Therefore, if the priest would be heard, let him show himself to
be the messenger of God; that is, let him faithfully deliver the commands which
he has received from his Maker. When the mode of hearing, then, is treated of,
it is expressly said, “According to the sentence of the law which they
shall teach thee” (Deut. 17:11).
3. The nature of the power
conferred upon the prophets in general is elegantly described by Ezekiel:
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel:
therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me” (Ezek.
3:17). Is not he who is ordered to hear at the mouth of the Lord prohibited from
devising anything of himself? And what is meant by giving a warning from the
Lord, but just to speak so as to be able confidently to declare that the word
which he delivers is not his own but the Lord’s? The same thing is
expressed by Jeremiah in different terms, “The prophet that hath a dream,
let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word
faithfully” (Jer. 23:28). Surely God here declares the law to all, and it
is a law which does not allow any one to teach more than he has been ordered. He
afterwards gives the name of chaff to whatever has not proceeded from himself
alone. Accordingly, none of the prophets opened his mouth unless preceded by the
word of the Lord. Hence we so often meet with the expressions, “The word
of the Lord, The burden of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord, The mouth of the Lord
hath spoken it.”55[9] And
justly, for Isaiah exclaims that his lips are unclean (Isa. 6:5); and Jeremiah
confesses that he knows not how to speak because he is a child (Jer. 1:6). Could
anything proceed from the unclean lips of the one, and the childish lips of the
other, if they spoke their own language, but what was unclean or childish? But
their lips were holy and pure when they began to be organs of the Holy Spirit.
The prophets, after being thus strictly bound not to deliver anything but what
they received, are invested with great power and illustrious titles. For when
the Lord declares, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations, and
over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw
down, to build, and to plant,” he at the same time gives the reason,
“Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth “ (Jer. 1:9, 10).
4. Now, if you look to the apostles, they are commended by many
distinguished titles, as the Light of the world, and the Salt of the earth, to
be heard in Christ’s stead, whatever they bound or loosed on earth being
bound or loosed in heaven (Mt. 5:13, 14; Luke 10:16; John 20:23). But they
declare in their own name what the authority was which their office conferred on
them-viz. if they are apostles they must not speak their own pleasure, but
faithfully deliver the commands of him by whom they are sent. The words in which
Christ defined their embassy are sufficiently clear, “Go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you” (Mt. 28:19, 20). Nay, that none might be permitted to
decline this law, he received it and imposed it on himself. “My doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:16). He who always was the only
and eternal counsellor of the Father, who by the Father was constituted Lord and
Master of all, yet because he performed the ministry of teaching, prescribed to
all ministers by his example the rule which they ought to follow in teaching.
The power of the Church, therefore, is not infinite, but is subject to the word
of the Lord, and, as it were, included in it.
5. But though the rule
which always existed in the Church from the beginning, and ought to exist in the
present day, is, that the servants of God are only to teach what they have
learned from himself, yet, according to the variety of times, they have had
different methods of learning. The mode which now exists differs very much from
that of former times. First, if it is true, as Christ says, “Neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will
reveal him” (Mt. 11:27), then those who wish to attain to the knowledge of
God behoved always to be directed by that eternal wisdom. For how could they
have comprehended the mysteries of God in their mind, or declared them to
others, unless by the teaching of him, to whom alone the secrets of the Father
are known? The only way, therefore, by which in ancient times holy men knew God,
was by beholding him in the Son as in a mirror. When I say this, I mean that God
never manifested himself to men by any other means than by his Son, that is, his
own only wisdom, light, and truth. From this fountain Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, and others, drew all the heavenly doctrine which they
possessed. [6] From the same
fountain all the prophets also drew all the heavenly oracles which they
published. For this wisdom did not always display itself in one manner. With the
patriarchs he employed secret revelations, but, at the same time, in order to
confirm these, had recourse to signs so as to make it impossible for them to
doubt that it was God that spake to them. What the patriarchs received they
handed down to posterity, for God had, in depositing it with them, bound them
thus to propagate it, while their children and descendants knew by the inward
teaching of God, that what they heard was of heaven and not of earth.
6.
But when God determined to give a more illustrious form to the Church, he was
pleased to commit and consign his word to writing, that the priests might there
seek what they were to teach the people, and every doctrine delivered be brought
to it as a test (Mal. 2:7). Accordingly, after the promulgation of the Law, when
the priests are enjoined to teach from the mouth of the Lord, the meaning is,
that they are not to teach anything extraneous or alien to that kind of doctrine
which God had summed up in the Law, while it was unlawful for them to add to it
or take from it. Next followed the prophets, by whom God published the new
oracles which were added to the Law, not so new, however, but that they flowed
from the Law, and had respect to it. For in so far as regards doctrine, they
were only interpreters of the Law, adding nothing to it but predictions of
future events. With this exception, all that they delivered was pure exposition
of the Law. But as the Lord was pleased that doctrine should exist in a clearer
and more ample form, the better to satisfy weak consciences, he commanded the
prophecies also to be committed to writing, and to be held part of his word. To
these at the same time were added historical details, which are also the
composition of prophets, but dictated by the Holy Spirit;
[7] I include the Psalms among the
Prophecies, the quality which we attribute to the latter belonging also to the
former. The whole body, therefore, composed of the Law, the Prophets, the
Psalms, and Histories, formed the word of the Lord to his ancient people, and by
it as a standard, priests and teachers, before the advent of Christ, were bound
to test their doctrine, nor was it lawful for them to turn aside either to the
right hand or the left, because their whole office was confined to this-to give
responses to the people from the mouth of God. This is gathered from a
celebrated passage of Malachi, in which it is enjoined to remember the Law, and
give heed to it until the preaching of the Gospel (Mal. 4:4). For he thus
restrains men from all adventitious doctrines, and does not allow them to
deviate in the least from the path which Moses had faithfully pointed out. And
the reason why David so magnificently extols the Law, and pronounces so many
encomiums on it (Ps. 19, 119), was, that the Jews might not long after any
extraneous aid, all perfection being included in it.
7. But when at
length the Wisdom of God was manifested in the flesh, he fully unfolded to us
all that the human mind can comprehend, or ought to think of the heavenly
Father. Now, therefore, since Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, has arisen, we
have the perfect refulgence of divine truth, like the brightness of noon-day,
whereas the light was previously dim. It was no ordinary blessing which the
apostle intended to publish when he wrote: “God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1, 2); for he
intimates, nay, openly declares, that God will not henceforth, as formerly,
speak by this one and by that one, that he will not add prophecy to prophecy, or
revelation to revelation, but has so completed all the parts of teaching in the
Son, that it is to be regarded as his last and eternal testimony. For which
reason, the whole period of the new dispensation, from the time when Christ
appeared to us with the preaching of his Gospel, until the day of judgment, is
designated by the last hour, the last times, the last days, that,
contented with the perfection of Christ’s doctrine, we may learn to frame
no new doctrine for ourselves, or admit any one devised by others. With good
cause, therefore, the Father appointed the Son our teacher, with special
prerogative, commanding that he and no human being should be heard. When he
said, “Hear him” (Mt. 17:5), he commended his office to us, in few
words, indeed, but words of more weight and energy than is commonly supposed,
for it is just as if he had withdrawn us from all doctrines of man, and confined
us to him alone, ordering us to seek the whole doctrine of salvation from him
alone, to depend on him alone, and cleave to him alone; in short (as the words
express), to listen only to his voice. And, indeed, what can now be expected or
desired from man, when the very Word of life has appeared before us, and
familiarly explained himself? Nay, every mouth should be stopped when once he
has spoken, in whom, according to the pleasure of our heavenly Father,
“are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3), and
spoken as became the Wisdom of God (which is in no part defective) and the
Messiah (from whom the revelation of all things was expected) (John 4:25); in
other words, has so spoken as to leave nothing to be spoken by others after him.
8. Let this then be a sure axiom-that there is no word of God to which
place should be given in the Church save that which is contained, first, in the
Law and the Prophets; and, secondly, in the writings of the Apostles, and that
the only due method of teaching in the Church is according to the prescription
and rule of his word. Hence also we infer that nothing else was permitted to the
apostles than was formerly permitted to the prophets-namely, to expound the
ancient Scriptures, and show that the things there delivered are fulfilled in
Christ: this, however, they could not do unless from the Lord; that is, unless
the Spirit of Christ went before, and in a manner dictated words to them.
[8] For Christ thus defined the terms of
their embassy, when he commanded them to go and teach, not what they themselves
had at random fabricated, but whatsoever he had commanded (Mt. 28:20). And
nothing can be plainer than his words in another passage, “Be not ye
called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ” (Mt. 23:8-10). To
impress this more deeply in their minds, he in the same place repeats it twice.
And because from ignorance they were unable to comprehend the things which they
had heard and learned from the lips of their Master, the Spirit of truth is
promised to guide them unto all truth (John 14:26; 16:13). The restriction
should be carefully attended to. The office which he assigns to the Holy Spirit
is to bring to remembrance what his own lips had previously taught.
9.
Accordingly, Peter, who was perfectly instructed by his Master as to the extent
of what was permitted to him, leaves nothing more to himself or others than to
dispense the doctrine delivered by God. “If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11); that is, not hesitatingly, as those
are wont whose convictions are imperfect, but with the full confidence which
becomes a servant of God, provided with a sure message. What else is this than
to banish all the inventions of the human mind (whatever be the head which may
have devised them), that the pure word of God may be taught and learned in the
Church of the faithful,-than to discard the decrees, or rather fictions of men
(whatever be their rank), that the decrees of God alone may remain steadfast?
These are “the weapons of our warfare,” which “are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of
God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”
(2 Cor. 10:4, 5). Here is the supreme power with which pastors of the Church, by
whatever name they are called, should be invested- namely, to dare all boldly
for the word of God, compelling all the virtue, glory, wisdom, and rank of the
world to yield and obey its majesty; to command all from the highest to the
lowest, trusting to its power to build up the house of Christ and overthrow the
house of Satan; to feed the sheep and chase away the wolves; to instruct and
exhort the docile, to accuse, rebuke, and subdue the rebellious and petulant, to
bind and loose; in fine, if need be, to fire and fulminate, but all in the word
of God. Although, as I have observed, there is this difference between the
apostles and their successors, they were sure and authentic amanuenses of the
Holy Spirit; [9] and, therefore,
their writings are to be regarded as the oracles of God, whereas others have no
other office than to teach what is delivered and sealed in the holy Scriptures.
We conclude, therefore, that it does not now belong to faithful ministers to
coin some new doctrine, but simply to adhere to the doctrine to which all,
without exception, are made subject. When I say this, I mean to show not only
what each individual, but what the whole Church, is bound to do. In regard to
individuals, Paul certainly had been appointed an apostle to the Corinthians,
and yet he declares that he has no dominion over their faith (2 Cor. 1:24). Who
will now presume to arrogate a dominion to which the apostle declares that he
himself was not competent? But if he had acknowledged such licence in teaching,
that every pastor could justly demand implicit faith in whatever he delivered,
he never would have laid it down as a rule to the Corinthians, that while two or
three prophets spoke, the others should judge, and that, if anything was
revealed to one sitting by, the first should be silent (1 Cor. 14:29, 30). Thus
he spared none, but subjected the authority of all to the censure of the word of
God. But it will be said, that with regard to the whole Church the case is
different. I answer, that in another place Paul meets the objection also when he
says, that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17).
In other words, if faith depends upon the word of God alone, if it regards and
reclines on it alone, what place is left for any word of man? He who knows what
faith is can never hesitate here, for it must possess a strength sufficient to
stand intrepid and invincible against Satan, the machinations of hell, and the
whole world. This strength can be found only in the word of God. Then the reason
to which we ought here to have regard is universal: God deprives man of the
power of producing any new doctrine, in order that he alone may be our master in
spiritual teaching, as he alone is true, and can neither lie nor deceive. This
reason applies not less to the whole Church than to every individual believer.
10. But if this power of the church which is here described be
contrasted with that which spiritual tyrants, falsely styling themselves bishops
and religious prelates, have now for several ages exercised among the people of
God, there will be no more agreement than that of Christ with Belial. It is not
my intention here to unfold the manner, the unworthy manner, in which they have
used their tyranny; I will only state the doctrine which they maintain in the
present day, first, in writing, and then, by fire and sword. Taking it for
granted, that a universal council is a true representation of the Church, they
set out with this principle, and, at the same time, lay it down as
incontrovertible, that such councils are under the immediate guidance of the
Holy Spirit, and therefore cannot err. But as they rule councils, nay,
constitute them, they in fact claim for themselves whatever they maintain to be
due to councils. Therefore, they will have our faith to stand and fall at their
pleasure, so that whatever they have determined on either side must be firmly
seated in our minds; what they approve must be approved by us without any doubt;
what they condemn we also must hold to be justly condemned. Meanwhile, at their
own caprice, and in contempt of the word of God, they coin doctrines to which
they in this way demand our assent, declaring that no man can be a Christian
unless he assent to all their dogmas, affirmative as well as negative, if not
with explicit, yet with implicit faith, because it belongs to the Church to
frame new articles of faith.
11. First, let us hear by what arguments
they prove that this authority was given to the Church, and then we shall see
how far their allegations concerning the Church avail them. The Church, they
say, has the noble promise that she will never be deserted by Christ her spouse,
but be guided by his Spirit into all truth. But of the promises which they are
wont to allege, many were given not less to private believers than to the whole
Church. For although the Lord spake to the twelve apostles, when he said,
“Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Mt.
28:20); and again, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever: even the Spirit of truth”
(John 14:16, 17), he made these promises not only to the twelve, but to each of
them separately, nay, in like manner, to other disciples whom he already had
received, or was afterwards to receive. When they interpret these promises,
which are replete with consolation, in such a way as if they were not given to
any particular Christian but to the whole Church together, what else is it but
to deprive Christians of the confidence which they ought thence to have derived,
to animate them in their course? I deny not that the whole body of the faithful
is furnished with a manifold variety of gifts, and endued with a far larger and
richer treasure of heavenly wisdom than each Christian apart; nor do I mean that
this was said of believers in general, as implying that all possess the spirit
of wisdom and knowledge in an equal degree: but we are not to give permission to
the adversaries of Christ to defend a bad cause, by wresting Scripture from its
proper meaning. Omitting this, however, I simply hold what is true-viz. that the
Lord is always present with his people, and guides them by his Spirit. He is the
Spirit, not of error, ignorance, falsehood, or darkness, but of sure revelation,
wisdom, truth, and light, from whom they can, without deception, learn the
things which have been given to them (1 Cor. 2:12); in other words, “what
is the hope of their calling, and what the riches of the glory of their
inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18). But while believers, even those of
them who are endued with more excellent graces, obtain in the present life only
the first-fruits, and, as it were, a foretaste of the Spirit, nothing better
remains to them than, under a consciousness of their weakness, to confine
themselves anxiously within the limits of the word of God, lest, in following
their own sense too far, they forthwith stray from the right path, being left
without that Spirit, by whose teaching alone truth is discerned from falsehood.
For all confess with Paul, that “they have not yet reached the goal”
(Phil. 3:12). Accordingly, they rather aim at daily progress than glory in
perfection.
12. But it will be objected, that whatever is attributed in
part to any of the saints, belongs in complete fulness to the Church. Although
there is some semblance of truth in this, I deny that it is true. God, indeed,
measures out the gifts of his Spirit to each of the members, so that nothing
necessary to the whole body is wanting, since the gifts are bestowed for the
common advantage. The riches of the Church, however, are always of such a
nature, that much is wanting to that supreme perfection of which our opponents
boast. Still the Church is not left destitute in any part, but always has as
much as is sufficient, for the Lord knows what her necessities require. But to
keep her in humility and pious modesty, he bestows no more on her than he knows
to be expedient. I am aware, it is usual here to object, that Christ hath
cleansed the Church “with the washing of water by the word: that he might
present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle” (Eph.
5:26, 27), and that it is therefore called the “pillar and ground of the
truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). But the former passage rather shows what Christ
daily performs in it, than what he has already perfected. For if he daily
sanctifies all his people, purifies, refines them, and wipes away their stains,
it is certain that they have still some spots and wrinkles, and that their
sanctification is in some measure defective. How vain and fabulous is it to
suppose that the Church, all whose members are somewhat spotted and impure, is
completely holy and spotless in every part? It is true, therefore, that the
Church is sanctified by Christ, but here the commencement of her sanctification
only is seen; the end and entire completion will be effected when Christ, the
Holy of holies, shall truly and completely fill her with his holiness. It is
true also, that her stains and wrinkles have been effaced, but so that the
process is continued every day, until Christ at his advent will entirely remove
every remaining defect. For unless we admit this, we shall be constrained to
hold with the Pelagians, that the righteousness of believers is perfected in
this life: like the Cathari and Donatists we shall tolerate no infirmity in the
Church.56[0] The other passage, as
we have elsewhere seen (chap. 1 sec. 10), has a very different meaning from what
they put upon it. For when Paul instructed Timothy, and trained him to the
office of a true bishop, he says, he did it in order that he might learn how to
behave himself in the Church of God. And to make him devote himself to the work
with greater seriousness and zeal, he adds, that the Church is the pillar and
ground of the truth. And what else do these words mean, than just that the truth
of God is preserved in the Church, and preserved by the instrumentality of
preaching; as he elsewhere says, that Christ “gave some, apostles; and
some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;”
“that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but, speaking the truth in
love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ”?
(Eph. 4:11, 14, 15) The reason, therefore, why the truth, instead of being
extinguished in the world, remains unimpaired, is, because he has the Church as
a faithful guardian, by whose aid and ministry it is maintained. But if this
guardianship consists in the ministry of the Prophets and Apostles, it follows,
that the whole depends upon this-viz. that the word of the Lord is faithfully
preserved and maintained in purity.
13. And that my readers may the
better understand the hinge on which the question chiefly turns, I will briefly
explain what our opponents demand, and what we resist. When they deny that the
Church can err, their end and meaning are to this effect: Since the Church is
governed by the Spirit of God, she can walk safely without the word; in whatever
direction she moves, she cannot think or speak anything but the truth, and
hence, if she determines anything without or beside the word of God, it must be
regarded in no other light than if it were a divine oracle. If we grant the
first point-viz. that the Church cannot err in things necessary to salvation-our
meaning is, that she cannot err, because she has altogether discarded her own
wisdom, and submits to the teaching of the Holy Spirit through the word of God.
Here then is the difference. They place the authority of the Church without the
word of God; we annex it to the word, and allow it not to be separated from it.
And is it strange if the spouse and pupil of Christ is so subject to her lord
and master as to hang carefully and constantly on his lips? In every
well-ordered house the wife obeys the command of her husband, in every
well-regulated school the doctrine of the master only is listened to. Wherefore,
let not the Church be wise in herself, nor think any thing of herself, but let
her consider her wisdom terminated when he ceases to speak. In this way she will
distrust all the inventions of her own reason; and when she leans on the word of
God, will not waver in diffidence or hesitation but rest in full assurance and
unwavering constancy. Trusting to the liberal promises which she has received,
she will have the means of nobly maintaining her faith, never doubting that the
Holy Spirit is always present with her to be the perfect guide of her path. At
the same time, she will remember the use which God wishes to be derived from his
Spirit. “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all
truth” (John 16:13). How? “He shall bring to your remembrance all
things whatsoever I have said unto you.” He declares, therefore, that
nothing more is to be expected of his Spirit than to enlighten our minds to
perceive the truth of his doctrine. Hence Chrysostom most shrewdly observes,
“Many boast of the Holy Spirit, but with those who speak their own it is a
false pretence. As Christ declared that he spoke not of himself (John 12:50;
14:10), because he spoke according to the Law and the Prophets; so, if anything
contrary to the Gospel is obtruded under the name of the Holy Spirit, let us not
believe it. For as Christ is the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets, so is
the Spirit the fulfilment of the Gospel” (Chrysost. Serm. de Sancto et
Adorando Spiritu.) Thus far Chrysostom. We may now easily infer how erroneously
our opponents act in vaunting of the Holy Spirit, for no other end than to give
the credit of his name to strange doctrines, extraneous to the word of God,
whereas he himself desires to be inseparably connected with the word of God; and
Christ declares the same thing of him, when he promises him to the Church. And
so indeed it is. The soberness which our Lord once prescribed to his Church, he
wishes to be perpetually observed. He forbade that anything should be added to
his word, and that anything should be taken from it. This is the inviolable
decree of God and the Holy Spirit, a decree which our opponents endeavour to
annul when they pretend that the Church is guided by the Spirit without the
word.
14. Here again they mutter that the Church behoved to add
something to the writings of the apostles, or that the apostles themselves
behoved orally to supply what they had less clearly taught, since Christ said to
them, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now” (John 16:12), and that these are the points which have been received,
without writing, merely by use and custom. But what effrontery is this? The
disciples, I admit, were ignorant and almost indocile when our Lord thus
addressed them, but were they still in this condition when they committed his
doctrine to writing, so as afterwards to be under the necessity of supplying
orally that which, through ignorance, they had omitted to write? If they were
guided by the Spirit of truth unto all truth when they published their writings,
what prevented them from embracing a full knowledge of the Gospel, and
consigning it therein? But let us grant them what they ask, provided they point
out the things which behoved to be revealed without writing. Should they presume
to attempt this, I will address, them in the words of Augustine, “When the
Lord is silent, who of us may say, this is, or that is? or if we should presume
to say it, how do we prove it?” (August. in Joann. 96) But why do I
contend superfluously? Every child knows that in the writings of the apostles,
which these men represent as mutilated and incomplete, is contained the result
of that revelation which the Lord then promised to them.
15. What, say
they, did not Christ declare that nothing which the Church teaches and decrees
can be gainsayed, when he enjoined that every one who presumes to contradict
should be regarded as a heathen man and a publican? (Mt. 18:17.) First, there is
here no mention of doctrine, but her authority to censure, for correction is
asserted, in order that none who had been admonished or reprimanded might oppose
her judgment. But to say nothing of this, it is very strange that those men are
so lost to all sense of shame, that they hesitate not to plume themselves on
this declaration. For what, pray, will they make of it, but just that the
consent of the Church, a consent never given but to the word of God, is not to
be despised? The Church is to be heard, say they. Who denies this? since she
decides nothing but according to the word of God. If they demand more than this,
let them know that the words of Christ give them no countenance. I ought not to
seem contentious when I so vehemently insist that we cannot concede to the
Church any new doctrine; in other words, allow her to teach and oracularly
deliver more than the Lord has revealed in his word. Men of sense see how great
the danger is if so much authority is once conceded to men. They see also how
wide a door is opened for the jeers and cavils of the ungodly, if we admit that
Christians are to receive the opinions of men as if they were oracles. We may
add, that our Saviour, speaking according to the circumstances of his times,
gave the name of Church to the Sanhedrim, that the disciples might learn
afterwards to revere the sacred meetings of the Church. Hence it would follow,
that single cities and districts would have equal liberty in coining dogmas.
16. The examples which they bring do not avail them. They say that
pÊdobaptism proceeds not so much on a plain command of Scripture, as on a
decree of the Church. It would be a miserable asylum if, in defence of
pÊdobaptism, we were obliged to betake ourselves to the bare authority of
the Church; but it will be made plain enough elsewhere (chap. 16) that it is far
otherwise. In like manner, when they object that we nowhere find in the
Scriptures what was declared in the Council of Nice-viz. that the Son is
consubstantial with the Father (see August. Ep. 178)-they do a grievous
injustice to the Fathers, as if they had rashly condemned Arius for not swearing
to their words, though professing the whole of that doctrine which is contained
in the writings of the Apostles and Prophets. I admit that the expression does
not exist in Scripture, but seeing it is there so often declared that there is
one God, and Christ is so often called true and eternal God, one with the
Father, what do the Nicene Fathers do when they affirm that he is of one
essence, than simply declare the genuine meaning of Scripture? Theodoret relates
that Constantine, in opening their meeting, spoke as follows: “In the
discussion of divine matters, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit stands recorded.
The Gospels and apostolical writings, with the oracles of the prophets, fully
show us the meaning of the Deity. Therefore, laying aside discord, let us take
the exposition of questions from the words of the Spirit” (Theodoret.
Hist. Eccles. Lib. 1 c. 5). There was none who opposed this sound advice; none
who objected that the Church could add something of her own, that the Spirit did
not reveal all things to the apostles, or at least that they did not deliver
them to posterity, and so forth. If the point on which our opponents insist is
true, Constantine, first, was in error in robbing the Church of her power; and,
secondly, when none of the bishops rose to vindicate it, their silence was a
kind of perfidy, and made them traitors to Ecclesiastical law. But since
Theodoret relates that they readily embraced what the Emperor said, it is
evident that this new dogma was then wholly
unknown.
CHAPTER 9.
OF
COUNCILS AND THEIR
AUTHORITY.56[1]
Since
Papists regard their Councils as expressing the sentiment and consent of the
Church, particularly as regards the authority of declaring dogmas and the
exposition of them, it was necessary to treat of Councils before proceeding to
consider that part of ecclesiastical power which relates to doctrine. I. First,
the authority of Councils in delivering dogmas is discussed, and it is shown
that the Spirit of God is not so bound to the Pastors of the Church as opponents
suppose. Their objections refuted, sec. 1-7. II. The errors, contradictions, and
weaknesses, of certain Councils exposed. A refutation of the subterfuge, that
those set over us are to be obeyed without distinction, sec. 8-12. III. Of the
authority of Councils as regards the interpretation of Scripture, sec. 13, 14.
Sections.
1. The true nature of Councils.
2.
Whence the authority of Councils is derived. What meant by assembling in the
name of Christ.
3. Objection, that no truth remains in the Church if it
be not in Pastors and Councils. Answer, showing by passages from the Old
Testament that Pastors were often devoid of the spirit of knowledge and truth.
4. Passages from the New Testament showing that our times were to be
subject to the same evil. This confirmed by the example of almost all ages.
5. All not Pastors who pretend to be so.
6. Objection, that
General Councils represent the Church. Answer, showing the absurdity of this
objection from passages in the Old Testament.
7. Passages to the same
effect from the New Testament.
8. Councils have authority only in so
far as accordant with Scripture. Testimony of Augustine. Councils of Nice,
Constantinople, and Ephesus, Subsequent Councils more impure, and to be received
with limitation.
9. Contradictory decisions of Councils. Those agreeing
with divine truth to be received. Those at variance with it to be rejected. This
confirmed by the example of the Council of Constantinople and the Council of
Nice; also of the Council of Chalcedon, and second Council of Ephesus.
10. Errors of purer Councils. Four causes of these errors. An example
from the Council of Nice.
11. Another example from the Council of
Chalcedon. The same errors in Provincial Councils.
12. Evasion of the
Papists. Three answers. Conclusion of the discussion as to the power of the
Church in relation to doctrine.
13. Last part of the chapter. Power of
the Church in interpreting Scripture. From what source interpretation is to be
derived. Means of preserving unity in the Church.
14. Impudent attempt
of the Papists to establish their tyranny refuted. Things at variance with
Scripture sanctioned by their Councils. Instance in the prohibition of marriage
and communion in both kinds.
1. WERE I now to concede all that they ask
concerning the Church, it would not greatly aid them in their object. For
everything that is said of the Church they immediately transfer to councils,
which, in their opinion, represent the Church. Nay, when they contend so
doggedly for the power of the Church, their only object is to devolve the whole
which they extort on the Roman Pontiff and his conclave. Before I begin to
discuss this question, two points must be briefly premised. First, though I mean
to be more rigid in discussing this subject, it is not because I set less value
than I ought on ancient councils. I venerate them from my heart, and would have
all to hold them in due honour.56[2]
But there must be some limitation, there must be nothing derogatory to Christ.
Moreover, it is the right of Christ to preside over all councils, and not share
the honour with any man. Now, I hold that he presides only when he governs the
whole assembly by his word and Spirit. Secondly, in attributing less to councils
than my opponents demand, it is not because I have any fear that councils are
favourable to their cause and adverse to ours. For as we are amply provided by
the word of the Lord with the means of proving our doctrine and overthrowing the
whole Papacy, and thus have no great need of other aid, so, if the case required
it, ancient councils furnish us in a great measure with what might be sufficient
for both purposes.
2. Let us now proceed to the subject itself. If we
consult Scripture on the authority of councils, there is no promise more
remarkable than that which is contained in these words of our Saviour,
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them.” But this is just as applicable to any particular meeting
as to a universal council. And yet the important part of the question does not
lie here, but in the condition which is added-viz. that Christ will be in the
midst of a council, provided it be assembled in his name. Wherefore, though our
opponents should name councils of thousands of bishops it will little avail
them; nor will they induce us to believe that they are, as they maintain, guided
by the Holy Spirit, until they make it credible that they assemble in the name
of Christ: since it is as possible for wicked and dishonest to conspire against
Christ, as for good and honest bishops to meet together in his name. Of this we
have a clear proof in very many of the decrees which have proceeded from
councils. But this will be afterwards seen. At present I only reply in one word,
that our Saviour’s promise is made to those only who assemble in his name.
How, then, is such an assembly to be defined? I deny that those assemble in the
name of Christ who, disregarding his command by which he forbids anything to be
added to the word of God or taken from it, determine everything at their own
pleasure, who, not contented with the oracles of Scripture, that is, with the
only rule of perfect wisdom, devise some novelty out of their own head (Deut.
4:2; Rev. 22:18). Certainly, since our Saviour has not promised to be present
with all councils of whatever description, but has given a peculiar mark for
distinguishing true and lawful councils from others, we ought not by any means
to lose sight of the distinction. The covenant which God anciently made with the
Levitical priests was to teach at his mouth (Mal. 2:7). This he always required
of the prophets, and we see also that it was the law given to the apostles. On
those who violate this covenant God bestows neither the honour of the priesthood
nor any authority. Let my opponents solve this difficulty if they would subject
my faith to the decrees of man, without authority from the word of God.
3. Their idea that the truth cannot remain in the Church unless it exist
among pastors, and that the Church herself cannot exist unless displayed in
general councils, is very far from holding true if the prophets have left us a
correct description of their own times. In the time of Isaiah there was a Church
at Jerusalem which the Lord had not yet abandoned. But of pastors he thus
speaks: “His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant, they are all dumb
dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are
greedy dogs which never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot
understand: they all look to their own way” (Isa. 56:10, 11). In the same
way Hosea says, “The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet
is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his
God” (Hosea 9:8). Here, by ironically connecting them with God, he shows
that the pretext of the priesthood was vain. There was also a Church in the time
of Jeremiah. Let us hear what he says of pastors: “From the prophet even
unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.” Again, “The prophets
prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them,
neither spake unto them” (Jer. 6:13; 14:14). And not to be prolix with
quotations, read the whole of his thirty-third and fortieth chapters. Then, on
the other hand, Ezekiel inveighs against them in no milder terms. “There
is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion
ravening the prey; they have devoured souls.” “Her priests have
violated my law, and profaned mine holy things” (Ezek. 22:25, 26). There
is more to the same purpose. Similar complaints abound throughout the prophets;
nothing is of more frequent recurrence.
4. But perhaps, though this
great evil prevailed among the Jews, our age is exempt from it. Would that it
were so; but the Holy Spirit declared that it would be otherwise. For
Peter’s words are clear, “But there were false prophets among the
people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily will bring
in damnable heresies” (2 Peter 2:1). See how he predicts impending danger,
not from ordinary believers, but from those who should plume themselves on the
name of pastors and teachers. Besides, how often did Christ and his apostles
foretell that the greatest dangers with which the Church was threatened would
come from pastors? (Mt. 24:11, 24). Nay, Paul openly declares, that Antichrist
would have his seat in the temple of God (2 Thess. 2:4); thereby intimating,
that the fearful calamity of which he was speaking would come only from those
who should have their seat in the Church as pastors. And in another passage he
shows that the introduction of this great evil was almost at hand. For in
addressing the Elders of Ephesus, he says, “I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also
of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them” (Acts 20:29, 30). How great corruption might a long
series of years introduce among pastors, when they could degenerate so much
within so short a time? And not to fill my pages with details, we are reminded
by the examples of almost every age, that the truth is not always cherished in
the bosoms of pastors, and that the safety of the Church depends not on their
state. It was becoming that those appointed to preserve the peace and safety of
the Church should be its presidents and guardians; but it is one thing to
perform what you owe, and another to owe what you do not perform.
5. Let
no man, however, understand me as if I were desirous in everything rashly and
unreservedly to overthrow the authority of
pastors.56[3] All I advise is, to
exercise discrimination, and not suppose, as a matter of course, that all who
call themselves pastors are so in reality. But the Pope, with the whole crew of
his bishops, for no other reason but because they are called pastors, shake off
obedience to the word of God, invert all things, and turn them hither and
thither at their pleasure; meanwhile, they insist that they cannot be destitute
of the light of truth, that the Spirit of God perpetually resides in them, that
the Church subsists in them, and dies with them, as if the Lord did not still
inflict his judgments, and in the present day punish the world for its
wickedness, in the same way in which he punished the ingratitude of the ancient
people-namely, by smiting pastors with astonishment and blindness (Zech. 12:4).
These stupid men understand not that they are just chiming in with those of
ancient times who warred with the word of God. For the enemies of Jeremiah thus
set themselves against the truth, “Come, and let us devise devices against
Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the
wise, nor the word from the prophet” (Jer. 18:18).
6. Hence it is
easy to reply to their allegation concerning general councils. It cannot be
denied, that the Jews had a true Church under the prophets. But had a general
council then been composed of the priests, what kind of appearance would the
Church have had? We hear the Lord denouncing not against one or two of them, but
the whole order: “The priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall
wonder” (Jer. 4:9). Again, “The law shall perish from the priest,
and counsel from the ancients” (Ezek. 7:26). Again, “Therefore night
shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto
you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and
the day shall be dark over them,” &c. (Micah 3:6). Now, had all men of
this description been collected together, what spirit would have presided over
their meeting? Of this we have a notable instance in the council which Ahab
convened (1 Kings 22:6, 22). Four hundred prophets were present. But because
they had met with no other intention than to flatter the impious king, Satan is
sent by the Lord to be a lying spirit in all their mouths. The truth is there
unanimously condemned. Micaiah is judged a heretic, is smitten, and cast into
prison. So was it done to Jeremiah, and so to the other prophets.
7. But
there is one memorable example which may suffice for all. In the council which
the priests and Pharisees assembled at Jerusalem against Christ (John 11:47),
what is wanting, in so far as external appearance is concerned? Had there been
no Church then at Jerusalem, Christ would never have joined in the sacrifices
and other ceremonies. A solemn meeting is held; the high priest presides; the
whole sacerdotal order take their seats, and yet Christ is condemned, and his
doctrine is put to flight. This atrocity proves that the Church was not at all
included in that council. But there is no danger that anything of the kind will
happen with us. Who has told us so? Too much security in a matter of so great
importance lies open to the charge of sluggishness. Nay, when the Spirit, by the
mouth of Paul, foretells, in distinct terms, that a defection will take place, a
defection which cannot come until pastors first forsake God (2 Thess. 2:3), why
do we spontaneously walk blindfold to our own destruction? Wherefore, we cannot
on any account admit that the Church consists in a meeting of pastors, as to
whom the Lord has nowhere promised that they would always be good, but has
sometimes foretold that they would be wicked. When he warns us of danger, it is
to make us use greater caution.
8. What, then, you will say, is there no
authority in the definitions of councils? Yes, indeed; for I do not contend that
all councils are to be condemned, and all their acts rescinded, or, as it is
said, made one complete erasure. But you are bringing them all (it will be said)
under subordination, and so leaving every one at liberty to receive or reject
the decrees of councils as he pleases. By no means; but whenever the decree of a
council is produced, the first thing I would wish to be done is, to examine at
what time it was held, on what occasion, with what intention, and who were
present at it; next I would bring the subject discussed to the standard of
Scripture. And this I would do in such a way that the decision of the council
should have its weight, and be regarded in the light of a prior judgment, yet
not so as to prevent the application of the test which I have mentioned. I wish
all had observed the method which Augustine prescribes in his Third Book against
Maximinus, when he wished to silence the cavils of this heretic against the
decrees of councils, “I ought not to oppose the Council of Nice to you,
nor ought you to oppose that of Ariminum to me, as prejudging the question. I am
not bound by the authority of the latter, nor you by that of the former. Let
thing contend with thing, cause with cause, reason with reason, on the authority
of Scripture, an authority not peculiar to either, but common to all.” In
this way, councils would be duly respected, and yet the highest place would be
given to Scripture, everything being brought to it as a test. Thus those ancient
Councils of Nice, Constantinople, the first of Ephesus, Chalcedon, and the like,
which were held for refuting errors, we willingly embrace, and reverence as
sacred, in so far as relates to doctrines of faith, for they contain nothing but
the pure and genuine interpretation of Scripture, which the holy Fathers with
spiritual prudence adopted to crush the enemies of religion who had then arisen.
In some later councils, also, we see displayed a true zeal for religion, and
moreover unequivocal marks of genius, learning, and prudence. But as matters
usually become worse and worse, it is easy to see in more modern councils how
much the Church gradually degenerated from the purity of that golden age. I
doubt not, however, that even in those more corrupt ages, councils had their
bishops of better character. But it happened with them as the Roman senators of
old complained in regard to their decrees. Opinions being numbered, not weighed,
the better were obliged to give way to the greater number. They certainly put
forth many impious sentiments. There is no need here to collect instances, both
because it would be tedious, and because it has been done by others so
carefully, as not to leave much to be added.
9. Moreover, why should I
review the contests of council with council? Nor is there any ground for
whispering to me, that when councils are at variance, one or other of them is
not a lawful council. For how shall we ascertain this? Just, if I mistake not,
by judging from Scripture that the decrees are not orthodox. For this alone is
the sure law of discrimination. It is now about nine hundred years since the
Council of Constantinople, convened under the Emperor Leo, determined that the
images set up in temples were to be thrown down and broken to pieces. Shortly
after, the Council of Nice, which was assembled by Irene, through dislike of the
former, decreed that images were to be restored. Which of the two councils shall
we acknowledge to be lawful? The latter has usually prevailed, and secured a
place for images in churches. But Augustine maintains that this could not be
done without the greatest danger of idolatry. Epiphanius, at a later period,
speaks much more harshly (Epist. ad Joann. Hierosolym. et Lib. 3 contra
HÊres.). For he says, it is an unspeakable abomination to see images in a
Christian temple. Could those who speak thus approve of that council if they
were alive in the present day? But if historians speak true, and we believe
their acts, not only images themselves, but the worship of them, were there
sanctioned. Now it is plain that this decree emanated from Satan. Do they not
show, by corrupting and wresting Scripture, that they held it in derision? This
I have made sufficiently clear in a former part of the work (see Book I. chap.
11 sec. 14). Be this as it may, we shall never be able to distinguish between
contradictory and dissenting councils, which have been many, unless we weigh
them all in that balance for men and angels, I mean, the word of God. Thus we
embrace the Council of Chalcedon, and repudiate the second of Ephesus, because
the latter sanctioned the impiety of Eutyches, and the former condemned it. The
judgment of these holy men was founded on the Scriptures, and while we follow
it, we desire that the word of God, which illuminated them, may now also
illuminate us. Let the Romanists now go and boast after their manner, that the
Holy Spirit is fixed and tied to their councils.
10. Even in their
ancient and purer councils there is something to be desiderated, either because
the otherwise learned and prudent men who attended, being distracted by the
business in hand, did not attend to many things beside; or because, occupied
with grave and more serious measures, they winked at some of lesser moment; or
simply because, as men, they were deceived through ignorance, or were sometimes
carried headlong by some feeling in excess. Of this last case (which seems the
most difficult of all to avoid) we have a striking example in the Council of
Nice, which has been unanimously received, as it deserves, with the utmost
veneration. For when the primary article of our faith was there in peril, and
Arius, its enemy, was present, ready to engage any one in combat, and it was of
the utmost moment that those who had come to attack Arius should be agreed, they
nevertheless, feeling secure amid all these dangers, nay, as it were, forgetting
their gravity, modesty, and politeness, laying aside the discussion which was
before them (as if they had met for the express purpose of gratifying Arius),
began to give way to intestine dissensions, and turn the pen, which should have
been employed against Arius, against each other. Foul accusations were heard,
libels flew up and down, and they never would have ceased from their contention
until they had stabbed each other with mutual wounds, had not the Emperor
Constantine interfered, and declaring that the investigation of their lives was
a matter above his cognisance, repressed their intemperance by flattery rather
than censure. In how many respects is it probable that councils, held
subsequently to this, have erred? Nor does the fact stand in need of a long
demonstration; any one who reads their acts will observe many infirmities, not
to use a stronger term.
11. Even Leo, the Roman Pontiff, hesitates not
to charge the Council of Chalcedon, which he admits to be orthodox in its
doctrines, with ambition and inconsiderate rashness. He denies not that it was
lawful, but openly maintains that it might have erred. Some may think me foolish
in labouring to point out errors of this description, since my opponents admit
that councils may err in things not necessary to salvation. My labour, however,
is not superfluous. For although compelled, they admit this in word, yet by
obtruding upon us the determination of all councils, in all matters without
distinction, as the oracles of the Holy Spirit, they exact more than they had at
the outset assumed. By thus acting what do they maintain but just that councils
cannot err, of if they err, it is unlawful for us to perceive the truth, or
refuse assent to their errors? At the same time, all I mean to infer from what I
have said is, that though councils, otherwise pious and holy, were governed by
the Holy Spirit, he yet allowed them to share the lot of humanity, lest we
should confide too much in men. This is a much better view than that of Gregory
Nanzianzen, who says (Ep. 55), that he never saw any council end well. In
asserting that all, without exception, ended ill, he leaves them little
authority. There is no necessity for making separate mention of provincial
councils, since it is easy to estimate, from the case of general councils, how
much authority they ought to have in framing articles of faith, and deciding
what kind of doctrine is to be received.
12. But our Romanists, when, in
defending their cause, they see all rational grounds slip from beneath them,
betake themselves to a last miserable subterfuge. Although they should be dull
in intellect and counsel, and most depraved in heart and will, still the word of
the Lord remains, which commands us to obey those who have the rule over us
(Heb. 13:17). Is it indeed so? What if I should deny that those who act thus
have the rule over us? They ought not to claim for themselves more than Joshua
had, who was both a prophet of the Lord and an excellent pastor. Let us then
hear in what terms the Lord introduced him to his office. “This book of
the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day
and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written
therein: for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good
success” (Josh. 1:7, 8). Our spiritual rulers, therefore, will be those
who turn not from the law of the Lord to the right hand or the left. But if the
doctrine of all pastors is to be received without hesitation, why are we so
often and so anxiously admonished by the Lord not to give heed to false
prophets? “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the
prophets that prophesy unto you; they make you vain: they speak a vision of
their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16).
Again, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s
clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Mt. 7:15). In vain also
would John exhort us to try the spirits whether they be of God (1 John 4:1).
From this judgment not even angels are exempted (Gal. 1:8); far less Satan with
his lies. And what is meant by the expression, “If the blind lead the
blind, both shall fall into the ditch”? (Mt. 15:14) Does it not
sufficiently declare that there is a great difference among the pastors who are
to be heard, that all are not to be heard indiscriminately? Wherefore they have
no ground for deterring us by their name, in order to draw us into a
participation of their blindness, since we see, on the contrary, that the Lord
has used special care to guard us from allowing ourselves to be led away by the
errors of others, whatever be the mask under which they may lurk. For if the
answer of our Saviour is true, blind guides, whether high priests, prelates, or
pontiffs, can do nothing more than hurry us over the same precipice with
themselves. Wherefore, let no names of councils, pastors, and bishops (which may
be used on false pretences as well as truly), hinder us from giving heed to the
evidence both of words and facts, and bringing all spirits to the test of the
divine word, that we may prove whether they are of God.
13. Having
proved that no power was given to the Church to set up any new doctrine, let us
now treat of the power attributed to them in the interpretation of Scripture. We
readily admit, that when any doctrine is brought under discussion, there is not
a better or surer remedy than for a council of true bishops to meet and discuss
the controverted point. There will be much more weight in a decision of this
kind, to which the pastors of churches have agreed in common after invoking the
Spirit of Christ, than if each, adopting it for himself, should deliver it to
his people, or a few individuals should meet in private and decide. Secondly,
When bishops have assembled in one place, they deliberate more conveniently in
common, fixing both the doctrine and the form of teaching it, lest diversity
give offence. Thirdly, Paul prescribes this method of determining doctrine. For
when he gives the power of deciding to a single church, he shows what the course
of procedure should be in more important cases-namely, that the churches
together are to take common cognisance. And the very feeling of piety tells us,
that if any one trouble the Church with some novelty in doctrine, and the matter
be carried so far that there is danger of a greater dissension, the churches
should first meet, examine the question, and at length, after due discussion,
decide according to Scripture, which may both put an end to doubt in the people,
and stop the mouths of wicked and restless men, so as to prevent the matter from
proceeding farther. Thus when Arius arose, the Council of Nice was convened, and
by its authority both crushed the wicked attempts of this impious man, and
restored peace to the churches which he had vexed, and asserted the eternal
divinity of Christ in opposition to his sacrilegious dogma. Thereafter, when
Eunomius and Macedonius raised new disturbances, their madness was met with a
similar remedy by the Council of Constantinople; the impiety of Nestorius was
defeated by the Council of Ephesus. In short, this was from the first the usual
method of preserving unity in the Church whenever Satan commenced his
machinations. But let us remember, that all ages and places are not favoured
with an Athanasius, a Basil, a Cyril, and like vindicators of sound doctrine,
whom the Lord then raised up. Nay, let us consider what happened in the second
Council of Ephesus when the Eutychian heresy prevailed. Flavianus, of holy
memory, with some pious men, was driven into exile, and many similar crimes were
committed, because, instead of the Spirit of the Lord, Dioscorus, a factious
man, of a very bad disposition, presided. But the Church was not there. I admit
it; for I always hold that the truth does not perish in the Church though it be
oppressed by one council, but is wondrously preserved by the Lord to rise again,
and prove victorious in his own time. I deny, however, that every interpretation
of Scripture is true and certain which has received the votes of a council.
14. But the Romanists have another end in view when they say that the
power of interpreting Scripture belongs to councils, and that without challenge.
For they employ it as a pretext for giving the name of an interpretation of
Scripture to everything which is determined in councils. Of purgatory, the
intercession of saints, and auricular confession, and the like, not one syllable
can be found in Scripture. But as all these have been sanctioned by the
authority of the Church, or, to speak more correctly, have been received by
opinion and practice, every one of them is to be held as an interpretation of
Scripture. And not only so, but whatever a council has determined against
Scripture is to have the name of an interpretation. Christ bids all drink of the
cup which he holds forth in the Supper. The Council of Constance prohibited the
giving of it to the people, and determined that the priest alone should drink.
Though this is diametrically opposed to the institution of Christ (Mt. 26:26),
they will have it to be regarded as his interpretation. Paul terms the
prohibition of marriage a doctrine of devils (1 Tim. 4:1, 3); and the Spirit
elsewhere declares that “marriage is honourable in all” (Heb. 13:4).
Having afterwards interdicted their priests from marriage, they insist on this
as a true and genuine interpretation of Scripture, though nothing can be
imagined more alien to it. Should any one venture to open his lips in
opposition, he will be judged a heretic, since the determination of the Church
is without challenge, and it is unlawful to have any doubt as to the accuracy of
her interpretation. Why should I assail such effrontery? to point to it is to
condemn it. Their dogma with regard to the power of approving Scripture I
intentionally omit. For to subject the oracles of God in this way to the censure
of men, and hold that they are sanctioned because they please men, is a
blasphemy which deserves not to be mentioned. Besides, I have already touched
upon it (Book 1 chap. 7; 8 sec. 9). I will ask them one question, however. If
the authority of Scripture is founded on the approbation of the Church, will
they quote the decree of a council to that effect? I believe they cannot. Why,
then, did Arius allow himself to be vanquished at the Council of Nice by
passages adduced from the Gospel of John? According to these, he was at liberty
to repudiate them, as they had not previously been approved by any general
council. They allege an old catalogue, which they call the Canon, and say that
it originated in a decision of the Church. But I again ask, In what council was
that Canon published? Here they must be dumb. Besides, I wish to know what they
believe that Canon to be. For I see that the ancients are little agreed with
regard to it. If effect is to be given to what Jerome says (PrÊf. in Lib.
Solom.), the Maccabees, Tobit, Ecclesiasticus, and the like, must take their
place in the Apocrypha: but this they will not tolerate on any account.
CHAPTER 10.
OF THE POWER OF
MAKING LAWS. THE CRUELTY OF THE POPE AND HIS ADHERENTS, IN THIS RESPECT, IN
TYRANNICALLY OPPRESSING AND DESTROYING SOULS.
This chapter
treats,-I. Of human constitutions in general. Of the distinction between Civil
and Ecclesiastical Laws. Of conscience, why and in what sense ministers cannot
impose laws on the conscience, sec. 1-8. II. Of traditions or Popish
constitutions relating to ceremonies and discipline. The many vices inherent in
them, sec. 9-17. Arguments in favour of those traditions refuted, sec. 17-26.
III. Of Ecclesiastical constitutions that are good and lawful, sec. 27-32.
Sections.
1. The power of the Church in enacting laws.
This made a source of human traditions. Impiety of these traditions.
2.
Many of the Papistical traditions not only difficult, but impossible to be
observed.
3. That the question may be more conveniently explained,
nature of conscience must be defined.
4. Definition of conscience
explained. Examples in illustration of the definition.
5. Paul’s
doctrine of submission to magistrates for conscience sake, gives no countenance
to the Popish doctrine of the obligation of traditions.
6. The question
stated. A brief mode of deciding it.
7. A perfect rule of life in the
Law. God our only Lawgiver.
8. The traditions of the Papacy
contradictory to the Word of God.
9. Ceremonial traditions of the
Papists. Their impiety. Substituted for the true worship of God.
10.
Through these ceremonies the commandment of God made void.
11. Some of
these ceremonies useless and childish. Their endless variety. Introduce Judaism.
12. Absurdity of these ceremonies borrowed from Judaism and Paganism.
13. Their intolerable number condemned by Augustine.
14.
Injury thus done to the Church. They cannot be excused.
15. Mislead
the superstitious. Used as a kind of show and for incantation. Prostituted to
gain.
16. All such traditions liable to similar objections.
17.
Arguments in favour of traditions answered.
18. Answer continued.
19. Illustration taken from the simple administration of the
Lord’s Supper, under the Apostles, and the complicated ceremonies of the
Papists.
20. Another illustration from the use of Holy Water.
21. An argument in favour of traditions founded on the decision of the
Apostles and elders at Jerusalem. This decision explained.
22. Some
things in the Papacy may be admitted for a time for the sake of weak brethren.
23. Observance of the Popish traditions inconsistent with Christian
liberty, torturing to the conscience, and insulting to God.
24. All
human inventions in religion displeasing to God. Reason. Confirmed by an
example.
25. An argument founded on the examples of Samuel and Manoah.
Answer.
26. Argument that Christ wished such burdens to be borne.
Answer.
27. Third part of the chapter, treating of lawful
Ecclesiastical arrangements. Their foundation in the general axiom, that all
things be done decently and in order. Two extremes to be avoided.
28.
All Ecclesiastical arrangements to be thus tested. What Paul means by things
done decently and in order.
29. Nothing decent in the Popish
ceremonies. Description of true decency. Examples of Christian decency and
order.
30. No arrangement decent and orderly, unless founded on the
authority of God, and derived from Scripture. Charity the best guide in these
matters.
31. Constitutions thus framed not to be neglected or
despised.
32. Cautions to be observed in regard to such
constitutions.
1. WE come now to the second part of power, which,
according to them, consists in the enacting of laws, from which source
innumerable traditions have arisen, to be as many deadly snares to miserable
souls. For they have not been more scrupulous than the Scribes and Pharisees in
laying burdens on the shoulders of others, which they would not touch with their
finger (Mt 23:4; Luke 11:16). I have elsewhere shown (Book 3 chap. 4 sec. 4-7)
how cruel murder they commit by their doctrine of auricular confession. The same
violence is not apparent in other laws, but those which seem most tolerable
press tyrannically on the conscience. I say nothing as to the mode in which they
adulterate the worship of God, and rob God himself, who is the only Lawgiver, of
his right. The power we have now to consider is, whether it be lawful for the
Church to bind laws upon the conscience? In this discussion, civil order is not
touched; but the only point considered is, how God may be duly worshipped
according to the rule which he has prescribed, and how our spiritual liberty,
with reference to God, may remain unimpaired. In ordinary language, the name of
human traditions is given to all decrees concerning the worship of God, which
men have issued without the authority of his word. We contend against these, not
against the sacred and useful constitutions of the Church, which tend to
preserve discipline, or decency, or peace. Our aim is to curb the unlimited and
barbarous empire usurped over souls by those who would be thought pastors of the
Church, but who are in fact its most cruel murderers. They say that the laws
which they enact are spiritual, pertaining to the soul, and they affirm that
they are necessary to eternal life. But thus the kingdom of Christ, as I lately
observed, is invaded; thus the liberty, which he has given to the consciences of
believers, is completely oppressed and overthrown. I say nothing as to the great
impiety with which, to sanction the observance of their laws, they declare that
from it they seek forgiveness of sins, righteousness and salvation, while they
make the whole sum of religion and piety to consist in it. What I contend for
is, that necessity ought not to be laid on consciences in matters in which
Christ has made them free; and unless freed, cannot, as we have previously shown
(Book 3 chap. 19), have peace with God. They must acknowledge Christ their
deliverer, as their only king, and be ruled by the only law of liberty-namely,
the sacred word of the Gospel-if they would retain the grace which they have
once received in Christ: they must be subject to no bondage, be bound by no
chains.
2. These Solons, indeed, imagine that their constitutions are
laws of liberty, a pleasant yoke, a light burden: but who sees not that this is
mere falsehood. They themselves, indeed, feel not the burden of their laws.
Having cast off the fear of God, they securely and assiduously disregard their
own laws as well as those which are divine. Those, however, who feel any
interest in their salvation, are far from thinking themselves free so long as
they are entangled in these snares. We see how great caution Paul employed in
this matter, not venturing to impose a fetter in any one thing, and with good
reason: he certainly foresaw how great a wound would be inflicted on the
conscience if these things should be made necessary which the Lord had left
free. On the contrary, it is scarcely possible to count the constitutions which
these men have most grievously enforced, under the penalty of eternal death, and
which they exact with the greatest rigour, as necessary to salvation. And while
very many of them are most difficult of observance, the whole taken together are
impossible; so great is the mass. How, then, possibly can those, on whom this
mountain of difficulty lies, avoid being perplexed with extreme anxiety, and
filled with terror? My intention here then is, to impugn constitutions of this
description; constitutions enacted for the purpose of binding the conscience
inwardly before God, and imposing religious duties, as if they enjoined things
necessary to salvation.
3. Many are greatly puzzled with this question,
from not distinguishing, with sufficient care, between what is called the
external forum and the forum of
conscience56[4] (Book 3 chap. 19 sec
15). Moreover, the difficulty is increased by the terms in which Paul enjoins
obedience to magistrates, “not only for wrath, but also for conscience
sake” (Rom. 13:5); and from which it would follow, that civil laws also
bind the conscience. But if this were so, nothing that we have said of spiritual
government, in the last chapter, and are to say in this, would stand. To solve
this difficulty, we must first understand what is meant by conscience. The
definition must be derived from the etymology of the term. As when men, with the
mind and intellect, apprehend the knowledge of things, they are thereby said to
know, and hence the name of science or knowledge is used; so, when they have, in
addition to this, a sense of the divine judgment, as a witness not permitting
them to hide their sins, but bringing them as criminals before the tribunal of
the judge, that sense is called conscience. For it occupies a kind of middle
place between God and man, not suffering man to suppress what he knows in
himself, but following him out until it bring him to conviction. This is what
Paul means, when he says that conscience bears witness, “our thoughts the
meanwhile accusing or else excusing each other” (Rom. 2:15). Simple
knowledge, therefore, might exist in a man, as it were, shut up, and therefore
the sense which sists men before the judgment-seat of God has been placed over
him as a sentinel, to observe and spy out all his secrets, that nothing may
remain buried in darkness. Hence the old proverb, Conscience is a thousand
witnesses. For this reason, Peter also uses the “answer of a good
conscience towards God” (1 Pet. 3:21); for tranquillity of mind, when,
persuaded of the grace of Christ, we with boldness present ourselves before God.
And the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, that we have “no more
conscience of sins,” that we are freed or acquitted, so that sin no longer
accuses us (Heb. 10:2).
4. Wherefore, as works have respect to men, so
conscience bears reference to God; and hence a good conscience is nothing but
inward integrity of heart. In this sense, Paul says, that “the end of the
commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of
faith unfeigned” (1 Tim. 1:5). He afterwards, in the same chapter, shows
how widely it differs from intellect, saying, the, “some having put
away” a good conscience, “concerning faith have made
shipwreck.” For by these words he intimates, that it is a living
inclination to worship God, a sincere desire to live piously and holily.
Sometimes, indeed, it is extended to men also, as when Paul declares,
“Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence
toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16). But this is said, because the
benefits of a good conscience flow forth and reach even to men. Properly
speaking, however, it respects God alone, as I have already said. Hence a law
may be said to bind the conscience when it simply binds a man without referring
to men, or taking them into account. For example, God enjoins us not only to
keep our mind chaste and pure from all lust, but prohibits every kind of
obscenity in word, and all external lasciviousness. This law my conscience is
bound to observe, though there were not another man in the world. Thus he who
behaves intemperately not only sins by setting a bad example to his brethren,
but stands convicted in his conscience before God. Another rule holds in the
case of things which are in themselves indifferent. For we ought to abstain when
they give offence, but conscience is free. Thus Paul says of meat consecrated to
idols, “If any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols,
eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake;”
“conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other” (1 Cor. 10:28,
29). A believer would sin, if, after being warned, he should still eat such kind
of meat. But however necessary abstinence may be in respect of a brother, as
prescribed by the Lord, conscience ceases not to retain its liberty. We see how
the law, while binding the external work, leaves the conscience free.
5.
Let us now return to human laws. If they are imposed for the purpose of forming
a religious obligation, as if the observance of them was in itself necessary, we
say that the restraint thus laid on the conscience is unlawful. Our consciences
have not to do with men but with God only. Hence the common distinction between
the earthly forum and the forum of
conscience.56[5] When the whole
world was enveloped in the thickest darkness of ignorance, it was still held
(like a small ray of light which remained unextinguished) that conscience was
superior to all human judgments. Although this, which was acknowledged in word,
was afterwards violated in fact, yet God was pleased that there should even then
exist an attestation to liberty, exempting the conscience from the tyranny of
man. But we have not yet explained the difficulty which arises from the words of
Paul. For if we must obey princes not only from fear of punishment but for
conscience sake, it seems to follow, that the laws of princes have dominion over
the conscience. If this is true, the same thing must be affirmed of
ecclesiastical laws. I answer, that the first thing to be done here is to
distinguish between the genus and the species. For though individual laws do not
reach the conscience, yet we are bound by the general command of God, which
enjoins us to submit to magistrates. And this is the point on which Paul’s
discussion turns-viz. that magistrates are to be honoured, because they are
ordained of God (Rom. 13:1). Meanwhile, he does not at all teach that the laws
enacted by them reach to the internal government of the soul, since he
everywhere proclaims that the worship of God, and the spiritual rule of living
righteously, are superior to all the decrees of men. Another thing also worthy
of observation, and depending on what has been already said, is, that human
laws, whether enacted by magistrates or by the Church, are necessary to be
observed (I speak of such as are just and good), but do not therefore in
themselves bind the conscience, because the whole necessity of observing them
respects the general end, and consists not in the things commanded. Very
different, however, is the case of those which prescribe a new form of
worshipping God, and introduce necessity into things that are free.
6.
Such, however, are what in the present day are called ecclesiastical
constitutions by the Papacy, and are brought forward as part of the true and
necessary worship of God. But as they are without number, so they form
innumerable fetters to bind and ensnare the soul. Though, in expounding the law,
we have adverted to this subject (Book 3 chap. 4 sec. 6), yet as this is more
properly the place for a full discussion of it, I will now study to give a
summary of it as carefully as I can. I shall, however, omit the branch relating
to the tyranny with which false bishops arrogate to themselves the right of
teaching whatever they please, having already considered it as far as seemed
necessary, but shall treat at length of the power which they claim of enacting
laws. The pretext, then, on which our false bishops burden the conscience with
new laws is, that the Lord has constituted them spiritual legislators, and given
them the government of the Church. Hence they maintain that everything which
they order and prescribe must, of necessity, be observed by the Christian
people, that he who violates their commands is guilty of a twofold disobedience,
being a rebel both against God and the Church. Assuredly, if they were true
bishops, I would give them some authority in this matter, not so much as they
demand, but so much as is requisite for duly arranging the polity of the Church;
but since they are anything but what they would be thought, they cannot possibly
assume anything to themselves, however little, without being in excess. But as
this also has been elsewhere shown, let us grant for the present, that whatever
power true bishops possess justly belongs to them, still I deny that they have
been set over believers as legislators to prescribe a rule of life at their own
hands, or bind the people committed to them to their decrees. When I say this, I
mean that they are not at all entitled to insist that whatever they devise
without authority from the word of God shall be observed by the Church as matter
of necessity. Since such power was unknown to the apostles, and was so often
denied to the ministers of the Church by our Lord himself, I wonder how any have
dared to usurp, and dare in the present day to defend it, without any precedent
from the apostles, and against the manifest prohibition of God.
7.
Everything relating to a perfect rule of life the Lord has so comprehended in
his law, that he has left nothing for men to add to the summary there given. His
object in doing this was, first, that since all rectitude of conduct consists in
regulating all our actions by his will as a standard, he alone should be
regarded as the master and guide of our life; and, secondly, that he might show
that there is nothing which he more requires of us than obedience. For this
reason James says, “He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his
brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law:” “There is
one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy” (James 4:11, 12). We
hear how God claims it as his own peculiar privilege to rule us by his laws.
This had been said before by Isaiah, though somewhat obscurely, “The Lord
is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save
us” (Isa. 33:22). Both passages show that the power of life and death
belongs to him who has power over the soul. Nay, James clearly expresses this.
This power no man may assume to himself. God, therefore, to whom the power of
saving and destroying belongs, must be acknowledged as the only King of souls,
or, as the words of Isaiah express it, he is our king and judge, and lawgiver
and saviour. So Peter, when he reminds pastors of their duty, exhorts them to
feed the flock without lording it over the heritage (1 Pet. 5:2); meaning by
heritage the body of believers. If we duly consider that it is unlawful to
transfer to man what God declares to belong only to himself, we shall see that
this completely cuts off all the power claimed by those who would take it upon
them to order anything in the Church without authority from the word of God.
8. Moreover, since the whole question depends on this, that God being
the only lawgiver, it is unlawful for men to assume that honour to themselves,
it will be proper to keep in mind the two reasons for which God claims this
solely for himself. The one reason is, that his will is to us the perfect rule
of all righteousness and holiness, and that thus in the knowledge of it we have
a perfect rule of life. The other reason is, that when the right and proper
method of worshipping him is in question, he whom we ought to obey, and on whose
will we ought to depend, alone has authority over our souls. When these two
reasons are attended to, it will be easy to decide what human constitutions are
contrary to the word of the Lord. Of this description are all those which are
devised as part of the true worship of God, and the observance of which is bound
upon the conscience, as of necessary obligation. Let us remember then to weigh
all human laws in this balance, if we would have a sure test which will not
allow us to go astray. The former reason is urged by Paul in the Epistle to the
Colossians against the false apostles who attempted to lay new burdens on the
churches. The second reason he more frequently employs in the Epistle to the
Galatians in a similar case. In the Epistle to the Colossians, then, he
maintains that the doctrine of the true worship of God is not to be sought from
men, because the Lord has faithfully and fully taught us in what way he is to be
worshipped. To demonstrate this, he says in the first chapter, that in the
gospel is contained all wisdom, that the man of God may be made perfect in
Christ. In the beginning of the second chapter, he says that all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, and from this he concludes that
believers should beware of being led away from the flock of Christ by vain
philosophy, according to the constitutions of men (Col. 2:10). In the end of the
chapter, he still more decisively condemns all ??????????????? that is,
fictitious modes of worship which men themselves devise or receive from others,
and all precepts whatsoever which they presume to deliver at their own hand
concerning the worship of God. We hold, therefore, that all constitutions are
impious in the observance of which the worship of God is pretended to be placed.
The passages in the Galatians in which he insists that fetters are not to be
bound on the conscience (which ought to be ruled by God alone), are sufficiently
plain, especially chapter 5. Let it, therefore, suffice to refer to them.
9. But that the whole matter may be made plainer by examples, it will be
proper, before we proceed, to apply the doctrine to our own times. The
constitutions which they call ecclesiastical, and by which the Pope, with his
adherents, burdens the Church, we hold to be pernicious and impious, while our
opponents defend them as sacred and salutary. Now there are two kinds of them,
some relating to ceremonies and rites, and others more especially to discipline.
Have we, then, any just cause for impugning both? Assuredly a juster cause than
we could wish. First, do not their authors themselves distinctly declare that
the very essence of the worship of God (so to speak) is contained in them? For
what end do they bring forward their ceremonies but just that God may be
worshipped by them? Nor is this done merely by error in the ignorant multitude,
but with the approbation of those who hold the place of teachers. I am not now
adverting to the gross abominations by which they have plotted the adulteration
of all godliness, but they would not deem it to be so atrocious a crime to err
in any minute tradition, did they not make the worship of God subordinate to
their fictions. Since Paul then declares it to be intolerable that the
legitimate worship of God should be subjected to the will of men, wherein do we
err when we are unable to tolerate this in the present day? especially when we
are enjoined to worship God according to the elements of this world-a thing
which Paul declares to be adverse to Christ (Col 2:20). On the other hand, the
mode in which they lay consciences under the strict necessity of observing
whatever they enjoin, is not unknown. When we protest against this, we make
common cause with Paul, who will on no account allow the consciences of
believers to be brought under human bondage.
10. Moreover, the worst of
all is, that when once religion begins to be composed of such vain fictions, the
perversion is immediately succeeded by the abominable depravity with which our
Lord upbraids the Pharisees of making the commandment of God void through their
traditions (Mt. 15:3). I am unwilling to dispute with our present legislators in
my own words;-let them gain the victory if they can clear themselves from this
accusation of Christ. But how can they do so, seeing they regard it as
immeasurably more wicked to allow the year to pass without auricular confession,
than to have spent it in the greatest iniquity: to have infected their tongue
with a slight tasting of flesh on Friday, than to have daily polluted the whole
body with whoredom: to have put their hand to honest labour on a day consecrated
to some one or other of their saintlings, than to have constantly employed all
their members in the greatest crimes: for a priest to be united to one in lawful
wedlock, than to be engaged in a thousand adulteries: to have failed in
performing a votive pilgrimage, than to have broken faith in every promise: not
to have expended profusely on the monstrous, superfluous, and useless luxury of
churches, than to have denied the poor in their greatest necessities: to have
passed an idol without honour, than to have treated the whole human race with
contumely: not to have muttered long unmeaning sentences at certain times, than
never to have framed one proper prayer? What is meant by making the word of God
void by tradition, if this is not done when recommending the ordinances of God
only frigidly and perfunctorily, they nevertheless studiously and anxiously urge
strict obedience to their own ordinances, as if the whole power of piety was
contained in them;-when vindicating the transgression of the divine Law with
trivial satisfactions, they visit the minutest violation of one of their decrees
with no lighter punishment than imprisonment, exile, fire, or sword?-When
neither severe nor inexorable against the despisers of God, they persecute to
extremity, with implacable hatred, those who despise themselves, and so train
all those whose simplicity they hold in thraldom, that they would sooner see the
whole law of God subverted than one iota of what they call the precepts of the
Church infringed. First, there is a grievous delinquency in this, that one
contemns, judges, and casts off his neighbour for trivial matters,-matters
which, if the judgment of God is to decide, are free. But now, as if this were a
small evil, those frivolous elements of this world (as Paul terms them in his
Epistle to the Galatians, Gal. 4:9) are deemed of more value than the heavenly
oracles of God. He who is all but acquitted for adultery is judged in meat; and
he to whom whoredom is permitted is forbidden to marry. This, forsooth, is all
that is gained by that prevaricating obedience, which only turns away from God
to the same extent that it inclines to men.
11. There are other two
grave vices which we disapprove in these constitutions. First, They prescribe
observances which are in a great measure useless, and are sometimes absurd;
secondly, by the vast multitude of them, pious consciences are oppressed, and
being carried back to a kind of Judaism, so cling to shadows that they cannot
come to Christ. My allegation that they are useless and absurd will, I know,
scarcely be credited by carnal wisdom, to which they are so pleasing, that the
Church seems to be altogether defaced when they are taken away. But this is just
what Paul says, that they “have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship,
and humility, and neglecting of the body” (Col. 2:23); a most salutary
admonition, of which we ought never to lose sight. Human traditions, he says,
deceive by an appearance of wisdom. Whence this show? Just that being framed by
men, the human mind recognises in them that which is its own, and embraces it
when recognised more willingly than anything, however good, which is less
suitable to its vanity. Secondly, That they seem to be a fit training to
humility, while they keep the minds of men grovelling on the ground under their
yoke; hence they have another recommendation. Lastly, Because they seem to have
a tendency to curb the will of the flesh, and to subdue it by the rigour of
abstinence, they seem to be wisely devised. But what does Paul say to all this?
Does he pluck off those masks lest the simple should be deluded by a false
pretext? Deeming it sufficient for their refutation to say that they were
devices of men, he passes all these things without refutation, as things of no
value. Nay, because he knew that all fictitious worship is condemned in the
Church, and is the more suspected by believers, the more pleasing it is to the
human mind-because he knew that this false show of outward humility differs so
widely from true humility that it can be easily discerned; -finally, because he
knew that this tutelage is valued at no more than bodily exercise, he wished the
very things which commended human traditions to the ignorant to be regarded by
believers as the refutation of them.
12. Thus, in the present day, not
only the unlearned vulgar, but every one in proportion as he is inflated by
worldly wisdom, is wonderfully captivated by the glare of ceremonies, while
hypocrites and silly women think that nothing can be imagined better or more
beautiful. But those who thoroughly examine them, and weigh them more truly
according to the rule of godliness, in regard to the value of all such
ceremonies, know, first, that they are trifles of no utility; secondly, that
they are impostures which delude the eyes of the spectators with empty show. I
am speaking of those ceremonies which the Roman masters will have to be great
mysteries, while we know by experience that they are mere mockery. Nor is it
strange that their authors have gone the length of deluding themselves and
others by mere frivolities, because they have taken their model partly from the
dreams of the Gentiles, partly, like apes, have rashly imitated the ancient
rites of the Mosaic Law, with which we have nothing more to do than with the
sacrifices of animals and other similar things. Assuredly, were there no other
proof, no sane man would expect any good from such an ill-assorted farrago. And
the case itself plainly demonstrates that very many ceremonies have no other use
than to stupify the people rather than teach them. In like manner, to those new
canons which pervert discipline rather than preserve it, hypocrites attach much
importance; but a closer examination will show that they are nothing but the
shadowy and evanescent phantom of discipline.
13. To come to the second
fault, who sees not that ceremonies, by being heaped one upon another, have
grown to such a multitude, that it is impossible to tolerate them in the
Christian Church? Hence it is, that in ceremonies a strange mixture of Judaism
is apparent, while other observances prove a deadly snare to pious minds.
Augustine complained that in his time, while the precepts of God were neglected,
prejudice everywhere prevailed to such an extent, that he who touched the ground
barefoot during his octave was censured more severely than he who buried his
wits in wine. He complained that the Church, which God in mercy wished to be
free, was so oppressed that the condition of the Jews was more tolerable
(August. Ep. 119). Had that holy man fallen on our day, in what terms would he
have deplored the bondage now existing? For the number is tenfold greater, and
each iota is exacted a hundred times more rigidly than then. This is the usual
course; when once those perverse legislators have usurped authority, they make
no end of their commands and prohibitions until they reach the extreme of
harshness. This Paul elegantly intimated by these words,-”If ye be dead
with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world,
are ye subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not” (Col.
2:20, 21). For while the word ????????? signifies both to eat and to touch, it
is doubtless taken in the former sense, that there may not be a superfluous
repetition. Here, therefore, he most admirably describes the progress of false
apostles. The way in which superstition begins is this: they forbid not only to
eat, but even to chew gently; after they have obtained this, they forbid even to
taste. This also being yielded to them, they deem it unlawful to touch even with
the finger.
14. We justly condemn this tyranny in human constitutions,
in consequence of which miserable consciences are strangely tormented by
innumerable edicts, and the excessive exaction of them. Of the canons relating
to discipline, we have spoken elsewhere (supra, sec. 12; also chapter
12). What shall I say of ceremonies, the effect of which has been, that we have
almost buried Christ, and returned to Jewish figures? “Our Lord Christ
(says Augustine, Ep. 118) bound together the society of his new people by
sacraments, very few in number, most excellent in signification, most easy of
observance.” How widely different this simplicity is from the multitude
and variety of rites in which we see the Church entangled in the present day,
cannot well be told. I am aware of the artifice by which some acute men excuse
this perverseness. They say that there are numbers among us equally rude as any
among the Israelitish people, and that for their sakes has been introduced this
tutelage, which though the stronger may do without, they, however, ought not to
neglect, seeing that it is useful to weak brethren. I answer, that we are not
unaware of what is due to the weakness of brethren, but, on the other hand, we
object that the method of consulting for the weak is not to bury them under a
great mass of ceremonies. It was not without cause that God distinguished
between us and his ancient people, by training them like children by means of
signs and figures, and training us more simply, without so much external show.
Paul’s words are, “The heir, as long as he is a
child,”-”is under tutors and governors” (Gal. 4:1, 2). This
was the state of the Jews under the law. But we are like adults who, being freed
from tutory and curatory, have no need of puerile rudiments. God certainly
foresaw what kind of people he was to have in his Church, and in what way they
were to be governed. Now, he distinguished between us and the Jews in the way
which has been described. Therefore, it is a foolish method of consulting for
the ignorant to set up the Judaism which Christ has abrogated. This
dissimilitude between the ancient and his new people Christ expressed when he
said to the woman of Samaria, “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).
This, no doubt, had always been done; but the new worshippers differ from the
old in this, that while under Moses the spiritual worship of God was shadowed,
and, as it were, entangled by many ceremonies, these have been abolished, and
worship is now more simple. Those, accordingly, who confound this distinction,
subvert the order instituted and sanctioned by Christ. Therefore you will ask,
Are no ceremonies to be given to the more ignorant, as a help to their
ignorance? I do not say so; for I think that help of this description is very
useful to them. All I contend for is the employment of such a measure as may
illustrate, not obscure Christ. Hence a few ceremonies have been divinely
appointed, and these by no means laborious, in order that they may evince a
present Christ. To the Jews a greater number were given, that they might be
images of an absent Christ. In saying he was absent, I mean not in power, but in
the mode of expression. Therefore, to secure due moderation, it is necessary to
retain that fewness in number, facility in observance, and significancy of
meaning which consists in clearness. Of what use is it to say that this is not
done? The fact is obvious to every eye.
15. I here say nothing of the
pernicious opinions with which the minds of men are imbued, as that these are
sacrifices by which propitiation is made to God, by which sins are expiated, by
which righteousness and salvation are procured. It will be maintained that
things good in themselves are not vitiated by errors of this description, since
in acts expressly enjoined by God similar errors may be committed. There is
nothing, however, more unbecoming than the fact, that works devised by the will
of man are held in such estimation as to be thought worthy of eternal life. The
works commanded by God receive a reward, because the Lawgiver himself accepts of
them as marks of obedience. They do not, therefore, take their value from their
own dignity or their own merit, but because God sets this high value on our
obedience toward him. I am here speaking of that perfection of works which is
commanded by God, but is not performed by men. The works of the law are accepted
merely by the free kindness of God, because the obedience is infirm and
defective. But as we are not here considering how far works avail without
Christ, let us omit that question. I again repeat, as properly belonging to the
present subject, that whatever commendation works have, they have it in respect
of obedience, which alone God regards, as he testifies by the prophet, “I
spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them
out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: but this
thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice “ (Jer. 7:22). Of fictitious
works he elsewhere speaks, “Wherefore do you spend your money for that
which is not bread”? (Isa. 55:2; 29:13). Again, “In vain do they
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mt. 15:9).
They cannot, therefore, excuse themselves from the charge of allowing wretched
people to seek in these external frivolities a righteousness which they may
present to God, and by which they may stand before the celestial tribunal.
Besides, it is not a fault deservedly stigmatised, that they exhibit unmeaning
ceremonies as a kind of stage-play or magical incantation? For it is certain
that all ceremonies are corrupt and noxious which do not direct men to Christ.
But the ceremonies in use in the Papacy are separated from doctrine, so that
they confine men to signs altogether devoid of meaning. Lastly (as the belly is
an ingenious contriver), it is clear, that many of their ceremonies have been
invented by greedy priests as lures for catching money. But whatever be their
origin, they are all so prostituted to filthy lucre, that a great part of them
must be rescinded if we would prevent a profane and sacrilegious traffic from
being carried on in the Church.
16. Although I seem not to be delivering
the general doctrine concerning human constitutions, but adapting my discourse
wholly to our own age, yet nothing has been said which may not be useful to all
ages. For whenever men begin the superstitious practice of worshipping God with
their own fictions, all the laws enacted for this purpose forthwith degenerate
into those gross abuses. For the curse which God denounces-viz. to strike those
who worship him with the doctrines of men with stupor and blindness-is not
confined to any one age, but applies to all ages. The uniform result of this
blindness is, that there is no kind of absurdity escaped by those who, despising
the many admonitions of God, spontaneously entangle themselves in these deadly
fetters. But if, without any regard to circumstances, you would simply know the
character belonging at all times to those human traditions which ought to be
repudiated by the Church, and condemned by all the
godly,56[6] the definition which we
formerly gave is clear and certain-viz. That they include all the laws enacted
by men, without authority from the word of God, for the purpose either of
prescribing the mode of divine worship, or laying a religious obligation on the
conscience, as enjoining things necessary to salvation. If to one or both of
these are added the other evils of obscuring the clearness of the Gospel by
their multitude, of giving no edification, of being useless and frivolous
occupations rather than true exercises of piety, of being set up for sordid ends
and filthy lucre, of being difficult of observance, and contaminated by
pernicious superstitions, we shall have the means of detecting the quantity of
mischief which they occasion.
17. I understand what their answer will
be-viz. that these traditions are not from themselves, but from God. For to
prevent the Church from erring, it is guided by the Holy Spirit, whose authority
resides in them. This being conceded, it at the same time follows, that their
traditions are revelations by the Holy Spirit, and cannot be disregarded without
impiety and contempt of God. And that they may not seem to have attempted
anything without high authority, they will have it to be believed that a great
part of their observances is derived from the apostles. For they contend, that
in one instance they have a sufficient proof of what the apostles did in other
cases. The instance is, when the apostles assembled in council, announced to all
the Gentiles as the opinion of the council, that they should “abstain from
pollution of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from
blood” (Acts 15:20, 29). We have already explained, how, in order to extol
themselves, they falsely assume the name of Church (Chap. 8 sec. 10-13). If, in
regard to the present cause, we remove all masks and glosses (a thing, indeed,
which ought to be our first care, and also is our highest interest), and
consider what kind of Church Christ wishes to have, that we may form and adapt
ourselves to it as a standard, it will readily appear that it is not a property
of the Church to disregard the limits of the word of God, and wanton and
luxuriate in enacting new laws. Does not the law which was once given to the
Church endure for ever? “What things soever I command you, observe to do
it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deut. 12:32). And
in another place, “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and
thou be found a liar” (Prov. 30:6). Since they cannot deny that this was
said to the Church, what else do they proclaim but their contumacy, when,
notwithstanding of such prohibitions, they profess to add to the doctrine of
God, and dare to intermingle their own with it? Far be it from us to assent to
the falsehood by which they offer such insult to the Church. Let us understand
that the name of Church is falsely pretended wherever men contend for that rash
human licence which cannot confine itself within the boundaries prescribed by
the word of God, but petulantly breaks out, and has recourse to its own
inventions. In the above passage there is nothing involved, nothing obscure,
nothing ambiguous; the whole Church is forbidden to add to, or take from the
word of God, in relation to his worship and salutary precepts. But that was said
merely of the Law, which was succeeded by the Prophets and the whole Gospel
dispensation! This I admit, but I at the same time add, that these are
fulfilments of the Law, rather than additions or diminutions. Now, if the Lord
does not permit anything to be added to, or taken from the ministry of Moses,
though wrapt up, if I may so speak, in many folds of obscurity, until he furnish
a clearer doctrine by his servants the Prophets, and at last by his beloved Son,
why should we not suppose that we are much more strictly prohibited from making
any addition to the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the Gospel? The Lord
cannot forget himself, and it is long since he declared that nothing is so
offensive to him as to be worshipped by human inventions. Hence those celebrated
declarations of the Prophets, which ought continually to ring in our ears,
“I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I
brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices;
but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God,
and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded
you” (Jer. 7:22, 23). “I earnestly protested unto your fathers, in
the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising
early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice” (Jer. 11:7). There are other
passages of the same kind, but the most noted of all is, “Hath the Lord as
great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the
Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15: 22, 23). It is easy, therefore, to prove, that
whenever human inventions in this respect are defended by the authority of the
Church, they cannot be vindicated from the charge of impiety, and that the name
of Church is falsely assumed.
18. For this reason we freely inveigh
against that tyranny of human traditions which is haughtily obtruded upon us in
the name of the Church. Nor do we hold the Church in derision (as our
adversaries, for the purpose of producing obloquy, unjustly accuse us), but we
attribute to her the praise of obedience, than which there is none which she
acknowledges to be greater. They themselves rather are emphatically injurious to
the Church, in representing her as contumacious to her Lord, when they pretend
that she goes farther than the word of God allows, to say nothing of their
combined impudence and malice, in continually vociferating about the power of
the Church, while they meanwhile disguise both the command which the Lord has
given her, and the obedience which she owes to the command. But if our wish is
as it ought to be, to agree with the Church, it is of more consequence to
consider and remember the injunction which the Lord has given both to us and to
the Church, to obey him with one consent. For there can be no doubt that we
shall best agree with the Church when we show ourselves obedient to the Lord in
all things. But to ascribe the origin of the traditions by which the Church has
hitherto been oppressed to the apostles is mere imposition, since the whole
substance of the doctrine of the apostles is, that conscience must not be
burdened with new observances, nor the worship of God contaminated by our
inventions. Then, if any credit is to be given to ancient histories and records,
what they attribute to the apostles was not only unknown to them, but was never
heard by them. Nor let them pretend that most of their decrees, though not
delivered in writing, were received by use and practice, being things which they
could not understand while Christ was in the world, but which they learned after
his ascension, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of that passage
has been explained elsewhere (Chap. 8 sec. 14). In regard to the present
question, they make themselves truly ridiculous, seeing it is manifest that all
those mysteries which so long were undiscovered by the apostles, are partly
Jewish or Gentile observances, the former of which had anciently been
promulgated among the Jews, and the latter among all the Gentiles, partly absurd
gesticulations and empty ceremonies, which stupid priests, who have neither
sense nor letters, can duly perform; nay, which children and mountebanks perform
so appropriately, that it seems impossible to have fitter priests for such
sacrifices. If there were no records, men of sense would judge from the very
nature of the case, that such a mass of rites and observances did not rush into
the Church all at once, but crept in gradually. For though the venerable
bishops, who were nearest in time to the apostles, introduced some things
pertaining to order and discipline, those who came after them, and those after
them again, had not enough of consideration, while they had too much curiosity
and cupidity, he who came last always vying in foolish emulation with his
predecessors, so as not to be surpassed in the invention of novelties. And
because there was a danger that these inventions, from which they anticipated
praise from posterity, might soon become obsolete, they were much more rigorous
in insisting on the observance of them. This false zeal has produced a great
part of the rites which these men represent as apostolical. This history
attests.
19. And not to become prolix, by giving a catalogue of all, we
shall be contented with one example. Under the apostles there was great
simplicity in administering the Lord’s Supper. Their immediate successors
made some additions to the dignity of the ordinance, which are not to be
disapproved. Afterwards came foolish imitators, who, by ever and anon patching
various fragments together, have left us those sacerdotal vestments which we see
in the mass, those altar ornaments, those gesticulations, and whole farrago of
useless observances.56[7] But they
object, that in old time the persuasion was, that those things which were done
with the consent of the whole Church proceeded from the apostles. Of this they
quote Augustine as a witness. I will give the explanation in the very words of
Augustine. “Those things which are observed over the whole world we may
understand to have been appointed either by the apostles themselves, or by
general councils, whose authority in the Church is most beneficial, as the
annual solemn celebration of our Lord’s passion, resurrection, and
ascension to heaven, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit, and any other
occurrence observed by the whole Church wherever it exists” (August. Ep.
118). In giving so few examples, who sees not that he meant to refer the
observances then in use to authors deserving of faith and reverence;-observances
few and sober, by which it was expedient that the order of the Church should be
maintained? How widely does this differ from the view of our Roman masters, who
insist that there is no paltry ceremony among them which is not apostolical?
20. Not to be tedious, I will give only one example. Should any one ask
them where they get their holy water, they will at once answer,-from the
apostles. As if I did not know who the Roman bishop is, to whom history ascribes
the invention, and who, if he had admitted the apostles to his council,
assuredly never would have adulterated baptism by a foreign and unseasonable
symbol; although it does not seem probable to me that the origin of that
consecration is so ancient as is there recorded. For when Augustine says (Ep.
118) that certain churches in his day rejected the formal imitation of Christ in
the washing of feet, lest that rite should seem to pertain to baptism, he
intimates that there was then no kind of washing which had any resemblance to
baptism. Be this as it may, I will never admit that the apostolic spirit gave
rise to that daily sign by which baptism, while brought back to remembrance, is
in a manner repeated. I attach no importance to the fact, that Augustine
elsewhere ascribes other things to the apostles. For as he has nothing better
than conjecture, it is not sufficient for forming a judgment concerning a matter
of so much moment. Lastly, though we should grant that the things which he
mentions are derived from the apostolic age, there is a great difference between
instituting some exercise of piety, which believers may use with a free
conscience, or may abstain from if they think the observance not to be useful,
and enacting a law which brings the conscience into bondage. Now, indeed,
whoever is the author from whom they are derived, since we see the great abuses
to which they have led, there is nothing to prevent us from abrogating them
without any imputation on him, since he never recommended them in such a way as
to lay us under a fixed and immovable obligation to observe them.
21. It
gives them no great help, in defending their tyranny, to pretend the example of
the apostles. The apostles and elders of the primitive Church, according to
them, sanctioned a decree without any authority from Christ, by which they
commanded all the Gentiles to abstain from meat offered to idols, from things
strangled, and from blood (Acts 15:20). If this was lawful for them, why should
not their successors be allowed to imitate the example as often as occasion
requires? Would that they would always imitate them both in this and in other
matters! For I am ready to prove, on valid grounds, that here nothing new has
been instituted or decreed by the apostles. For when Peter declares in that
council, that God is tempted if a yoke is laid on the necks of the disciples, he
overthrows his own argument if he afterwards allows a yoke to be imposed on
them. But it is imposed if the apostles, on their own authority, prohibit the
Gentiles from touching meat offered to idols, things strangled, and blood. The
difficulty still remains, that they seem nevertheless to prohibit them. But this
will easily be removed by attending more closely to the meaning of their decree.
The first thing in order, and the chief thing in importance, is, that the
Gentiles were to retain their liberty, which was not to be disturbed, and that
they were not to be annoyed with the observances of the Law. As yet, the decree
is all in our favour. The reservation which immediately follows is not a new law
enacted by the apostles, but a divine and eternal command of God against the
violation of charity, which does not detract one iota from that liberty. It only
reminds the Gentiles how they are to accommodate themselves to their brother,
and to not abuse their liberty for an occasion of offence. Let the second head,
therefore, be, that the Gentiles are to use an innoxious liberty, giving no
offence to the brethren. Still, however, they prescribe some certain thing-viz.
they show and point out, as was expedient at the time, what those things are by
which they may give offence to their brethren, that they may avoid them; but
they add no novelty of their own to the eternal law of God, which forbids the
offence of brethren.
22. As in the case where faithful pastors,
presiding over churches not yet well constituted, should intimate to their
flocks not to eat flesh on Friday until the weak among whom they live become
strong, or to work on a holiday, or any other similar things, although, when
superstition is laid aside, these matters are in themselves indifferent, still,
where offence is given to the brethren, they cannot be done without sin; so
there are times when believers cannot set this example before weak brethren
without most grievously wounding their consciences. Who but a slanderer would
say that a new law is enacted by those who, it is evident, only guard against
scandals which their Master has distinctly forbidden? But nothing more than this
can be said of the apostles, who had no other end in view, in removing grounds
of offence, than to enforce the divine Law, which prohibits offence; as if they
had said, The Lord hath commanded you not to hurt a weak brother; but meats
offered to idols, things strangled, and blood, ye cannot eat, without offending
weak brethren; we, therefore, require you, in the word of the Lord, not to eat
with offence. And to prove that the apostles had respect to this, the best
witness is Paul, who writes as follows, undoubtedly according to the sentiments
of the council: “As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things
which are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in
the world, and that there is none other God but one.”-”Howbeit,
there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol
unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience
being weak is defiled.”-”But take heed lest by any means this
liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak” (1 Cor.
8:4-9). Any one who duly considers these things will not be imposed upon by the
gloss which these men employ when, as a cloak to their tyranny, they pretend
that the apostles had begun by their decree to infringe the liberty of the
Church. But that they may be unable to escape without confessing the accuracy of
this explanation, let them tell me by what authority they have dared to abrogate
this very decree. It was, it seems, because there was no longer any danger of
those offences and dissensions which the apostles wished to obviate, and they
knew that the law was to be judged by its end. Seeing, therefore, the law was
passed with a view to charity, there is nothing prescribed in it except in so
far as required by charity. In confessing that the transgression of this law is
nothing but a violation of charity, do they not at the same time acknowledge
that it was not some adventitious supplement to the law of God, but a genuine
and simple adaptation of it to the times and manners for which it was destined?
23. But though such laws are hundreds of times unjust and injurious to
us, still they contend that they are to be heard without exception; for the
thing asked of us is not to consent to errors, but only to submit to the strict
commands of those set over us,-commands which we are not at liberty to decline
(1 Pet. 2:18). But here also the Lord comes to the succour of his word, and
frees us from this bondage by asserting the liberty which he has purchased for
us by his sacred blood, and the benefit of which he has more than once attested
by his word. For the thing required of us is not (as they maliciously pretend)
to endure some grievous oppression in our body, but to be tortured in our
consciences, and brought into bondage: in other words, robbed of the benefits of
Christ’s blood. Let us omit this, however, as if it were irrelevant to the
point. Do we think it a small matter that the Lord is deprived of his kingdom
which he so strictly claims for himself? Now, he is deprived of it as often as
he is worshipped with laws of human invention, since his will is to be sole
legislator of his worship. And lest any one should consider this as of small
moment, let us hear how the Lord himself estimates it. “Forasmuch as this
people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have
removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the
precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among
the people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid”
(Isaiah 29:13-14). And in another place, “But in vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mt. 15:9). And, indeed,
when the children of Israel polluted themselves with manifold idolatries, the
cause of the whole evil is ascribed to that impure mixture caused by their
disregarding the commandments of God, and framing new modes of worship.
Accordingly, sacred history relates that the new inhabitants who had been
brought by the king of Assyria from Babylon to inhabit Samaria were torn and
destroyed by wild beasts, because they knew not the judgment or statutes of the
God of that land (2 Kings 17:24-34). Though they had done nothing wrong in
ceremonies, still their empty show could not have been approved by God.
Meanwhile he ceased not to punish them for the violation of his worship by the
introduction of fictions alien from his word. Hence it is afterwards said that,
terrified by the punishment, they adopted the rites prescribed in the Law; but
as they did not yet worship God purely, it is twice repeated that they feared
him and feared not. Hence we infer that part of the reverence due to him
consists in worshipping him simply in the way which he commands, without
mingling any inventions of our own. And, accordingly, pious princes are
repeatedly praised (2 Kings 22:1, &c.) for acting according to all his
precepts, and not declining either to the right hand or the left. I go further:
although there be no open manifestation of impiety in fictitious worship, it is
strictly condemned by the Spirit, inasmuch as it is a departure from the command
of God. The altar of Ahaz, a model of which had been brought from Damascus (2
Kings 16:10), might have seemed to give additional ornament to the temple,
seeing it was his intention there to offer sacrifices to God only, and to do it
more splendidly than at the first ancient altar: yet we see how the Spirit
detests the audacious attempt, for no other reasons but because human inventions
are in the worship of God impure corruptions. And the more clearly the will of
God has been manifested to us, the less excusable is our petulance in attempting
anything. Accordingly, the guilt of Manasses is aggravated by the circumstance
of having erected a new altar at Jerusalem, of which the Lord said, “In
Jerusalem will I put my name” (2 Kings 22:3, 4), because the authority of
God was thereby professedly rejected.
24. Many wonder why God threatens
so sternly that he will bring astonishment on the people who worship him with
the commandments of men, and declares that it is in vain to worship him with the
commandments of men. But if they would consider what it is in the matter of
religion, that is, of heavenly wisdom, to depend on God alone, they would, at
the same time, see that it is not on slight grounds the Lord abominates perverse
service of this description, which is offered him at the caprice of the human
will. For although there is some show of humility in the obedience of those who
obey such laws in worshipping God, yet they are by no means humble, since they
prescribe to him the very laws which they observe. This is the reason why Paul
would have us so carefully to beware of being deceived by the traditions of men,
and what is called ???????????????, that is, voluntary worship, worship devised
by men without sanction from God. Thus it is, indeed: we must be fools in regard
to our own wisdom and all the wisdom of men, in order that we may allow him
alone to be wise. This course is by no means observed by those who seek to
approve themselves to him by paltry observances of man’s devising, and, as
it were, against his will obtrude upon him a prevaricating obedience which is
yielded to men. This is the course which has been pursued for several ages, and
within our own recollection, and is still pursued in the present day in those
places in which the power of the creature is more than that of the Creator,
where religion (if religion it deserves to be called) is polluted with more
numerous, and more absurd superstitions, than ever Paganism was. For what could
human sense produce but things carnal and fatuous, and savouring of their
authors?
25. When the patrons of superstition cloak them, by pretending
that Samuel sacrificed in Ramath, and though he did so contrary to the Law, yet
pleased God (l Sam 7:17), it is easy to answer, that he did not set up any
second altar in opposition to the only true one; but, as the place for the Ark
of the Covenant had not been fixed, he sacrificed in the town where he dwelt, as
being the most convenient. It certainly never was the intention of the holy
prophet to make any innovation in sacred things, in regard to which the Lord had
so strictly forbidden addition or diminution. The case of Manoah I consider to
have been extraordinary and special. He, though a private man, offered sacrifice
to God, and did it not without approbation, because he did it not from a rash
movement of his own mind, but by divine inspiration (Judges 13:19). How much God
abominates all the devices of men in his worship, we have a striking proof in
the case of one not inferior to Manoah-viz. Gideon, whose ephod brought ruin not
only on himself and his family, but on the whole people (Judges 8:27). In short,
every adventitious invention, by which men desire to worship God, is nothing
else than a pollution of true holiness.
26. Why then, they ask, did
Christ say that the intolerable burdens, imposed by Scribes and Pharisees, were
to be borne? (Mt. 23:3) Nay, rather, why did he say in another place that we
were to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees? (Mt. 16:6) meaning by leaven, as
the Evangelist Matthew explains it, whatever of human doctrine is mingled with
the pure word of God. What can be plainer than that we are enjoined to shun and
beware of their whole doctrine? From this it is most certain, that in the other
passage our Lord never meant that the consciences of his people were to be
harassed by the mere traditions of the Pharisees. And the words themselves,
unless when wrested, have no such meaning. Our Lord, indeed, beginning to
inveigh against the manners of the Pharisees, first instructs his hearers
simply, that though they saw nothing to follow in the lives of the Pharisees,
they should not, however, cease to do what they verbally taught when they sat in
the seat of Moses, that is, to expound the Law. All he meant, therefore, was to
guard the common people against being led by the bad example of their teachers
to despise doctrine. But as some are not at all moved by reason, and always
require authority, I will quote a passage from Augustine, in which the very same
thing is expressed. “The Lord’s sheepfold has persons set over it,
of whom some are faithful, others hirelings. Those who are faithful are true
shepherds; learn, however, that hirelings also are necessary. For many in the
Church, pursuing temporal advantages, preach Christ, and the voice of Christ is
heard by them, and the sheep follow not a hireling, but the shepherd by means of
a hireling. Learn that hirelings were pointed out by the Lord himself. The
Scribes and Pharisees, says he, sit in Moses’ seat; what they tell you,
do, but what they do, do ye not. What is this but to say, Hear the voice of the
shepherd by means of hirelings? Sitting in the chair, they teach the Law of God,
and therefore God teaches by them; but if they choose to teach their own, hear
not, do not.” Thus far Augustine. (August. in Joann. Tract. 46)
27. But as very many ignorant persons, on hearing that it is impious to
bind the conscience, and vain to worship God with human traditions, apply one
blot to all the laws by which the order of the Church is established, it will be
proper to obviate their error. Here, indeed, the danger of mistake is great: for
it is not easy to see at first sight how widely the two things differ. But I
will, in a few words, make the matter so clear, that no one will be imposed upon
by the resemblance. First, then, let us understand that if in every human
society some kind of government is necessary to insure the common peace and
maintain concord, if in transacting business some form must always be observed,
which public decency, and hence humanity itself, require us not to disregard,
this ought especially to be observed in churches, which are best sustained by a
constitution in all respects well ordered, and without which concord can have no
existence. Wherefore, if we would provide for the safety of the Church, we must
always carefully attend to Paul’s injunction, that all things be done
decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40). But seeing there is such diversity in the
manners of men, such variety in their minds, such repugnance in their judgments
and dispositions, no policy is sufficiently firm unless fortified by certain
laws, nor can any rite be observed without a fixed form. So far, therefore, are
we from condemning the laws which conduce to this, that we hold that the removal
of them would unnerve the Church, deface and dissipate it entirely. For
Paul’s injunction, that all things be done decently and in order, cannot
be observed unless order and decency be secured by the addition of ordinances,
as a kind of bonds. In these ordinances, however, we must always attend to the
exception, that they must not be thought necessary to salvation, nor lay the
conscience under a religious obligation; they must not be compared to the
worship of God, nor substituted for piety.
28. We have, therefore, a
most excellent and sure mark to distinguish between those impious constitutions
(by which, as we have said, true religion is overthrown, and conscience
subverted) and the legitimate observances of the Church, if we remember that one
of two things, or both together, are always intended-viz. that in the sacred
assembly of the faithful, all things may be done decently, and with becoming
dignity, and that human society may be maintained in order by certain bonds, as
it were, of moderation and humanity. For when a law is understood to have been
made for the sake of public decency, there is no room for the superstition into
which those fall who measure the worship of God by human inventions. On the
other hand, when a law is known to be intended for common use, that false idea
of its obligation and necessity, which gives great alarm to the conscience, when
traditions are deemed necessary to salvation, is overthrown; since nothing here
is sought but the maintenance of charity by a common office. But it may be
proper to explain more clearly what is meant by the decency which Paul commends,
and also what is comprehended under order. And the object of decency is, partly
that by the use of rites, which produce reverence in sacred matters, we may be
excited to piety, and partly that the modesty and gravity which ought to be seen
in all honourable actions may here especially be conspicuous. In order, the
first thing is, that those who preside know the law and rule of right
government, while those who are governed be accustomed to obedience and right
discipline. The second thing is, that by duly arranging the state of the Church,
provision be made for peace and tranquillity.
29. We shall not,
therefore, give the name of decency to that which only ministers an empty
pleasure: such, for example, as is seen in that theatrical display which the
Papists exhibit in their public service, where nothing appears but a mask of
useless splendour, and luxury without any fruit. But we give the name of decency
to that which, suited to the reverence of sacred mysteries, forms a fit exercise
for piety, or at least gives an ornament adapted to the action, and is not
without fruit, but reminds believers of the great modesty, seriousness, and
reverence, with which sacred things ought to be treated. Moreover, ceremonies,
in order to be exercises of piety, must lead us directly to Christ. In like
manner, we shall not make order consist in that nugatory pomp which gives
nothing but evanescent splendour, but in that arrangement which removes all
confusion, barbarism, contumacy, all turbulence and dissension. Of the former
class we have examples (1 Cor. 11:5, 21), where Paul says, that profane
entertainments must not be intermingled with the sacred Supper of the Lord; that
women must not appear in public uncovered. And there are many other things which
we have in daily practice, such as praying on our knees, and with our head
uncovered, administering the sacraments of the Lord, not sordidly, but with some
degree of dignity; employing some degree of solemnity in the burial of our dead,
and so forth. In the other class are the hours set apart for public prayer,
sermon, and solemn services; during sermon, quiet and silence, fixed places,
singing of hymns, days set apart for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper,
the prohibition of Paul against women teaching in the Church, and such like. To
the same list especially may be referred those things which preserve discipline,
as catechising, ecclesiastical censures, excommunication, fastings, &c. Thus
all ecclesiastical constitutions, which we admit to be sacred and salutary, may
be reduced to two heads, the one relating to rites and ceremonies, the other to
discipline and peace.
30. But as there is here a danger, on the one
hand, lest false bishops should thence derive a pretext for their impious and
tyrannical laws, and, on the other, lest some, too apt to take alarm, should,
from fear of the above evils, leave no place for laws, however holy, it may here
be proper to declare, that I approve of those human constitutions only which are
founded on the authority of God, and derived from Scripture, and are therefore
altogether divine. Let us take, for example, the bending of the knee which is
made in public prayer. It is asked, whether this is a human tradition, which any
one is at liberty to repudiate or neglect? I say, that it is human, and that at
the same time it is divine. It is of God, inasmuch as it is a part of that
decency, the care and observance of which is recommended by the apostle; and it
is of men, inasmuch as it specially determines what was indicated in general,
rather than expounded. From this one example, we may judge what is to be thought
of the whole class-viz. that the whole sum of righteousness, and all the parts
of divine worship, and everything necessary to salvation, the Lord has
faithfully comprehended, and clearly unfolded, in his sacred oracles, so that in
them he alone is the only Master to be heard. But as in external discipline and
ceremonies, he has not been pleased to prescribe every particular that we ought
to observe (he foresaw that this depended on the nature of the times, and that
one form would not suit all ages), in them we must have recourse to the general
rules which he has given, employing them to test whatever the necessity of the
Church may require to be enjoined for order and decency. Lastly, as he has not
delivered any express command, because things of this nature are not necessary
to salvation, and, for the edification of the Church, should be accommodated to
the varying circumstances of each age and nation, it will be proper, as the
interest of the Church may require, to change and abrogate the old, as well as
to introduce new forms. I confess, indeed, that we are not to innovate rashly or
incessantly, or for trivial causes. Charity is the best judge of what tends to
hurt or to edify: if we allow her to be guide, all things will be safe.
31. Things which have been appointed according to this rule, it is the
duty of the Christian people to observe with a free conscience indeed, and
without superstition, but also with a pious and ready inclination to obey. They
are not to hold them in contempt, nor pass them by with careless indifference,
far less openly to violate them in pride and contumacy. You will ask, What
liberty of conscience will there be in such cautious observances? Nay, this
liberty will admirably appear when we shall hold that these are not fixed and
perpetual obligations to which we are astricted, but external rudiments for
human infirmity, which, though we do not all need, we, however, all use, because
we are bound to cherish mutual charity towards each other. This we may recognise
in the examples given above. What? Is religion placed in a woman’s bonnet,
so that it is unlawful for her to go out with her head uncovered? Is her silence
fixed by a decree which cannot be violated without the greatest wickedness? Is
there any mystery in bending the knee, or in burying a dead body, which cannot
be omitted without a crime? By no means. For should a woman require to make such
haste in assisting a neighbour that she has not time to cover her head, she sins
not in running out with her head uncovered. And there are some occasions on
which it is not less seasonable for her to speak than on others to be silent.
Nothing, moreover, forbids him who, from disease, cannot bend his knees, to pray
standing. In fine, it is better to bury a dead man quickly, than from want of
grave-clothes, or the absence of those who should attend the funeral, to wait
till it rot away unburied. Nevertheless, in those matters the custom and
institutions of the country, in short, humanity and the rules of modesty itself,
declare what is to be done or avoided. Here, if any error is committed through
imprudence or forgetfulness, no crime is perpetrated; but if this is done from
contempt, such contumacy must be disapproved. In like manner, it is of no
consequence what the days and hours are, what the nature of the edifices, and
what psalms are sung on each day. But it is proper that there should be certain
days and stated hours, and a place fit for receiving all, if any regard is had
to the preservation of peace. For what a seed-bed of quarrels will confusion in
such matters be, if every one is allowed at pleasure to alter what pertains to
common order? All will not be satisfied with the same course if matters, placed
as it were on debateable ground, are left to the determination of individuals.
But if any one here becomes clamorous, and would be wiser than he ought, let him
consider how he will approve his moroseness to the Lord. Paul’s answer
ought to satisfy us, “If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such
custom, neither the churches of God.”
32. Moreover, we must use
the utmost diligence to prevent any error from creeping in which may either
taint or sully this pure use. In this we shall succeed, if whatever observances
we use are manifestly useful, and very few in number; especially if to this is
added the teaching of a faithful pastor, which may prevent access to erroneous
opinions. The effect of this procedure is, that in all these matters each
retains his freedom, and yet at the same time voluntarily subjects it to a kind
of necessity, in so far as the decency of which we have spoken or charity
demands. Next, that in the observance of these things we may not fall into any
superstition, nor rigidly require too much from others, let us not imagine that
the worship of God is improved by a multitude of ceremonies: let not church
despise church because of a difference in external discipline. Lastly, instead
of here laying down any perpetual law for ourselves, let us refer the whole end
and use of observances to the edification of the Church, at whose request let us
without offence allow not only something to be changed, but even observances
which were formerly in use to be inverted. For the present age is a proof that
the nature of times allows that certain rites, not otherwise impious or
unbecoming, may be abrogated according to circumstances. Such was the ignorance
and blindness of former times; with such erroneous ideas and pertinacious zeal
did churches formerly cling to ceremonies, that they can scarcely be purified
from monstrous superstitions without the removal of many ceremonies which were
formerly established, not without cause, and which in themselves are not
chargeable with any impiety.
CHAPTER
11.
OF THE JURISDICTION OF THE CHURCH, AND THE
ABUSES OF IT, AS
EXEMPLIFIED IN THE
PAPACY.
This chapter may be conveniently comprehended under two
heads,-I. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, its necessity, origin, description, and
essential parts-viz. the sacred ministry of the word, and discipline of
excommunication, of which the aim, use, and abuse are explained, sec. 1-8. II.
Refutation of the arguments advanced by Papists in defence of the tyranny of
Pontiffs, the right of both swords, imperial pomp and dignity, foreign
jurisdiction, and immunity from civil jurisdiction, sec.
9-16.
Sections.
1. The power of the Church in regard to
jurisdiction. The necessity, origin, and nature of this jurisdiction. The power
of the keys to be considered in two points of view. The first view expounded.
2. Second view expounded. How the Church binds and looses in the way of
discipline. Abuse of the keys in the Papacy.
3. The discipline of
excommunication of perpetual endurance. Distinction between civil and
ecclesiastical power.
4. The perpetual endurance of the discipline of
excommunication confirmed. Duly ordered under the Emperors and Christian
magistrates.
5. The aim and use of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the
primitive Church. Spiritual power was kept entirely distinct from the power of
the sword.
6. Spiritual power was not administered by one individual,
but by a lawful consistory. Gradual change. First, the clergy alone interfered
in the judicial proceedings of the Church. The bishop afterwards appropriated
them to himself.
7. The bishops afterwards transferred the rights thus
appropriated to their officials, and converted spiritual jurisdiction into a
profane tribunal.
8. Recapitulation. The Papal power confuted. Christ
wished to debar the ministers of the word from civil rule and worldly power.
9. Objections of the Papists. 1. By this external splendour the glory
of Christ is displayed. 2. It does not interfere with the duties of their
calling. Both objections answered.
10. The commencement and gradual
progress of the Papistical tyranny. Causes, 1. Curiosity; 2. Ambition; 3.
Violence; 4. Hypocrisy; 5. Impiety.
11. Last cause, the mystery of
iniquity, and the Satanic fury of Antichrist usurping worldly dominion. The Pope
claims both swords.
12. The pretended donation of Constantine. Its
futility exposed.
13. When, and by what means, the Roman Pontiffs
attained to imperial dignity. Hildebrand its founder.
14. By what acts
they seized on Rome and other territories. Disgraceful rapacity.
15.
Claim of immunity from civil jurisdiction. Contrast between this pretended
immunity and the moderation of the early bishops.
16. What end the
early bishops aimed at in steadfastly resisting civil encroachment.
1. IT
remains to consider the third, and, indeed, when matters are well arranged, the
principal part of ecclesiastical power, which, as we have said, consists in
jurisdiction. Now, the whole jurisdiction of the Church relates to discipline,
of which we are shortly to treat. For as no city or village can exist without a
magistrate and government, so the Church of God, as I have already taught, but
am again obliged to repeat, needs a kind of spiritual government. This is
altogether distinct from civil government, and is so far from impeding or
impairing it, that it rather does much to aid and promote it. Therefore, this
power of jurisdiction is, in one word, nothing but the order provided for the
preservation of spiritual polity. To this end, there were established in the
Church from the first, tribunals which might take cognisance of morals,
animadvert on vices, and exercise the office of the keys. This order is
mentioned by Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians under the name of
governments (1 Cor. 12:28): in like manner, in the Epistle to the Romans, when
he says, “He that ruleth with diligence” (Rom. 12:8). For he is not
addressing magistrates, none of whom were then Christians, but those who were
joined with pastors in the spiritual government of the Church. In the Epistle to
Timothy, also, he mentions two kinds of presbyters, some who labour in the word,
and others who do not perform the office of preaching, but rule well (1 Tim.
5:17). By this latter class there is no doubt he means those who were appointed
to the inspection of manners, and the whole use of the keys. For the power of
which we speak wholly depends on the keys which Christ bestowed on the Church in
the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, where he orders, that those who depise
private admonition should be sharply rebuked in public, and if they persist in
their contumacy, be expelled from the society of believers. Moreover, those
admonitions and corrections cannot be made without investigation, and hence the
necessity of some judicial procedure and order. Wherefore, if we would not make
void the promise of the keys, and abolish altogether excommunication, solemn
admonitions, and everything of that description, we must, of necessity, give
some jurisdiction to the Church. Let the reader observe that we are not here
treating of the general authority of doctrine, as in Mt. 21 and John 20, but
maintaining that the right of the Sanhedrim is transferred to the fold of
Christ. Till that time, the power of government had belonged to the Jews. This
Christ establishes in his Church, in as far as it was a pure institution, and
with a heavy sanction. Thus it behoved to be, since the judgment of a poor and
despised Church might otherwise be spurned by rash and haughty men. And lest it
occasion any difficulty to the reader, that Christ in the same words makes a
considerable difference between the two things, it will here be proper to
explain. There are two passages which speak of binding and loosing. The one is
Mt. 16, where Christ, after promising that he will give the keys of the kingdom
of heaven to Peter, immediately adds, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven” (Mt. 16:19). These words have the very same meaning as
those in the Gospel of John, where, being about to send forth the disciples to
preach, after breathing on them, he says, “Whose soever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are
retained” (John 20:23). I will give an interpretation, not subtle, not
forced, not wrested, but genuine, natural, and obvious. This command concerning
remitting and retaining sins, and that promise made to Peter concerning binding
and loosing, ought to be referred to nothing but the ministry of the word. When
the Lord committed it to the apostles, he, at the same time, provided them with
this power of binding and loosing. For what is the sum of the gospel, but just
that all being the slaves of sin and death, are loosed and set free by the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus, while those who do not receive and
acknowledge Christ as a deliverer and redeemer are condemned and doomed to
eternal chains? When the Lord delivered this message to his apostles, to be
carried by them into all nations, in order to prove that it was his own message,
and proceeded from him, he honoured it with this distinguished testimony, and
that as an admirable confirmation both to the apostles themselves, and to all
those to whom it was to come. It was of importance that the apostles should have
a constant and complete assurance of their preaching, which they were not only
to exercise with infinite labour, anxiety, molestation, and peril, but
ultimately to seal with their blood. That they might know that it was not vain
or void, but full of power and efficacy, it was of importance, I say, that
amidst all their anxieties, dangers, and difficulties, they might feel persuaded
that they were doing the work of God; that though the whole world withstood and
opposed them, they might know that God was for them; that not having Christ the
author of their doctrine bodily present on the earth, they might understand that
he was in heaven to confirm the truth of the doctrine which he had delivered to
them. On the other hand, it was necessary that their hearers should be most
certainly assured that the doctrine of the gospel was not the word of the
apostles, but of God himself; not a voice rising from the earth, but descending
from heaven. For such things as the forgiveness of sins, the promise of eternal
life, and message of salvation, cannot be in the power of man. Christ therefore
testified, that in the preaching of the gospel the apostles only acted
ministerially; that it was he who, by their mouths as organs, spoke and promised
all; that, therefore, the forgiveness of sins which they announced was the true
promise of’ God; the condemnation which they pronounced, the certain
judgment of God. This attestation was given to all ages, and remains firm,
rendering all certain and secure, that the word of the gospel, by whomsoever it
may be preached, is the very word of God, promulgated at the supreme tribunal,
written in the book of life, ratified firm and fixed in heaven. We now
understand that the power of the keys is simply the preaching of the gospel in
those places, and in so far as men are concerned, it is not so much power as
ministry. Properly speaking, Christ did not give this power to men but to his
word, of which he made men the ministers.
2. The other passage, in which
binding and loosing are mentioned, is in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew,
where Christ says, “If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the
Church: but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen
man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven” (Mt. 18:17, 18). This passage is not altogether similar to the
former, but is to be understood somewhat differently. But in saying that they
are different, I do not mean that there is not much affinity between them.
First, they are similar in this, that they are both general statements, that
there is always the same power of binding and loosing (namely, by the word of
God), the same command, the same promise. They differ in this, that the former
passage relates specially to the preaching which the ministers of the word
perform, the latter relates to the discipline of excommunication which has been
committed to the Church. Now, the Church binds him whom she excommunicates, not
by plunging him into eternal ruin and despair, but condemning his life and
manners, and admonishing him, that, unless he repent, he is condemned. She
looses him whom she receives into communion, because she makes him, as it were,
a partaker of the unity which she has in Christ Jesus. Let no one, therefore,
contumaciously despise the judgment of the Church, or account it a small matter
that he is condemned by the suffrages of the faithful. The Lord testifies that
such judgment of the faithful is nothing else than the promulgation of his own
sentence, and that what they do on earth is ratified in heaven. For they have
the word of God by which they condemn the perverse: they have the word by which
they take back the penitent into favour. Now, they cannot err nor disagree with
the judgment of God, because they judge only according to the law of God, which
is not an uncertain or worldly opinion, but the holy will of God, an oracle of
heaven. On these two passages, which I think I have briefly, as well as
familiarly and truly expounded, these madmen, without any discrimination, as
they are borne along by their spirit of giddiness, attempt to found at one time
confession, at another excommunication, at another jurisdiction, at another the
right of making laws, at another indulgences. The former passage they adduce for
the purpose of rearing up the primacy of the Roman See. So well known are the
keys to those who have thought proper to fit them with locks and doors, that you
would say their whole life had been spent in the mechanic art.
3. Some,
in imagining that all these things were temporary, as magistrates were still
strangers to our profession of religion, are led astray, by not observing the
distinction and dissimilarity between ecclesiastical and civil power. For the
Church has not the right of the sword to punish or restrain, has no power to
coerce, no prison nor other punishments which the magistrate is wont to inflict.
Then the object in view is not to punish the sinner against his will, but to
obtain a profession of penitence by voluntary chastisement. The two things,
therefore, are widely different, because neither does the Church assume anything
to herself which is proper to the magistrate, nor is the magistrate competent to
what is done by the Church. This will be made clearer by an example. Does any
one get intoxicated. In a well-ordered city his punishment will be imprisonment.
Has he committed whoredom? The punishment will be similar, or rather more
severe. Thus satisfaction will be given to the laws, the magistrates, and the
external tribunal. But the consequence will be, that the offender wil1 give no
signs of repentance, but will rather fret and murmur. Will the Church not here
interfere? Such persons cannot be admitted to the Lord’s Supper without
doing injury to Christ and his sacred institution. Reason demands that he who,
by a bad example, gives offence to the Church, shall remove the offence which he
has caused by a formal declaration of repentance. The reason adduced by those
who take a contrary view is frigid. Christ, they say, gave this office to the
Church when there were no magistrates to execute it. But it often happens that
the magistrate is negligent, nay, sometimes himself requires to be chastised; as
was the case with the Emperor Theodosius. Moreover, the same thing may be said
regarding the whole ministry of the word. Now, therefore, according to that
view, let pastors cease to censure manifest iniquities, let them cease to chide,
accuse, and rebuke. For there are Christian magistrates who ought to correct
these things by the laws and the sword. But as the magistrate ought to purge the
Church of offences by corporal punishment and coercion, so the minister ought,
in his turn, to assist the magistrate in diminishing the number of offenders.
Thus they ought to combine their efforts, the one being not an impediment but a
help to the other.
4. And indeed, on attending more closely to the words
of Christ, it will readily appear that the state and order of the Church there
described is perpetual, not temporary. For it were incongruous that those who
refuse to obey our admonitions should be transferred to the magistrate-a course,
however, which would be necessary if he were to succeed to the place of the
Church. Why should the promise, “Verily I say unto you, What thing soever
ye shall bind on earth,” be limited to one, or to a few years? Moreover,
Christ has here made no new enactment, but followed the custom always observed
in the Church of his ancient people, thereby intimating, that the Church cannot
dispense with the spiritual jurisdiction which existed from the beginning. This
has been confirmed by the consent of all times. For when emperors and
magistrates began to assume the Christian name, spiritual jurisdiction was not
forthwith abolished, but was only so arranged as not in any respect to impair
civil jurisdiction, or be confounded with it. And justly. For the magistrate, if
he is pious, will have no wish to exempt himself from the common subjection of
the children of God, not the least part of which is to subject himself to the
Church, judging according to the word of God; so far is it from being his duty
to abolish that judgment. For, as Ambrose says, “What more honourable
title can an emperor have than to be called a son of the Church? A good emperor
is within the Church, not above the Church” (Ambros. ad Valent. Ep. 32).
Those, therefore, who to adorn the magistrate strip the Church of this power,
not only corrupt the sentiment of Christ by a false interpretation, but pass no
light condemnation on the many holy bishops who have existed since the days of
the apostles, for having on a false pretext usurped the honour and office of the
civil magistrate.
5. But, on the other hand, it will be proper to see
what was anciently the true use of ecclesiastical discipline, and how great the
abuses which crept in, that we may know what of ancient practice is to be
abolished, and what restored, if we would, after overthrowing the kingdom of
Antichrist, again set up the true kingdom of Christ. First, the object in view
is to prevent the occurrence of scandals, and when they arise, to remove them.
In the use two things are to be considered: first, that this spiritual power be
altogether distinct from the power of the sword; secondly, that it be not
administered at the will of one individual, but by a lawful consistory (1 Cor.
5:4). Both were observed in the purer times of the Church. For holy bishops did
not exercise their power by fine, imprisonment, or other civil penalties, but as
became them, employed the word of God only. For the severest punishment of the
Church, and, as it were, her last thunderbolt, is excommunication, which is not
used unless in necessity.56[8] This,
moreover, requires neither violence nor physical force, but is contented with
the might of the word of God. [0] In
short, the jurisdiction of the ancient Church was nothing else than (if I may so
speak) a practical declaration of what Paul teaches concerning the spiritual
power of pastors. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a
readiness to revenge all disobedience” (2 Cor. 10:4-6). As this is done by
the preaching of doctrine, so in order that doctrine may not be held in
derision, those who profess to be of the household of faith ought to be judged
according to the doctrine which is taught. Now this cannot be done without
connecting with the office of the ministry a right of summoning those who are to
be privately admonished or sharply rebuked, a right, moreover, of keeping back
from the communion of the Lord’s Supper, those who cannot be admitted
without profaning this high ordinance. Hence, when Paul elsewhere asks,
“What have I to do to judge them also that are without?” (1 Cor.
5:12), he makes the members of the Church subject to censures for the correction
of their vices, and intimates the existence of tribunals from which no believer
is exempted.
6. This power, as we have already stated, did not belong to
an individual who could exercise it as he pleased, but belonged to the
consistory of elders, which was in the Church what a council is in a city.
Cyprian, when mentioning those by whom it was exercised in his time, usually
associates the whole clergy with the bishop (Cyprian, Lib. 3 Ep. 14, 19). In
another place, he shows that though the clergy presided, the people, at the same
time, were not excluded from cognisance: for he thus writes:-”From the
commencement of my bishopric, I determined to do nothing without the advice of
the clergy, nothing without the consent of the people.” But the common and
usual method of exercising this jurisdiction was by the council of presbyters,
of whom, as I have said, there were two classes. Some were for teaching, others
were only censors of manners. This institution gradually degenerated from its
primitive form, so that, in the time of Ambrose, the clergy alone had cognisance
of ecclesiastical causes. Of this he complains in the following
terms:-”The ancient synagogue, and afterwards the Church, had elders,
without whose advice nothing was done: this has grown obsolete, by whose fault I
know not, unless it be by the sloth, or rather the pride, of teachers, who would
have it seem that they only are somewhat” (Ambros. in 1 Tim. 5). We see
how indignant this holy man was because the better state was in some degree
impaired, and yet the order which then existed was at least tolerable. What,
then, had he seen those shapeless ruins which exhibit no trace of the ancient
edifice? How would he have lamented? First, contrary to what was right and
lawful, the bishop appropriated to himself what was given to the whole Church.
For this is just as if the consul had expelled the senate, and usurped the whole
empire. For as he is superior in rank to the others, so the authority of the
consistory is greater than that of one individual. It was, therefore, a gross
iniquity, when one man, transferring the common power to himself, paved the way
for tyrannical licence, robbed the Church of what was its own, suppressed and
discarded the consistory ordained by the Spirit of Christ.
7. But as
evil always produces evil, the bishops, disdaining this jurisdiction as a thing
unworthy of their care, devolved it on others. Hence the appointment of
officials to supply their place. I am not now speaking of the character of this
class of persons; all I say is, that they differ in no respect from civil
judges. And yet they call it spiritual jurisdiction, though all the litigation
relates to worldly affairs. Were there no other evil in this, how can they
presume to call a litigious forum a church court? But there are admonitions;
there is excommunication. This is the way in which God is mocked. Does some poor
man owe a sum of money? He is summoned: if he appears, he is found liable; when
found liable, if he pays not, he is admonished. After the second admonition, the
next step is excommunication. If he appears not, he is admonished to appear; if
he delays, he is admonished, and by-and-by excommunicated. I ask, is there any
resemblance whatever between this and the institution of Christ, or ancient
custom or ecclesiastical procedure? But there, too, vices are censured.
Whoredom, lasciviousness, drunkenness, and similar iniquities, they not only
tolerate, but by a kind of tacit approbation encourage and confirm, and that not
among the people only, but also among the clergy. Out of many they summon a few,
either that they may not seem to wink too strongly, or that they may mulct them
in money. I say nothing of the plunder, rapine, peculation, and sacrilege, which
are there committed. I say nothing of the kind of persons who are for the most
part appointed to the office. It is enough, and more than enough, that when the
Romanists boast of their spiritual jurisdiction, we are ready to show that
nothing is more contrary to the procedure instituted by Christ, that it has no
more resemblance to ancient practice than darkness has to light.
8.
Although we have not said all that might here be adduced, and even what has been
said is only briefly glanced at, enough, I trust, has been said to leave no man
in doubt that the spiritual power on which the Pope plumes himself, with all his
adherents, is impious contradiction of the word of God, and unjust tyranny
against his people. Under the name of spiritual power, I include both their
audacity in framing new doctrines, by which they led the miserable people away
from the genuine purity of the word of God, the iniquitous traditions by which
they ensnared them, and the pseudo-ecclesiastical jurisdiction which they
exercise by suffragans and officials. For if we allow Christ to reign amongst
us, the whole of that domination cannot but immediately tumble and fall. The
right of the sword which they also claim for themselves, not being exercised
against consciences, does not fall to be considered in this place. Here,
however, it is worth while to observe, that they are always like themselves,
there being nothing which they less resemble than that which they would be
thought to be-viz. pastors of the Church. I speak not of the vices of particular
men, but of the common wickedness, and, consequently, the pestiferous nature of
the whole order, which is thought to be mutilated if not distinguished by wealth
and haughty titles. If in this matter we seek the authority of Christ, there can
be no doubt that he intended to debar the ministers of his word from civil
domination and worldly power when he said, “The princes of the Gentiles
exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon
them. But it shall not be so among you” (Mt. 20:25, 26). For he intimates
not only that the office of pastor is distinct from the office of prince, but
that the things differ so widely that they cannot be united in the same
individual. Moses indeed held both (Exod. 18:16); but, first, this was the
effect of a rare miracle; and, secondly, it was temporary, until matters should
be better arranged. For when a certain form is prescribed by the Lord, the civil
government is left to Moses, and he is ordered to resign the priesthood to his
brother. And justly; for it is more than nature can do, for one man to bear both
burdens. This has in all ages been carefully observed in the Church. Never did
any bishop, so long as any true appearance of a church remained, think of
usurping the right of the sword: so that, in the age of Ambrose, it was a common
proverb, that emperors longed more for the priesthood than priests for imperial
power.56[9] For the expression which
he afterwards adds was fixed in all minds, Palaces belong to the emperor,
churches to the priest.
9. But after a method was devised by which
bishops might hold the title, honour, and wealth of their office without burden
and solicitude, that they might be left altogether idle, the right of the sword
was given them, or rather, they themselves usurped it. With what pretext will
they defend this effrontery? Was it the part of bishops to entangle themselves
with the cognisance of causes, and the administration of states and provinces,
and embrace occupations so very alien to them-of bishops, who require so much
time and labour in their own office, that though they devote themselves to it
diligently and entirely, without distraction from other avocations, they are
scarcely sufficient? But such is their perverseness, that they hesitate not to
boast that in this way the dignity of Christ’s kingdom is duly maintained,
and they, at the same time, are not withdrawn from their own vocation. In regard
to the former allegation, if it is a comely ornament of the sacred office, that
those holding it be so elevated as to become formidable to the greatest
monarchs, they have ground to expostulate with Christ, who in this respect has
grievously curtailed their honour. For what, according to their view, can be
more insulting than these words, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise
authority over them”? “But ye shall not be so” (Luke 22:25,
26). And yet he imposes no harder law on his servants than he had previously
laid on himself. “Who,” says he, “made me a judge or divider
over you?” (Luke 12:14) We see that he unreservedly refuses the office of
judging; and this he would not have done if the thing had been in accordance
with his office. To the subordination to which the Lord thus reduced himself,
will his servants not submit? The other point I wish they would prove by
experience as easily as they allege it. But as it seemed to the apostles not
good to leave the word of God and serve tables, so these men are thereby forced
to admit, though they are unwilling to be taught, that it is not possible for
the same person to be a good bishop and a good prince. For if those who, in
respect of the largeness of the gifts with which they were endued, were able for
much more numerous and weighty cares than any who have come after them,
confessed that they could not serve the ministry of the word and of tables,
without giving way under the burden, how are these, who are no men at all when
compared with the apostles, possibly to surpass them a hundred times in
diligence? The very attempt is most impudent and audacious presumption. Still we
see the thing done; with what success is plain. The result could not but be that
they have deserted their own functions, and removed to another camp.
10.
There can be no doubt that this great progress has been made from slender
beginnings. They could not reach so far at one step, but at one time by craft
and wily art, secretly raised themselves before any one foresaw what was to
happen; at another time, when occasion offered, by means of threats and terror,
extorted some increase of power from princes; at another time, when they saw
princes disposed to give liberally, they abused their foolish and inconsiderate
facility. The godly in ancient times, when any dispute arose, in order to escape
the necessity of a lawsuit, left the decision to the bishop, because they had no
doubt of his integrity. The ancient bishops were often greatly dissatisfied at
being entangled in such matters, as Augustine somewhere declares; but lest the
parties should rush to some contentious tribunal, unwillingly submitted to the
annoyance. These voluntary decisions, which altogether differed from forensic
strife, these men have converted into ordinary jurisdiction. As cities and
districts. when for some time pressed with various difficulties, betook
themselves to the patronage of the bishops, and threw themselves on their
protection, these men have, by a strange artifice, out of patrons made
themselves masters. That they have seized a good part by the violence of faction
cannot be denied. The princes, again, who spontaneously conferred jurisdiction
on bishops, were induced to it by various causes. Though their indulgence had
some appearance of piety, they did not by this preposterous liberality consult
in the best manner for the interests of the Church, whose ancient and true
discipline they thus corrupted, nay, to tell the truth, completely abolished.
Those bishops who abuse the goodness of princes to their own advantage, gave
more than sufficient proof by this one specimen of their conduct, that they were
not at all true bishops. Had they had one spark of the apostolic spirit, they
would doubtless have answered in the words of Paul, “The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal,” but spiritual (2 Cor. 10:4). But hurried away by
blind cupidity, they lost themselves, and posterity, and the Church.
11.
At length the Roman Pontiff, not content with moderate districts, laid hands
first on kingdoms, and thereafter on empire. And that he may on some pretext or
other retain possession, secured by mere robbery, he boasts at one time that he
holds it by divine right, at another, he pretends a donation from Constantine,
at another, some different title. First, I answer with Bernard, “Be it
that on some ground or other he can claim it, it is not by apostolic right. For
Peter could not give what he had not, but what he had he gave to his
successors-viz. care of the churches. But when our Lord and Master says that he
was not appointed a judge between two, the servant and disciple ought not to
think it unbecoming not to be judge of all” (Bernard. de Considerat. Lib.
2). Bernard is spearing of civil judgments, for he adds, “Your power then
is in sins, not in rights of property, since for the former and not the latter
you received the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Which of the two seems to you
the higher dignity, the forgiving of sins or the dividing of lands? There is no
comparison. These low earthly things have for their judges the kings and princes
of the earth. Why do you invade the territories of others?” &c. Again,
“You are made superior” (he is addressing Pope Eugenius), “for
what? not to domineer, I presume. Let us therefore remember, however highly we
think of ourselves, that a ministry is laid upon us, not a dominion given to us.
Learn that you have need of a slender rod, not of a sceptre, to do the work of a
prophet.” Again, “It is plain that the apostles are prohibited to
exercise dominion. Go you, therefore, and dare to usurp for yourself, either
apostleship with dominion, or dominion with apostleship.” Immediately
after he says, “The apostolic form is this; dominion is interdicted,
ministry is enjoined.” Though Bernard speaks thus, and so speaks as to
make it manifest to all that he speaks truth, nay, though without a word the
thing itself is manifest, the Roman Pontiff was not ashamed at the Council of
Arles to decree that the supreme right of both swords belonged to him of divine
right.
12. As far as pertains to the donation of Constantine, those who
are moderately versant in the history of the time have no need of being told,
that the claim is not only fabulous but also absurd. But to say nothing of
history, Gregory alone is a fit and most complete witness to this effect. For
wherever he speaks of the emperor he calls him His Most Serene Lord, and himself
his unworthy servant.57[0] Again, in
another passage he says, “Let not our Lord in respect of worldly power be
too soon offended with priests, but with excellent consideration, on account of
him whose servants they are, let him while ruling them also pay them due
reverence.” We see how in a common subjection he desires to be accounted
one of the people. For he there pleads not another’s but his own cause.
Again, “I trust in Almighty God that he will give long life to pious
rulers, and place us under your hand according to his mercy.” I have not
adduced these things here from any intention thoroughly to discuss the question
of Constantine’s donation, but only to show my readers by the way, how
childishly the Romanists tell lies when they attempt to claim an earthly empire
for their Pontiff. The more vile the impudence of Augustine Steuchus, who, in so
desperate a cause, presumed to lend his labour and his tongue to the Roman
Pontiff. Valla, as was easy for a man of learning and acuteness to do, had
completely refuted this fable. And yet, as he was little versant in
ecclesiastical affairs, he had not said all that was relevant to the subject.
Steuchus breaks in, and scatters his worthless quibbles, trying to bury the
clear light. And certainly he pleads the cause of his master not less frigidly
than some wit might, under pretence of defending the same view, support that of
Valla. But the cause is a worthy one, which the Pope may well hire such patrons
to defend; equally worthy are the hired ravers whom the hope of gain may
deceive, as was the case with Eugubinus.
13. Should any one ask at what
period this fictitious empire began to emerge, five hundred years have not yet
elapsed since the Roman Pontiffs were under subjection to the emperors, and no
pontiff was elected without the emperor’s authority. An occasion of
innovating on this order was given to Gregory VII. by Henry IV., a giddy and
rash man, of no prudence, great audacity, and a dissolute life. When he had the
whole bishoprics of Germany in his court partly for sale, and partly exposed to
plunder, Hildebrand, who had been provoked by him, seized the plausible pretext
for asserting his claim. As his cause seemed good and pious, it was viewed with
great favour, while Henry, on account of the insolence of his government, was
generally hated by the princes. At length Hildebrand, who took the name of
Gregory VII., an impure and wicked man, betrayed his sinister intentions. On
this he was deserted by many who had joined him in his conspiracy. He gained
this much, however, that his successors were not only able to shake off the yoke
with impunity, but also to bring the emperors into subjection to them. Moreover,
many of the subsequent emperors were liker Henry than Julius CÊsar. These
it was not difficult to overcome while they sat at home sluggish and secure,
instead of vigorously exerting themselves, as was most necessary, by all
legitimate means to repress the cupidity of the pontiffs. We see what colour
there is for the grand donation of Constantine, by which the Pope pretends that
the western empire was given to him.
14. Meanwhile the pontiff ceased
not, either by fraud, or by perfidy, or by arms, to invade the dominions of
others. Rome itself, which was then free, they, about a hundred and thirty years
ago, reduced under their power. At length they obtained the dominion which they
now possess, and to retain or increase which, now for two hundred years (they
had begun before they usurped the dominion of the city) they have so troubled
the Christian world that they have almost destroyed it. Formerly, when in the
time of Gregory, the guardians of ecclesiastical property seized upon lands
which they considered to belong to the Church, and, after the manner of the
exchequer, affixed their seals in attestation of their claim, Gregory having
assembled a council of bishops, and bitterly inveighed against that profane
custom, asked whether they would not anathematise the churchman who, of his own
accord, attempted to seize some possession by the inscription of a title, and in
like manner, the bishop who should order it to be done, or not punish it when
done without his order. All pronounced the anathema. If it is a crime deserving
of anathema for a churchman to claim a property by the inscription of a
title-then, now that for two hundred years, the pontiffs meditate nothing but
war and bloodshed, the destruction of armies, the plunder of cities, the
destruction or overthrow of nations, and the devastation of kingdoms, only that
they may obtain possession of the property of others-what anathemas can
sufficiently punish such conduct? Surely it is perfectly obvious that the very
last thing they aim at is the glory of Christ. For were they spontaneously to
resign every portion of secular power which they possess, no peril to the glory
of God, no peril to sound doctrine, no peril to the safety of the Church ensues;
but they are borne blind and headlong by a lust for power, thinking that nothing
can be safe unless they rule, as the prophet says, “with force and with
cruelty” (Ezek. 34:4).
15. To jurisdiction is annexed the immunity
claimed by the Romish clergy. They deem it unworthy of them to answer before a
civil judge in personal causes; and consider both the liberty and dignity of the
Church to consist in exemption from ordinary tribunals and laws. But the ancient
bishops, who otherwise were most resolute in asserting the rights of the Church,
did not think it any injury to themselves and their order to act as subjects.
Pious emperors also, as often as there was occasion, summoned clergy to their
tribunals, and met with no opposition. For Constantine, in a letter to the
Nicomedians, thus speaks:-”Should any of the bishops unadvisedly excite
tumult, his audacity shall be restrained by the minister of God, that is, by my
executive” (Theodoret. Lib. 1 c. 20). Valentinian says, “Good
bishops throw no obloquy on the power of the emperor, but sincerely keep the
commandments of God, the great King, and obey our laws” (Theodoret. Lib. 4
c. 8). This was unquestionably the view then entertained by all. Ecclesiastical
causes, indeed, were brought before the episcopal court; as when a clergyman had
offended, but not against the laws, he was only charged by the Canons; and
instead of being cited before the civil court, had the bishop for his judge in
that particular case. In like manner, when a question of faith was agitated, or
one which properly pertained to the Church, cognisance was left to the Church.
In this sense the words of Ambrose are to be understood: “Your father, of
august memory, not only replied verbally, but enacted by law, that, in a
question of faith, the judge should be one who was neither unequal from office,
nor incompetent from the nature of his jurisdiction” (Ambros. Ep. 32).
Again, “If we attend to the Scriptures, or to ancient examples, who can
deny that in a question of faith, a question of faith, I say, bishops are wont
to judge Christian emperors, not emperors to judge bishops?” Again,
“I would have come before your consistory, O emperor, would either the
bishops or the people have allowed me to come: they say that a question of faith
should be discussed in the Church before the people.” He maintains,
indeed, that a spiritual cause, that is, one pertaining to religion, is not to
be brought before the civil court, where worldly disputes are agitated. His
firmness in this respect is justly praised by all. And yet, though he has a good
cause, he goes so far as to say, that if it comes to force and violence, he will
yield. “I will not desert the post committed to me, but, if forced, I will
not resist: prayers and tears are our weapons” (Ambros. Hom. de Basilic.
Traden.). Let us observe the singular moderation of this holy man, his
combination of prudence, magnanimity, and boldness. Justina, the mother of the
emperor, unable to bring him over to the Arian party, sought to drive him from
the government of the Church. And this would have been the result had he, when
summoned, gone to the palace to plead his cause. He maintains, therefore, that
the emperor is not fit to decide such a controversy. This both the necessity of
the times, and the very nature of the thing, demanded. He thought it were better
for him to die than consent to transmit such an example to posterity; and yet if
violence is offered, he thinks not of resisting. For he says, it is not the part
of a bishop to defend the faith and rights of the Church by arms. But in all
other causes he declares himself ready to do whatever the emperor commands.
“If he asks tribute, we deny it not: the lands of the Church pay tribute.
If he asks lands, he has the power of evicting them; none of us
interposes.” Gregory speaks in the same manner. “I am not ignorant
of the mind of my most serene lord: he is not wont to interfere in sacerdotal
causes, lest he may in some degree burden himself with our sins.” He does
not exclude the emperor generally from judging priests, but says that there are
certain causes which he ought to leave to the ecclesiastical tribunal.
16. And hence all that these holy men sought by this exception was, to
prevent irreligious princes from impeding the Church in the discharge of her
duty, by their tyrannical caprice and violence. They did not disapprove when
princes interposed their authority in ecclesiastical affairs, provided this was
done to preserve, not to disturb, the order of the Church, to establish, not to
destroy discipline. For, seeing the Church has not, and ought not to wish to
have, the power of compulsion (I speak of civil coercion), it is the part of
pious kings and princes to maintain religion by laws, edicts, and sentences. In
this way, when the emperor Maurice had commanded certain bishops to receive
their neighbouring colleagues, who had been expelled by the Barbarians, Gregory
confirms the order, and exhorts them to
obey.57[1] He himself, when
admonished by the same emperor to return to a good understanding with John,
Bishop of Constantinople, endeavours to show that he is not to be blamed; but so
far from boasting of immunity from the secular forum, rather promises to comply
as far as conscience would permit: he at the same time says, that Maurice had
acted as became a religious prince, in giving these commands to priests.
CHAPTER 12.
OF THE
DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH, AND ITS PRINCIPAL USE IN CENSURES AND
EXCOMMUNICATION.
This chapter consists of two parts:-I. The first
part of ecclesiastical discipline, which respects the people, and is called
common, consists of two parts, the former depending on the power of the keys,
which is considered, sec. 1-14; the latter consisting in the appointment of
times for fasting and prayer, sec. 14-21. II. The second part of ecclesiastical
discipline relating to the clergy, sec. 22-28.
Sections.
1.
Of the power of the keys, or the common discipline of the Church. Necessity and
very great utility of this discipline.
2. Its various degrees. 1.
Private admonition. 2. Rebukes before witnesses. 3. Excommunication.
3.
Different degrees of delinquency. Modes of procedure in both kinds of
chastisement.
4. Delicts to be distinguished from flagitious
wickedness. The last to be more severely punished.
5. Ends of this
discipline. 1. That the wicked may not, by being admitted to the Lord’s
Table, put insult on Christ. 2. That they may not corrupt others. 3. That they
themselves may repent.
6. In what way sins public as well as secret are
to be corrected. Trivial and grave offences.
7. No person, not even the
sovereign, exempted from this discipline. By whom and in what way it ought to be
exercised.
8. In what spirit discipline is to be exercised. In what
respect some of the ancient Christians exercised it too rigorously. This done
more from custom than in accordance with their own sentiments. This shown from
Cyprian, Chrysostom, and Augustine.
9. Moderation to be used, not only
by the whole Church, but by each individual member.
10. Our
Saviour’s words concerning binding and loosing wrested if otherwise
understood. Difference between anathema and excommunication. Anathema rarely if
ever to be used.
11. Excessive rigour to be avoided, as well by private
individuals as by pastors.
12. In this respect the Donatists erred most
grievously, as do also the Anabaptists in the present day. Portraiture by
Augustine.
13. Moderation especially to be used when not a few
individuals, but the great body of the people, have gone astray.
14. A
second part of common discipline relating to fastings, prayer, and other holy
exercises. These used by believers under both dispensations. To what purposes
applied. Of Fasting.
15. Three ends of fasting. The first refers more
especially to private fasting. Second and third ends.
16. Public
fasting and prayer appointed by pastors on any great emergency.
17.
Examples of this under the Law.
18. Fasting consists chiefly in three
things-viz. time, the quality, and sparing use of food.
19. To prevent
superstition, three things to be inculcated. 1. The heart to be rent, not the
garments. 2. Fasting not to be regarded as a meritorious work or kind of divine
worship. 3. Abstinence must not be immoderately extolled.
20. Owing to
an excess of this kind the observance of Lent was established. This
superstitious observance refuted by three arguments. It was indeed used by the
ancients, but on different grounds.
21. Laws afterwards made to
regulate the choice of food. Various abuses even in the time of Jerome.
Practically there is no common ecclesiastical discipline in the Papacy.
22. The second part of discipline having reference to the clergy. What
its nature, and how strict it formerly was. How miserably neglected in the
present day. An example which may suit the Papists.
23. Of the celibacy
of priests, in which Papists place the whole force of ecclesiastical discipline.
This impious tyranny refuted from Scripture. An objection of the Papists
disposed of.
24. An argument for the celibacy of priests
answered.
25. Another argument answered.
26. Another argument
answered.
27. An argument drawn from the commendation of virginity as
superior to marriage. Answer.
28. The subject of celibacy concluded.
This error not favoured by all ancient writers.
1. THE discipline of the
Church, the consideration of which has been deferred till now, must be briefly
explained, that we may be able to pass to other matters. Now discipline depends
in a very great measure on the power of the keys and on spiritual jurisdiction.
That this may be more easily understood, let us divide the Church into two
principal classes-viz. clergy and people. The term clergy I use in the common
acceptation for those who perform a public ministry in the
Church.57[2] We shall speak first of
the common discipline to which all ought to be subject, and then proceed to the
clergy, who have besides that common discipline one peculiar to themselves. But
as some, from hatred of discipline, are averse to the very name, for their sake
we observe,-If no society, nay, no house with even a moderate family, can be
kept in a right state without discipline, much more necessary is it in the
Church, whose state ought to be the best ordered possible. Hence as the saving
doctrine of Christ is the life of the Church, so discipline is, as it were, its
sinews; for to it it is owing that the members of the body adhere together, each
in its own place. Wherefore, all who either wish that discipline were abolished,
or who impede the restoration of it, whether they do this of design or through
thoughtlessness, certainly aim at the complete devastation of the Church. For
what will be the result if every one is allowed to do as he pleases? But this
must happen if to the preaching of the gospel are not added private admonition,
correction, and similar methods of maintaining doctrine, and not allowing it to
become lethargic. Discipline, therefore, is a kind of curb to restrain and tame
those who war against the doctrine of Christ, or it is a kind of stimulus by
which the indifferent are aroused; sometimes, also, it is a kind of fatherly
rod, by which those who have made some more grievous lapse are chastised in
mercy with the meekness of the spirit of Christ. Since, then, we already see
some beginnings of a fearful devastation in the Church from the total want of
care and method in managing the people, necessity itself cries aloud that there
is need of a remedy. Now the only remedy is this which Christ enjoins, and the
pious have always had in use.
2. The first foundation of discipline is
to provide for private admonition; that is, if any one does not do his duty
spontaneously, or behaves insolently, or lives not quite honestly, or commits
something worthy of blame, he must allow himself to be admonished; and every one
must study to admonish his brother when the case requires. Here especially is
there occasion for the vigilance of pastors and presbyters, whose duty is not
only to preach to the people, but to exhort and admonish from house to house,
whenever their hearers have not profited sufficiently by general teaching; as
Paul shows, when he relates that he taught “publicly, and from house to
house,” and testifies that he is “pure from the blood of all
men,” because he had not shunned to declare “all the counsel of
God” (Acts 20:20, 26, 27) Then does doctrine obtain force and authority,
not only when the minister publicly expounds to all what they owe to Christ, but
has the right and means of exacting this from those whom he may observe to be
sluggish or disobedient to his doctrine. Should any one either perversely reject
such admonitions, or by persisting in his faults, show that he contemns them,
the injunction of Christ is, that after he has been a second time admonished
before witnesses, he is to be summoned to the bar of the Church, which is the
consistory of elders, and there admonished more sharply, as by public authority,
that if he reverence the Church he may submit and obey (Mt. 18:15, 17). If even
in this way he is not subdued, but persists in his iniquity, he is then, as a
despiser of the Church, to be debarred from the society of believers.
3.
Put as our Saviour is not there speaking of secret faults merely, we must attend
to the distinction that some sins are private, others public or openly manifest.
Of the former, Christ says to every private individual, “go and tell him
his fault between thee and him alone” (Mt. 18:15). Of open sins Paul says
to Timothy, “Those that sin rebuke before all, that others also may
fear” (1 Tim. 5:20). Our Saviour had previously used the words, “If
thy brother shall trespass against thee” This clause, unless you would be
captious, you cannot understand otherwise than, If this happens in a manner
known to yourself, others not being privy to it. The injunction which Paul
gave to Timothy to rebuke those openly who sin openly, he himself followed with
Peter (Gal. 2:14). For when Peter sinned so as to give public offence, he did
not admonish him apart, but brought him forward in face of the Church. The
legitimate course, therefore, will be to proceed in correcting secret faults by
the steps mentioned by Christ, and in open sins, accompanied with public
scandal, to proceed at once to solemn correction by the Church.
4.
Another distinction to be attended to is, that some sins are mere delinquencies,
others crimes and flagrant iniquities. In correcting the latter, it is necessary
to employ not only admonition or rebuke, but a sharper remedy, as Paul shows
when he not only verbally rebukes the incestuous Corinthian, but punishes him
with excommunication, as soon as he was informed of his crime (1 Cor. 5:4). Now
then we begin better to perceive how the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church,
which animadverts on sins according to the word of the Lord, is at once the best
help to sound doctrine, the best foundation of order, and the best bond of
unity. Therefore, when the Church banishes from its fellowship open adulterers,
fornicators, thieves, robbers, the seditious, the perjured, false witnesses, and
others of that description; likewise the contumacious, who, when duly admonished
for lighter faults, hold God and his tribunal in derision, instead of arrogating
to itself anything that is unreasonable, it exercises a jurisdiction which it
has received from the Lord. Moreover, lest any one should despise the judgment
of the Church, or count it a small matter to be condemned by the suffrages of
the faithful, the Lord has declared that it is nothing else than the
promulgation of his own sentence, and that that which they do on earth is
ratified in heaven. For they act by the word of the Lord in condemning the
perverse, and by the word of the Lord in taking the penitent back into favour
(John 20:23). Those, I say, who trust that churches can long stand without this
bond of discipline are mistaken, unless, indeed, we can with impunity dispense
with a help which the Lord foresaw would be necessary. And, indeed, the
greatness of the necessity will be better perceived by its manifold uses.
5. There are three ends to which the Church has respect in thus
correcting and excommunicating. The first is, that God may not be insulted by
the name of Christians being given to those who lead shameful and flagitious
lives, as if his holy Church were a combination of the wicked and abandoned. For
seeing that the Church is the body of Christ, she cannot be defiled by such
fetid and putrid members, without bringing some disgrace on her Head. Therefore
that there may be nothing in the Church to bring disgrace on his sacred name,
those whose turpitude might throw infamy on the name must be expelled from his
family. And here, also, regard must be had to the Lord’s Supper, which
might he profaned by a promiscuous
admission.57[3] For it is most true,
that he who is intrusted with the dispensation of it, if he knowingly and
willingly admits any unworthy person whom he ought and is able to repel, is as
guilty of sacrilege as if he had cast the Lord’s body to dogs. Wherefore,
Chrysostom bitterly inveighs against priests, who, from fear of the great, dare
not keep any one back. “Blood (says he, Hom. 83, in Mt.) will be required
at your hands. If you fear man, he will mock you, but if you fear God, you will
be respected also by men. Let us not tremble at fasces, purple, or diadems; our
power here is greater. Assuredly I will sooner give up my body to death, and
allow my blood to be shed, than be a partaker of that pollution.”
Therefore, lest this most sacred mystery should be exposed to ignominy, great
selection is required in dispensing it, and this cannot be except by the
jurisdiction of the Church. A second end of discipline is, that the good may
not, as usually happens, be corrupted by constant communication with the wicked.
For such is our proneness to go astray, that nothing is easier than to seduce us
from the right course by bad example. To this use of discipline the apostle
referred when he commanded the Corinthians to discard the incestuous man from
their society. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor.
5:6) And so much danger did he foresee here, that he prohibited them from
keeping company with such persons. “If any man that is called a brother be
a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an
extortioner; with such an one, no not to eat” (1 Cor. 5:11). A third end
of discipline is, that the sinner may be ashamed, and begin to repent of his
turpitude. Hence it is for their interest also that their iniquity should be
chastised, that whereas they would have become more obstinate by indulgence,
they may be aroused by the rod. This the apostle intimates when he thus writes
-”If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no
company with him, that he may be ashamed” (2 Thess. 3:14). Again, when he
says that he had delivered the Corinthian to Satan, “that the spirit may
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:5); that is, as I
interpret it, he gave him over to temporal condemnation, that he might be made
safe for eternity. And he says that he gave him over to Satan because the devil
is without the Church, as Christ is in the Church. Some interpret this of a
certain infliction on the flesh, but this interpretation seems to me most
improbable. (August. de Verb. Apostol. Serm. 68)
6. These being the ends
proposed, it remains to see in what way the Church is to execute this part of
discipline, which consists in jurisdiction. And, first, let us remember the
division above laid down, that some sins are public, others private or secret.
Public are those which are done not before one or two witnesses, but openly, and
to the offence of the whole Church. By secret, I mean not such as are altogether
concealed from men, such as those of hypocrites (for these fall not under the
judgment of the Church), but those of an intermediate description, which are not
without witnesses, and yet are not public. The former class requires not the
different steps which Christ enumerates; but whenever anything of the kind
occurs, the Church ought to do her duty by summoning the offender, and
correcting him according to his fault. In the second class, the matter comes not
before the Church, unless there is contumacy, according to the rule of Christ.
In taking cognisance of offences, it is necessary to attend to the distinction
between delinquencies and flagrant iniquities. In lighter offences there is not
so much occasion for severity, but verbal chastisement is sufficient, and that
gentle and fatherly, so as not to exasperate or confound the offender, but to
bring him back to himself, so that he may rather rejoice than be grieved at the
correction. Flagrant iniquities require a sharper remedy. It is not sufficient
verbally to rebuke him who, by some open act of evil example, has grievously
offended the Church; but he ought for a time to be denied the communion of the
Supper, until he gives proof of repentance. Paul does not merely administer a
verbal rebuke to the Corinthian, but discards him from the Church, and
reprimands the Corinthians for having borne with him so long (1 Cor. 5:5). This
was the method observed by the ancient and purer Church, when legitimate
government was in vigour. When any one was guilty of some flagrant iniquity, and
thereby caused scandal, he was first ordered to abstain from participation in
the sacred Supper, and thereafter to humble himself before God, and testify his
penitence before the Church. There were, moreover, solemn rites, which, as
indications of repentance, were wont to be prescribed to those who had lapsed.
When the penitent had thus made satisfaction to the Church, he was received into
favour by the laying on of hands. This admission often receives the name of
peace from Cyprian, who briefly describes the
form.57[4] “They act as
penitents for a certain time, next they come to confession, and receive the
right of communion by the laying on of hands of the bishop and clergy.”
Although the bishop with the clergy thus superintended the restoration of the
penitent, the consent of the people was at the same time required, as he
elsewhere explains.
7. So far was any one from being exempted from this
discipline, that even princes submitted to it in common with their subjects; and
justly, since it is the discipline of Christ, to whom all sceptres and diadems
should be subject. Thus
Theodosius,57[5] when excommunicated
by Ambrose, because of the slaughter perpetrated at Thessalonica, laid aside all
the royal insignia with which he was surrounded, and publicly in the Church
bewailed the sin into which he had been betrayed by the fraud of others, with
groans and tears imploring pardon. Great kings should not think it a disgrace to
them to prostrate themselves suppliantly before Christ, the King of kings; nor
ought they to be displeased at being judged by the Church. For seeing they
seldom hear anything in their courts but mere flattery, the more necessary is it
that the Lord should correct them by the mouth of his priests. Nay, they ought
rather to wish the priests not to spare them, in order that the Lord may spare.
I here say nothing as to those by whom the jurisdiction ought to be exercised,
because it has been said elsewhere (Chap. 11 sec. 5, 6). I only add, that the
legitimate course to be taken in excommunication, as shown by Paul, is not for
the elders alone to act apart from others, but with the knowledge and
approbation of the Church, so that the body of the people, without regulating
the procedure, may, as witnesses and guardians, observe it, and prevent the few
from doing anything capriciously. Throughout the whole procedure, in addition to
invocation of the name of God, there should be a gravity bespeaking the presence
of Christ, and leaving no room to doubt that he is presiding over his own
tribunal.
8. It ought not, however, to be omitted, that the Church, in
exercising severity, ought to accompany it with the spirit of meekness. For, as
Paul enjoins, we must always take care that he on whom discipline is exercised
be not “swallowed up with overmuch sorrow” (2 Cor. 2:7): for in this
way, instead of cure there would be destruction. The rule of moderation will be
best obtained from the end contemplated. For the object of excommunication being
to bring the sinner to repentance and remove bad examples, in order that the
name of Christ may not be evil spoken of, nor others tempted to the same evil
courses: if we consider this, we shall easily understand how far severity should
be carried, and at what point it ought to cease. Therefore, when the sinner
gives the Church evidence of his repentance, and by this evidence does what in
him lies to obliterate the offence, he ought not on any account to be urged
farther. If he is urged, the rigour now exceeds due measure. In this respect it
is impossible to excuse the excessive austerity of the ancients, which was
altogether at variance with the injunction of our Lord, and strangely perilous.
For when they enjoined a formal repentance, and excluded from communion for
three, or four, or seven years, or for life, what could the result be, but
either great hypocrisy or very great despair? In like manner, when any one who
had again lapsed was not admitted to a second repentance, but ejected from the
Church, to the end of his life (August. Ep. 54), this was neither useful nor
agreeable to reason. Whosoever, therefore, looks at the matter with sound
judgment, will here regret a want of prudence. Here, however, I rather
disapprove of the public custom, than blame those who complied with it. Some of
them certainly disapproved of it, but submitted to what they were unable to
correct. Cyprian, indeed, declares that it was not with his own will he was thus
rigorous. “Our patience, facility, and humanity (he says, Lib. 1 Ep. 3),
are ready to all who come. I wish all to be brought back into the Church: I wish
all our fellow-soldiers to be contained within the camp of Christ and the
mansions of God the Father. I forgive all; I disguise much; from an earnest
desire of collecting the brotherhood, I do not minutely scrutinise all the
faults which have been committed against God. I myself often err, by forgiving
offences more than I ought. Those returning in repentance, and those confessing
their sins with simple and humble satisfaction, I embrace with prompt and full
delight.” Chrysostom, who is somewhat more severe, still speaks thus:
“If God is so kind, why should his priest wish to appear austere?”
We know, moreover, how indulgently Augustine treated the Donatists; not
hesitating to admit any who returned from schism to their bishopric, as soon as
they declared their repentance. But, as a contrary method had prevailed, they
were compelled to follow it, and give up their own judgment.
9. But as
the whole body of the Church are required to act thus mildly, and not to carry
their rigour against those who have lapsed to an extreme, but rather to act
charitably towards them, according to the precept of Paul, so every private
individual ought proportionately to accommodate himself to this clemency and
humanity. Such as have, therefore, been expelled from the Church, it belongs not
to us to expunge from the number of the elect, or to despair of, as if they were
already lost. We may lawfully judge them aliens from the Church, and so aliens
from Christ, but only during the time of their excommunication. If then, also,
they give greater evidence of petulance than of humility, still let us commit
them to the judgment of the Lord, hoping better of them in future than we see at
present, and not ceasing to pray to God for them. And (to sum up in one word)
let us not consign to destruction their person, which is in the hand, and
subject to the decision, of the Lord alone; but let us merely estimate the
character of each man’s acts according to the law of the Lord. In
following this rule, we abide by the divine judgment rather than give any
judgment of our own. Let us not arrogate to ourselves greater liberty in
judging, if we would not limit the power of God, and give the law to his mercy.
Whenever it seems good to Him, the worst are changed into the best; aliens are
ingrafted, and strangers are adopted into the Church. This the Lord does, that
he may disappoint the thoughts of men, and confound their rashness; a rashness
which, if not curbed, would usurp a power of judging to which it has no title.
10. For when our Saviour promises that what his servants bound on earth
should be bound in heaven (Mt. 18:18), he confines the power of binding to the
censure of the Church, which does not consign those who are excommunicated to
perpetual ruin and damnation, but assures them, when they hear their life and
manners condemned, that perpetual damnation will follow if they do not repent.
Excommunication differs from anathema in this, that the latter completely
excluding pardon, dooms and devotes the individual to eternal destruction,
whereas the former rather rebukes and animadverts upon his manners; and although
it also punishes, it is to bring him to salvation, by forewarning him of his
future doom. If it succeeds, reconciliation and restoration to communion are
ready to be given. Moreover, anathema is rarely if ever to be used. Hence,
though ecclesiastical discipline does not allow us to be on familiar and
intimate terms with excommunicated persons, still we ought to strive by all
possible means to bring them to a better mind, and recover them to the
fellowship and unity of the Church: as the apostle also says, “Yet count
him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (2 Thess. 3:15). If
this humanity be not observed in private as well as public, the danger is, that
our discipline shall degenerate into
destruction.57[6]
11.
Another special requisite to moderation of discipline is, as Augustine
discourses against the Donatists, that private individuals must not, when they
see vices less carefully corrected by the Council of Elders, immediately
separate themselves from the Church; nor must pastors themselves, when unable to
reform all things which need correction to the extent which they could wish,
cast up their ministry, or by unwonted severity throw the whole Church into
confusion. What Augustine says is perfectly true: “Whoever corrects what
he can, by rebuking it, or without violating the bond of peace, excludes what he
cannot correct, or unjustly condemns while he patiently tolerates what he is
unable to exclude without violating the bond of peace, is free and exempted from
the curse” (August. contra Parmen. Lib. 2 c. 4). He elsewhere gives the
reason. “Every pious reason and mode of ecclesiastical discipline ought
always to have regard to the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This the
apostle commands us to keep by bearing mutually with each other. If it is not
kept, the medicine of discipline begins to be not only superfluous, but even
pernicious, and therefore ceases to be medicine” (Ibid. Lib. 3 c. 1).
“He who diligently considers these things, neither in the preservation of
unity neglects strictness of discipline, nor by intemperate correction bursts
the bond of society” (Ibid. cap. 2). He confesses, indeed, that pastors
ought not only to exert themselves in removing every defect from the Church, but
that every individual ought to his utmost to do so; nor does he disguise the
fact, that he who neglects to admonish, accuse, and correct the bad, although he
neither favours them, nor sins with them, is guilty before the Lord; and if he
conducts himself so that though he can exclude them from partaking of the
Supper, he does it not, then the sin is no longer that of other men, but his
own. Only he would have that prudence used which our Lord also requires,
“lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with
them” (Mt. 13:29). Hence he infers from Cyprian, “Let a man then
mercifully correct what he can; what he cannot correct, let him bear patiently,
and in love bewail and lament.”
12. This he says on account of the
moroseness of the Donatists, who, when they saw faults in the Church which the
bishops indeed rebuked verbally, but did not punish with excommunication
(because they did not think that anything would be gained in this way), bitterly
inveighed against the bishops as traitors to discipline, and by an impious
schism separated themselves from the flock of Christ. Similar, in the present
day, is the conduct of the Anabaptists, who, acknowledging no assembly of Christ
unless conspicuous in all respects for angelic perfection, under pretence of
zeal overthrow everything which tends to
edification.57[7] “Such (says
Augustin. contra Parmen. Lib. 3 c. 4), not from hatred of other men’s
iniquity, but zeal for their own disputes, ensnaring the weak by the credit of
their name, attempt to draw them entirely away, or at least to separate them;
swollen with pride, raving with petulance, insidious in calumny, turbulent in
sedition. That it may not be seen how void they are of the light of truth, they
cover themselves with the shadow of a stern severity: the correction of a
brother’s fault, which in Scripture is enjoined to be done with
moderation, without impairing the sincerity of love or breaking the bond of
peace, they pervert to sacrilegious schism and purposes of excision. Thus Satan
transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) when, under pretext of
a just severity, he persuades to savage cruelty, desiring nothing more than to
violate and burst the bond of unity and peace; because, when it is maintained,
all his power of mischief is feeble, his wily traps are broken, and his schemes
of subversion vanish.”
13. One thing Augustine specially
commends-viz. that if the contagion of sin has seized the multitude, mercy must
accompany living discipline. “For counsels of separation are vain,
sacrilegious, and pernicious, because impious and proud, and do more to disturb
the weak good than to correct the wicked proud” (August. Ep. 64). This
which he enjoins on others he himself faithfully practiced. For, writing to
Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, he complains that drunkenness, which is so
severely condemned in Scripture, prevails in Africa with impunity, and advises a
council of bishops to be called for the purpose of providing a remedy. He
immediately adds, “In my opinion, such things are not removed by rough,
harsh, and imperious measures, but more by teaching than commanding, more by
admonishing than threatening. For thus ought we to act with a multitude of
offenders. Severity is to be exercised against the sins of a few” (August.
Ep. 64). He does not mean, however, that the bishops were to wink or be silent
because they are unable to punish public offences severely, as he himself
afterwards explains. But he wishes to temper the mode of correction, so as to
give soundness to the body rather than cause destruction. And, accordingly, he
thus concludes: “Wherefore, we must on no account neglect the injunction
of the apostle, to separate from the wicked, when it can be done without the
risk of violating peace, because he did not wish it to be done otherwise (1 Cor.
5:13); we must also endeavour, by bearing with each other, to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2).
14. The remaining
part of discipline, which is not, strictly speaking, included in the power of
the keys, is when pastors, according to the necessity of the times, exhort the
people either to fasting and solemn prayer, or to other exercises of
humiliation, repentance, and faith, the time, mode, and form of these not being
prescribed by the Word of God, but left to the judgment of the Church. As the
observance of this part of discipline is useful, so it was always used in the
Church, even from the days of the apostles. Indeed, the apostles themselves were
not its first authors, but borrowed the example from the Law and Prophets. For
we there see,57[8] that as often as
any weighty matter occurred the people were assembled, and supplication and
fasting appointed. In this, therefore, the apostles followed a course which was
not new to the people of God, and which they foresaw would be useful. A similar
account is to be given of the other exercises by which the people may either be
aroused to duty, or kept in duty and obedience. We everywhere meet with examples
in Sacred History, and it is unnecessary to collect them. In general, we must
hold that whenever any religious controversy arises, which either a council or
ecclesiastical tribunal behoves to
decide;57[9] whenever a minister is
to be chosen; whenever, in short, any matter of difficulty and great importance
is under consideration: on the other hand, when manifestations of the divine
anger appear, as pestilence, war, and famine, the sacred and salutary custom of
all ages has been for pastors to exhort the people to public fasting and
extraordinary prayer. Should any one refuse to admit the passages which are
adduced from the Old Testament, as being less applicable to the Christian
Church, it is clear that the apostles also acted thus; although, in regard to
prayer, I scarcely think any one will be found to stir the question. Let us,
therefore, make some observations on fasting, since very many, not understanding
what utility there can be in it, judge it not to be very necessary, while others
reject it altogether as superfluous. Where its use is not well known it is easy
to fall into superstition.
15. A holy and lawful fast has three ends in
view. We use it either to mortify and subdue the flesh, that it may not wanton,
or to prepare the better for prayer and holy meditation; or to give evidence of
humbling ourselves before God, when we would confess our guilt before him. The
first end is not very often regarded in public fasting, because all have not the
same bodily constitution, nor the same state of health, and hence it is more
applicable to private fasting. The second end is common to both, for this
preparation for prayer is requisite for the whole Church, as well as for each
individual member. The same thing may be said of the third. For it sometimes
happens that God smites a nation with war or pestilence, or some kind of
calamity. In this common chastisement it behoves the whole people to plead
guilty, and confess their guilt. Should the hand of the Lord strike any one in
private, then the same thing is to be done by himself alone, or by his family.
The thing, indeed, is properly a feeling of the mind. But when the mind is
effected as it ought, it cannot but give vent to itself in external
manifestation, especially when it tends to the common edification, that all, by
openly confessing their sin, may render praise to the divine justice, and by
their example mutually encourage each other.
16. Hence fasting, as it is
a sign of humiliation, has a more frequent use in public than among private
individuals, although as we have said, it is common to both. In regard, then, to
the discipline of which we now treat, whenever supplication is to be made to God
on any important occasion, it is befitting to appoint a period for fasting and
prayer. Thus when the Christians of Antioch laid hands on Barnabas and Paul,
that they might the better recommend their ministry, which was of so great
importance, they joined fasting and prayer (Acts 13:3). Thus these two apostles
afterwards, when they appointed ministers to churches, were wont to use prayer
and fasting (Acts 14:23). In general, the only object which they had in fasting
was to render themselves more alert and disencumbered for prayer. We certainly
experience that after a full meal the mind does not so rise toward God as to be
borne along by an earnest and fervent longing for prayer, and perseverance in
prayer. In this sense is to be understood the saying of Luke concerning Anna,
that she “served God with fastings and prayers, night and day” (Luke
2:37). For he does not place the worship of God in fasting, but intimates that
in this way the holy woman trained herself to assiduity in prayer. Such was the
fast of Nehemiah, when with more intense zeal he prayed to God for the
deliverance of his people (Neh. 1:4). For this reason Paul says, that married
believers do well to abstain for a season (1 Cor. 7:5), that they may have
greater freedom for prayer and fasting, when by joining prayer to fasting, by
way of help, he reminds us it is of no importance in itself, save in so far as
it refers to this end. Again, when in the same place he enjoins spouses to
render due benevolence to each other, it is clear that he is not referring to
daily prayer, but prayers which require more than ordinary attention.
17. On the other hand, when pestilence begins to stalk abroad, or famine
or war, or when any other disaster seems to impend over a province and people
(Esther 4:16), then also it is the duty of pastors to exhort the Church to
fasting, that she may suppliantly deprecate the Lord’s anger. For when he
makes danger appear, he declares that he is prepared and in a manner armed for
vengeance. In like manner, therefore, as persons accused were anciently wont, in
order to excite the commiseration of the judge, to humble themselves suppliantly
with long beard, dishevelled hair, and coarse garments, so when we are charged
before the divine tribunal, to deprecate his severity in humble raiment is
equally for his glory and the public edification, and useful and salutary to
ourselves. And that this was common among the Israelites we may infer from the
words of Joel. For when he says, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a
fast, call a solemn assembly,” &c. (Joel 2:15), he speaks as of things
received by common custom. A little before he had said that the people were to
be tried for their wickedness, and that the day of judgment was at hand, and he
had summoned them as criminals to plead their cause: then he exclaims that they
should hasten to sackcloth and ashes, to weeping and fasting; that is, humble
themselves before God with external manifestations. The sackcloth and ashes,
indeed, were perhaps more suitable for those times, but the assembly, and
weeping and fasting, and the like, undoubtedly belong, in an equal degree, to
our age, whenever the condition of our affairs so requires. For seeing it is a
holy exercise both for men to humble themselves, and confess their humility, why
should we in similar necessity use this less than did those of old? We read not
only that the Israelitish Church, formed and constituted by the word of God,
fasted in token of sadness, but the Ninevites also, whose only teaching had been
the preaching of Jonah.58[0] Why,
therefore, should not we do the same? But it is an external ceremony, which,
like other ceremonies, terminated in Christ. Nay, in the present day it is an
admirable help to believers, as it always was, and a useful admonition to arouse
them, lest by too great security and sloth they provoke the Lord more and more
when they are chastened by his rod. Accordingly, when our Saviour excuses his
apostles for not fasting, he does not say that fasting was abrogated, but
reserves it for calamitous times, and conjoins it with mourning. “The days
will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them” (Mt. 9:35; Luke
5:34).
18. But that there maybe no error in the name, let us define what
fasting is; for we do not understand by it simply a restrained and sparing use
of food, but something else. The life of the pious should be tempered with
frugality and sobriety, so as to exhibit, as much as may be, a kind of fasting
during the whole course of life. But there is another temporary fast, when we
retrench somewhat from our accustomed mode of living, either for one day or a
certain period, and prescribe to ourselves a stricter and severer restraint in
the use of that ordinary food. This consists in three things-viz. the time, the
quality of food, and the sparing use of it. By the time I mean, that while
fasting we are to perform those actions for the sake of which the fast is
instituted. For example, when a man fasts because of solemn prayer, he should
engage in it without having taken food. The quality consists in putting all
luxury aside, and, being contented with common and meaner food, so as not to
excite our palate by dainties. In regard to quantity, we must eat more lightly
and sparingly, only for necessity and not for pleasure.
19. But the
first thing always to be avoided is, the encroachment of superstition, as
formerly happened, to the great injury of the Church. It would have been much
better to have had no fasting at all, than have it carefully observed, but at
the same time corrupted by false and pernicious opinions, into which the world
is ever and anon falling, unless pastors obviate them by the greatest fidelity
and prudence. The first thing is constantly to urge the injunction of Joel,
“Rend your heart, and not your garments” (Joel 2:13); that is, to
remind the people that fasting in itself is not of great value in the sight of
God, unless accompanied with internal affection of the heart, true
dissatisfaction with sin and with one’s self, true humiliation, and true
grief, from the fear of God; nay, that fasting is useful for no other reason
than because it is added to these as an inferior help. There is nothing which
God more abominates than when men endeavour to cloak themselves by substituting
signs and external appearance for integrity of heart. Accordingly, Isaiah
inveighs most bitterly against the hypocrisy of the Jews, in thinking that they
had satisfied God when they had merely fasted, whatever might be the impiety and
impure thoughts which they cherished in their hearts. “Is it such a fast
that I have chosen?” (Isa. 58:5) See also what follows. The fast of
hypocrites is, therefore, not only useless and superfluous fatigue, but the
greatest abomination. Another evil akin to this, and greatly to be avoided, is,
to regard fasting as a meritorious work and species of divine worship. For
seeing it is a thing which is in itself indifferent, and has no importance
except on account of those ends to which it ought to have respect, it is a most
pernicious superstition to confound it with the works enjoined by God, and which
are necessary in themselves without reference to anything else. Such was
anciently the dream of the Manichees, in refuting whom Augustine clearly
shows,58[1] that fasting is to be
estimated entirely by those ends which I have mentioned, and cannot be approved
by God, unless in so far as it refers to them. Another error, not indeed so
impious, but perilous, is to exact it with greater strictness and severity as
one of the principal duties, and extol it with such extravagant encomiums as to
make men imagine that they have done something admirable when they have fasted.
In this respect I dare not entirely excuse ancient
writers58[2] from having sown some
seeds of superstition, and given occasion to the tyranny which afterwards arose.
We sometimes meet with sound and prudent sentiments on fasting, but we also ever
and anon meet with extravagant praises, lauding it as one of the cardinal
virtues.
20. Then the superstitious observance of Lent had everywhere
prevailed: for both the vulgar imagined that they thereby perform some excellent
service to God, and pastors commended it as a holy imitation of Christ; though
it is plain that Christ did not fast to set an example to others, but, by thus
commencing the preaching of the gospel, meant to prove that his doctrine was not
of men, but had come from heaven. And it is strange how men of acute judgment
could fall into this gross delusion, which so many clear reasons refute: for
Christ did not fast repeatedly (which he must have done had he meant to lay down
a law for an anniversary fast), but once only, when preparing for the
promulgation of the gospel. Nor does he fast after the manner of men, as he
would have done had he meant to invite men to imitation; he rather gives an
example, by which he may raise all to admire rather than study to imitate him.
In short, the nature of his fast is not different from that which Moses observed
when he received the law at the hand of the Lord (Exod. 24:18; 34:28). For,
seeing that that miracle was performed in Moses to establish the law, it behoved
not to be omitted in Christ, lest the gospel should seem inferior to the law.
But from that day, it never occurred to any one, under pretence of imitating
Moses, to set up a similar form of fast among the Israelites. Nor did any of the
holy prophets and fathers follow it, though they had inclination and zeal enough
for all pious exercises; for though it is said of Elijah that he passed forty
days without meat and drink (1 Kings 19:8), this was merely in order that the
people might recognise that he was raised up to maintain the law, from which
almost the whole of Israel had revolted. It was therefore merely false zeal,
replete with superstition, which set up a fast under the title and pretext of
imitating Christ; although there was then a strange diversity in the mode of the
fast, as is related by Cassiodorus in the ninth book of the History of Socrates:
“The Romans,” says he, “had only three weeks, but their fast
was continuous, except on the Lord’s day and the Sabbath. The Greeks and
Illyrians had, some six, others seven, but the fast was at intervals. Nor did
they differ less in the kind of food: some used only bread and water, others
added vegetables; others had no objection to fish and fowls; others made no
difference in their food.” Augustine also makes mention of this difference
in his latter epistle to Januarius.
21. Worse times followed. To the
absurd zeal of the vulgar were added rudeness and ignorance in the bishops, lust
of power, and tyrannical rigour. Impious laws were passed, binding the
conscience in deadly chains. The eating of flesh was forbidden, as if a man were
contaminated by it. Sacrilegious opinions were added, one after another, until
all became an abyss of error. And that no kind of depravity might be omitted,
they began, under a most absurd pretence of abstinence, to make a mock of
God;58[3]
[1] for in the most exquisite delicacies
they seek the praise of fasting: no dainties now suffice; never was there
greater abundance or variety or savouriness of food. In this splendid display
they think that they serve God. I do not mention that at no time do those who
would be thought the holiest of them wallow more foully. In short, the highest
worship of God is to abstain from flesh, and, with this reservation, to indulge
in delicacies of every kind. On the other hand, it is the greatest impiety,
impiety scarcely to be expiated by death, for any one to taste the smallest
portion of bacon or rancid flesh with his bread. Jerome, writing to Nepotian,
relates, that even in his day there were some who mocked God with such follies:
those who would not even put oil in their food caused the greatest delicacies to
be procured from every quarter; nay, that they might do violence to nature,
abstained from drinking water, and caused sweet and costly potions to be made
for them, which they drank, not out of a cup, but a shell. What was then the
fault of a few is now common among all the rich: they do not fast for any other
purpose than to feast more richly and luxuriously. But I am unwilling to waste
many words on a subject as to which there can be no doubt. All I say is, that,
as well in fasts as in all other parts of discipline, the Papists are so far
from having anything right, anything sincere, anything duly framed and ordered,
that they have no occasion to plume themselves as if anything was left them that
is worthy of praise.
22. We come now to the second part of discipline,
which relates specially to the clergy. It is contained in the canons, which the
ancient bishops framed for themselves and their order: for instance, let no
clergyman spend his time in hunting, in gaming, or in feasting; let none engage
in usury or in trade; let none be present at lascivious dances, and the like.
Penalties also were added to give a sanction to the authority of the canons,
that none might violate them with impunity. With this view, each bishop was
intrusted with the superintendence of his own clergy, that he might govern them
according to the canons, and keep them to their duty. For this purpose, certain
annual visitations and synods were appointed, that if any one was negligent in
his office he might be admonished; if any one sinned, he might be punished
according to his fault. The bishops also had their provincial synods once,
anciently twice, a-year, by which they were tried, if they had done anything
contrary to their duty. For if any bishop had been too harsh or violent with his
clergy, there was an appeal to the synod, though only one individual complained.
The severest punishment was deposition from office, and exclusion, for a time,
from communion. But as this was the uniform arrangement, no synod rose without
fixing the time and place of the next meeting. To call a universal council
belonged to the emperor alone, as all the ancient summonings testify. As long as
this strictness was in force, the clergy demanded no more in word from the
people than they performed in act and by example; nay, they were more strict
against themselves than the vulgar; and, indeed, it is becoming that the people
should be ruled by a kindlier, and, if I may so speak, laxer discipline; that
the clergy should be stricter in their censures, and less indulgent to
themselves than to others. How this whole procedure became obsolete it is
needless to relate, since, in the present day, nothing can be imagined more
lawless and dissolute than this order, whose licentiousness is so extreme that
the whole world is crying out. I admit that, in order not to seem to have lost
all sight of antiquity, they, by certain shadows, deceive the eyes of the
simple; but these no more resemble ancient customs than the mimicry of an ape
resembles what men do by reason and counsel. There is a memorable passage in
Xenophon, in which he mentions, that when the Persians had shamefully
degenerated from the customs of their ancestors, and had fallen away from an
austere mode of life to luxury and effeminacy, they still, to hide the disgrace,
were sedulously observant of ancient rites (Cyrop. Lib. 8). For while, in the
time of Cyrus, sobriety and temperance so flourished that no Persian required to
wipe his nose, and it was even deemed disgraceful to do so, it remained with
their posterity, as a point of religion, not to remove the mucus from the
nostril, though they were allowed to nourish within, even to putridity, those
fetid humours which they had contracted by gluttony. In like manner, according
to the ancient custom, it was unlawful to use cups at table; but it was quite
tolerable to swallow wine so as to make it necessary to be carried off drunk. It
was enjoined to use only one meal a-day: this these good successors did not
abrograte, but they continued their surfeit from mid-day to midnight. To finish
the day’s march, fasting, as the law enjoined it, was the uniform custom;
but in order to avoid lassitude, the allowed and usual custom was to limit the
march to two hours. As often as the degenerate Papists obtrude their rules that
they may show their resemblance to the holy fathers, this example will serve to
expose their ridiculous imitation. Indeed, no painter could paint them more to
the life.
23. In one thing they are more than rigid and inexorable-in
not permitting priests to marry. It is of no consequence to mention with what
impunity whoredom prevails among them, and how, trusting to their vile celibacy,
they have become callous to all kinds of iniquity. The prohibition, however,
clearly shows how pestiferous all traditions are, since this one has not only
deprived the Church of fit and honest pastors, but has introduced a fearful sink
of iniquity, and plunged many souls into the gulf of despair. Certainly, when
marriage was interdicted to priests, it was done with impious tyranny, not only
contrary to the word of God, but contrary to all justice. First, men had no
title whatever to forbid what God had left free; secondly, it is too clear to
make it necessary to give any lengthened proof that God has expressly provided
in his Word that this liberty shall not be infringed. I omit Paul’s
injunction, in numerous passages, that a bishop be the husband of one wife; but
what could be stronger than his declaration, that in the latter days there would
be impious men “forbidding to marry”? (1 Tim. 4:3) Such persons he
calls not only impostors, but devils. We have therefore a prophecy, a sacred
oracle of the Holy Spirit, intended to warn the Church from the outset against
perils, and declaring that the prohibition of marriage is a doctrine of devils.
They think that they get finely off when they wrest this passage, and apply it
to Montanus, the Tatians, the Encratites, and other ancient heretics. These
(they say) alone condemned marriage; we by no means condemn it, but only deny it
to the ecclesiastical order, in whom we think it not befitting. As if, even
granting that this prophecy was primarily fulfilled in those heretics, it is not
applicable also to themselves; or, as if one could listen to the childish
quibble that they do not forbid marriage, because they do not forbid it to all.
This is just as if a tyrant were to contend that a law is not unjust because its
injustice presses only on a part of the state.
24. They object that
there ought to be some distinguishing mark between the clergy and the people; as
if the Lord had not provided the ornaments in which priests ought to excel. Thus
they charge the apostle with having disturbed the ecclesiastical order, and
destroyed its ornament, when, in drawing the picture of a perfect bishop, he
presumed to set down marriage among the other endowments which he required of
them. I am aware of the mode in which they expound this-viz. that no one was to
be appointed a bishop who had a second wife. This interpretation, I admit, is
not new; but its unsoundness is plain from the immediate context, which
prescribes the kind of wives whom bishops and deacons ought to have. Paul
enumerates marriage among the qualities of a bishop; those men declare that, in
the ecclesiastical order, marriage is an intolerable vice; and, indeed, not
content with this general vituperation, they term it, in their canons, the
uncleanness and pollution of the flesh (Siric. ad Episc. Hispaniar.). Let every
one consider with himself from what forge these things have come. Christ deigns
so to honour marriage as to make it an image of his sacred union with the
Church. What greater eulogy could be pronounced on the dignity of marriage? How,
then, dare they have the effrontery to give the name of unclean and polluted to
that which furnishes a bright representation of the spiritual grace of Christ?
25. Though their prohibition is thus clearly repugnant to the word of
God, they, however, find something in the Scriptures to defend it. The Levitical
priests, as often as their ministerial course returned, behoved to keep apart
from their wives, that they might be pure and immaculate in handling sacred
things; and it were therefore very indecorous that our sacred things, which are
more noble, and are ministered every day, should be handled by those who are
married: as if the evangelical ministry were of the same character as the
Levitical priesthood. These, as types, represented Christ, who, as Mediator
between God and men, was, by his own spotless purity, to reconcile us to the
Father. But as sinners could not in every respect exhibit a type of his
holiness, that they might, however, shadow it forth by certain lineaments, they
were enjoined to purify themselves beyond the manner of men when they approached
the sanctuary, inasmuch as they then properly prefigured Christ appearing in the
tabernacle, an image of the heavenly tribunal, as pacificators, to reconcile men
to God. As ecclesiastical pastors do not sustain this character in the present
day, the comparison is made in vain. Wherefore the apostle declares distinctly,
without reservation, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed
undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4).
And the apostles showed, by their own example, that marriage is not unbefitting
the holiness of any function, however excellent; for Paul declares, that they
not only retained their wives, but led them about with them (1 Cor. 9:5).
26. Then how great the effrontery when, in holding forth this ornament
of chastity as a matter of necessity, they throw the greatest obloquy on the
primitive Church, which, while it abounded in admirable divine erudition,
excelled more in holiness. For if they pay no regard to the apostles (they are
sometimes wont strenuously to contemn them), what, I ask, will they make of all
the ancient fathers, who, it is certain, not only tolerated marriage in the
episcopal order, but also approved it? They, forsooth, encouraged a foul
profanation of sacred things when the mysteries of the Lord were thus
irregularly performed by them. In the Council of Nice, indeed, there was some
question of proclaiming celibacy: as there are never wanting little men of
superstitious minds, who are always devising some novelty as a means of gaining
admiration for themselves. What was resolved? The opinion of Paphnutius was
adopted, who pronounced legitimate conjugal intercourse to be chastity (Hist.
Trip. Lib. 2 c. 14). The marriage of priests, therefore, continued sacred, and
was neither regarded as a disgrace, nor thought to cast any stain on their
ministry.
27. In the times which succeeded, a too superstitious
admiration of celibacy prevailed. Hence, ever and anon, unmeasured encomiums
were pronounced on virginity, so that it became the vulgar belief that scarcely
any virtue was to be compared to it. And although marriage was not condemned as
impurity, yet its dignity was lessened, and its sanctity obscured; so that he
who did not refrain from it was deemed not to have a mind strong enough to
aspire to perfection. Hence those canons which enacted, first, that those who
had attained the priesthood should not contract marriage; and, secondly, that
none should be admitted to that order but the unmarried, or those who, with the
consent of their wives, renounced the marriage-bed. These enactments, as they
seemed to procure reverence for the priesthood, were, I admit, received even in
ancient times with great applause. But if my opponents plead antiquity, my first
answer is, that both under the apostles, and for several ages after, bishops
were at liberty to have wives: that the apostles themselves, and other pastors
of primitive authority who succeeded them, had no difficulty in using this
liberty, and that the example of the primitive Church ought justly to have more
weight than allow us to think that what was then received and used with
commendation is either illicit or unbecoming. My second answer is, that the age,
which, from an immoderate affection for virginity, began to be less favourable
to marriage, did not bind a law of celibacy on the priests, as if the thing were
necessary in itself, but gave a preference to the unmarried over the married. My
last answer is, that they did not exact this so rigidly as to make continence
necessary and compulsory on those who were unfit for it. For while the strictest
laws were made against fornication, it was only enacted with regard to those who
contracted marriage that they should be superseded in their office.
28.
Therefore, as often as the defenders of this new tyranny appeal to antiquity in
defence of their celibacy, so often should we call upon them to restore the
ancient chastity of their priests, to put away adulterers and whoremongers, not
to allow those whom they deny an honourable and chaste use of marriage, to rush
with impunity into every kind of lust, to bring back that obsolete discipline by
which all licentiousness is restrained, and free the Church from the flagitious
turpitude by which it has long been deformed. When they have conceded this, they
will next require to be reminded not to represent as necessary that which, being
in itself free, depends on the utility of the Church. I do not, however, speak
thus as if I thought that on any condition whatever effect should be given to
those canons which lay a bond of celibacy on the ecclesiastical order, but that
the better-hearted may understand the effrontery of our enemies in employing the
name of antiquity to defame the holy marriage of priests. In regard to the
Fathers, whose writings are extant, none of them, when they spoke their own
mind, with the exception of Jerome, thus malignantly detracted from the honour
of marriage. We will be contented with a single passage from Chrysostom, because
he being a special admirer of virginity, cannot be thought to be more lavish
than others in praise of matrimony. Chrysostom thus speaks: “The first
degree of chastity is pure virginity; the second, faithful marriage. Therefore,
a chaste love of matrimony is the second species of virginity” (Chrysost.
Hom. de Invent. Crucis.).
CHAPTER
13.
OF VOWS. THE MISERABLE ENTANGLEMENTS CAUSED BY
VOWING RASHLY.
This chapter consists of two parts,-I. Of vows in
general, sec. 1-8. II. Of monastic vows, and specially of the vow of celibacy,
sec. 8-21.
Sections.
1. Some general principles with
regard to the nature of vows. Superstitious errors not only of the heathen, but
of Christians, in regard to vows.
2. Three points to be considered with
regard to vows. First, to whom the vow is made-viz. to God. Nothing to be vowed
to him but what he himself requires.
3. Second, Who we are that vow. We
must measure our strength, and have regard to our calling. Fearful errors of the
Popish clergy by not attending to this. Their vow of celibacy.
4. Third
point to be attended to-viz. the intention with which the vow is made. Four ends
in vowing. Two of them refer to the past, and two to the future. Examples and
use of the former class.
5. End of vows which refer to the future.
6. The doctrine of vows in general. Common vow of Christians in
Baptism, &c. This vow sacred and salutary. Particular vows how to be tested.
7. Great prevalence of superstition with regard to vows.
8.
Vows of monks. Contrast between ancient and modern monasticism.
9.
Portraiture of the ancient monks by Augustine.
10. Degeneracy of
modern monks. 1. Inconsiderate rigour. 2. Idleness. 3. False boast of
perfection.
11. This idea of monastic perfection refuted.
12.
Arguments for monastic perfection. First argument answered.
13. Second
argument answered.
14. Absurdity of representing the monastic
profession as a second baptism.
15. Corrupt manners of monks.
16. Some defects in ancient monasticism.
17. General
refutation of monastic vows.
18. Refutation continued.
19.
Refutation continued.
20. Do such vows of celibacy bind the
conscience? This question answered.
21. Those who abandon the monastic
profession for an honest living, unjustly accused of breaking their faith.
1. IT is indeed deplorable that the Church, whose freedom was purchased
by the inestimable price of Christ’s blood, should have been thus
oppressed by a cruel tyranny, and almost buried under a huge mass of traditions;
but, at the same time, the private infatuation of each individual shows, that
not without just cause has so much power been given from above to Satan and his
ministers. It was not enough to neglect the command of Christ, and bear
anyburdens which false teachers might please to impose, but each individual
behoved to have his own peculiar burdens, and thus sink deeper by digging his
own cavern. This has been the result when men set about devising vows, by which
a stronger and closer obligation might be added to common ties. Having already
shown that the worship of God was vitiated by the audacity of those who, under
the name of pastors, domineered in the Church, when they ensnared miserable
souls by their iniquitous laws, it will not be out of place here to advert to a
kindred evil, to make it appear that the world, in accordance with its depraved
disposition, has always thrown every possible obstacle in the way of the helps
by which it ought to have been brought to God. Moreover, that the very grievous
mischief introduced by such vows may be more apparent, let the reader attend to
the principles formerly laid down. First, we showed (Book 2 chap. 8 sec. 5) that
everything requisite for the ordering of a pious and holy life is comprehended
in the law. Secondly, we showed that the Lord, the better to dissuade us from
devising new works, included the whole of righteousness in simple obedience to
his will. If these positions are true, it is easy to see that all fictitious
worship, which we ourselves devise for the purpose of serving God, is not in the
least degree acceptable to him, how pleasing soever it may be to us. And,
unquestionably, in many passages the Lord not only openly rejects, but
grievously abhors such worship. Hence arises a doubt with regard to vows which
are made without any express authority from the word of God; in what light are
they to be viewed? can they be duly made by Christian men, and to what extent
are they binding? What is called a promise among men is a vow when made to God.
Now, we promise to men either things which we think will be acceptable to them,
or things which we in duty owe them. Much more careful, therefore, ought we to
be in vows which are directed to God, with whom we ought to act with the
greatest seriousness. Here superstition has in all ages strangely prevailed; men
at once, without judgment and without choice, vowing to God whatever came into
their minds, or even rose to their lips. Hence the foolish vows, nay, monstrous
absurdities, by which the heathen insolently sported with their gods. Would that
Christians had not imitated them in this their audacity! Nothing, indeed, could
be less becoming; but it is obvious that for some ages nothing has been more
usual than this misconduct-the whole body of the people everywhere despising the
Law of God,58[4] and burning with an
insane zeal of vowing according to any dreaming notion which they had formed. I
have no wish to exaggerate invidiously, or particularise the many grievous sins
which have here been committed; but it seemed right to advert to it in passing,
that it may the better appear, that when we treat of vows we are not by any
means discussing a superfluous question.
2. If we would avoid error in
deciding what vows are legitimate, and what preposterous, three things must be
attended to-viz. who he is to whom the vow is made; who we are that make it;
and, lastly, with what intention we make it. In regard in the first, we should
consider that we have to do with God, whom our obedience so delights, that he
abominates all will-worship, how specious and splendid soever it be in the eyes
of men (Col. 2:23). If all will-worship, which we devise without authority, is
abomination to God, it follows that no worship can be acceptable to him save
that which is approved by his word. Therefore, we must not arrogate such licence
to ourselves as to presume to vow anything to God without evidence of the
estimation in which he holds it. For the doctrine of Paul, that whatsoever is
not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23), while it extends to all actions of every kind,
certainly applies with peculiar force in the case where the thought is
immediately turned towards God. Nay, if in the minutest matters (Paul was then
speaking of the distinction of meats) we err or fall, where the sure light of
faith shines not before us, how much more modesty ought we to use when we
attempt a matter of the greatest weight? For in nothing ought we to be more
serious than in the duties of religion. In vows, then, our first precaution must
be, never to proceed to make any vow without having previously determined in our
conscience to attempt nothing rashly. And we shall be safe from the danger of
rashness when we have God going before, and, as it were, dictating from his word
what is good, and what is useless.
3. In the second point which we have
mentioned as requiring consideration is implied, that we measure our strength,
that we attend to our vocation so as not to neglect the blessing of liberty
which God has conferred upon us. For he who vows what is not within his means,
or is at variance with his calling, is rash, while he who contemns the
beneficence of God in making him lord of’ all things, is ungrateful. When
I speak thus, I mean not that anything is so placed in our hand, that, leaning
on our own strength, we may promise it to God. For in the Council of Arausica
(cap. 11) it was most truly decreed, that nothing is duly vowed to God save what
we have received from his hand, since all things which are offered to him are
merely his gifts. But seeing that some things are given to us by the goodness of
God, and others withheld by his justice, every man should have respect to the
measure of grace bestowed on him, as Paul enjoins (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 12:11). All
then I mean here is, that your vows should be adapted to the measure which God
by his gifts prescribes to you, lest by attempting more than he permits, you
arrogate too much to yourself, and fall headlong. For example, when the
assassins, of whom mention is made in the Acts, vowed “that they would
neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul” (Acts 23:12), though it
had not been an impious conspiracy, it would still have been intolerably
presumptuous, as subjecting the life and death of a man to their own power. Thus
Jephthah suffered for his folly, when with precipitate fervour he made a rash
vow (Judges 11:30). Of this class, the first place of insane audacity belongs to
celibacy. Priests, monks, and nuns, forgetful of their infirmity, are confident
of their fitness for celibacy.58[5]
But by what oracle have they been instructed, that the chastity which they vow
to the end of life, they will be able through life to maintain? They hear the
voice of God concerning the universal condition of mankind, “It is not
good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). They understand, and I
wish they did not feel that the sin remaining in us is armed with the sharpest
stings. How can they presume to shake off the common feelings of their nature
for a whole lifetime, seeing the gift of continence is often granted for a
certain time as occasion requires? In such perverse conduct they must not expect
God to be their helper; let them rather remember the words, “Ye shall not
tempt the Lord your God” (Deut. 6:16). But it is to tempt the Lord to
strive against the nature implanted by him, and to spurn his present gifts as if
they did not appertain to us. This they not only do, but marriage, which God did
not think it unbecoming his majesty to institute, which he pronounced honourable
in all, which Christ our Lord sanctified by his presence, and which he deigned
to honour with his first miracle, they presume to stigmatise as pollution, so
extravagant are the terms in which they eulogise every kind of celibacy; as if
in their own life they did not furnish a clear proof that celibacy is one thing
and chastity another. This life, however, they most impudently style angelical,
thereby offering no slight insult to the angels of God, to whom they compare
whoremongers and adulterers, and something much worse and fouler
still.58[6] And, indeed, there is
here very little occasion for argument, since they are abundantly refuted by
fact. For we plainly see the fearful punishments with which the Lord avenges
this arrogance and contempt of his gifts from overweening confidence. More
hidden crimes I spare through shame; what is known of them is too much. Beyond
all controversy, we ought not to vow anything which will hinder us in fulfilling
our vocation; as if the father of a family were to vow to leave his wife and
children, and undertake other burdens; or one who is fit for a public office
should, when elected to it, vow to live private. But the meaning of what we have
said as to not despising our liberty may occasion some difficulty if not
explained. Wherefore, understand it briefly thus: Since God has given us
dominion over all things, and so subjected them to us that we may use them for
our convenience, we cannot hope that our service will be acceptable to God if we
bring ourselves into bondage to external things, which ought to be subservient
to us. I say this, because some aspire to the praise of humility, for entangling
themselves in a variety of observances from which God for good reason wished us
to be entirely free. Hence, if we would escape this danger, let us always
remember that we are by no means to withdraw from the economy which God has
appointed in the Christian Church.
4. I come now to my third
position-viz that if you would approve your vow to God, the mind in which you
undertake it is of great moment. For seeing that God looks not to the outward
appearance but to the heart, the consequence is, that according to the purpose
which the mind has in view, the same thing may at one time please and be
acceptable to him, and at another be most displeasing. If you vow abstinence
from wine, as if there were any holiness in so doing, you are superstitious; but
if you have some end in view which is not perverse, no one can disapprove. Now,
as far as I can see, there are four ends to which our vows may be properly
directed; two of these, for the sake of order, I refer to the past, and two to
the future. To the past belong vows by which we either testify our gratitude
toward God for favours received, or in order to deprecate his wrath, inflict
punishment on ourselves for faults committed. The former, let us if you please
call acts of thanksgiving; the latter, acts of repentance. Of the former class,
we have an example in the tithes which Jacob vowed (Gen. 28:20), if the Lord
would conduct him safely home from exile; and also in the ancient
peace-offerings which pious kings and commanders, when about to engage in a just
war, vowed that they would give if they were victorious, or, at least, if the
Lord would deliver them when pressed by some greater difficulty. Thus are to be
understood all the passages in the Psalms which speak of vows (Ps. 22:26; 56:13;
116:14, 18). Similar vows may also be used by us in the present day, whenever
the Lord has rescued us from some disaster or dangerous disease, or other peril.
For it is not abhorrent from the office of a pious man thus to consecrate a
votive offering to God as a formal symbol of acknowledgment that he may not seem
ungrateful for his kindness. The nature of the second class it will be
sufficient to illustrate merely by one familiar example. Should any one, from
gluttonous indulgence, have fallen into some iniquity, there is nothing to
prevent him, with the view of chastising his intemperance, from renouncing all
luxuries for a certain time, and in doing so, from employing a vow for the
purpose of binding himself more firmly. And yet I do not lay down this as an
invariable law to all who have similarly offended; I merely show what may be
lawfully done by those who think that such a vow will be useful to them. Thus
while I hold it lawful so to vow, I at the same time leave it free.
5.
The vows which have reference to the future tend partly, as we have said, to
render us more cautious, and partly to act as a kind of stimulus to the
discharge of duty. A man sees that he is so prone to a certain vice, that in a
thing which is otherwise not bad he cannot restrain himself from forthwith
falling into evil: he will not act absurdly in cutting off the use of that thing
for some time by a vow. If, for instance, one should perceive that this or that
bodily ornament brings him into peril, and yet allured by cupidity he eagerly
longs for it, what can he do better than by throwing a curb upon himself, that
is, imposing the necessity of abstinence, free himself from all doubt? In like
manner, should one be oblivious or sluggish in the necessary duties of piety,
why should he not, by forming a vow, both awaken his memory and shake off his
sloth? In both, I confess, there is a kind of tutelage, but inasmuch as they are
helps to infirmity, they are used not without advantage by the ignorant and
imperfect. Hence we hold that vows which have respect to one of these ends,
especially in external things, are lawful, provided they are supported by the
approbation of God, are suitable to our calling, and are limited to the measure
of grace bestowed upon us.
6. It is not now difficult to infer what view
on the whole ought to be taken of vows. There is one vow common to all
believers, which taken in baptism we confirm, and as it were sanction, by our
Catechism,58[7] and partaking of the
Lord’s Supper. For the sacraments are a kind of mutual contracts by which
the Lord conveys his mercy to us, and by it eternal life, while we in our turn
promise him obedience. The formula, or at least substance, of the vow is, That
renouncing Satan we bind ourselves to the service of God, to obey his holy
commands, and no longer follow the depraved desires of our flesh. It cannot be
doubted that this vow, which is sanctioned by Scripture, nay, is exacted from
all the children of God, is holy and salutary. There is nothing against this in
the fact, that no man in this life yields that perfect obedience to the law
which God requires of us. This stipulation being included in the covenant of
grace, comprehending forgiveness of sins and the spirit of holiness, the promise
which we there make is combined both with entreaty for pardon and petition for
assistance. It is necessary, in judging of particular vows, to keep the three
former rules in remembrance: from them any one will easily estimate the
character of each single vow. Do not suppose, however, that I so commend the
vows which I maintain to be holy that I would have them made every day. For
though I dare not give any precept as to time or number, yet if any one will
take my advice, he will not undertake any but what are sober and temporary. If
you are ever and anon launching out into numerous vows, the whole solemnity will
be lost by the frequency, and you will readily fall into superstition. If you
bind yourself by a perpetual vow, you will have great trouble and annoyance in
getting free, or, worn out by length of time, you will at length make bold to
break it.
7. It is now easy to see under how much superstition the world
has laboured in this respect for several ages. One vowed that he would be
abstemious, as if abstinence from wine were in itself an acceptable service to
God. Another bound himself to fast, another to abstain from flesh on certain
days, which he had vainly imagined to be more holy than other days. Things much
more boyish were vowed though not by boys. For it was accounted great wisdom to
undertake votive pilgrimages to holy places, and sometimes to perform the
journey on foot, or with the body half naked, that the greater merit might be
acquired by the greater fatigue. These and similar things, for which the world
has long bustled with incredible zeal, if tried by the rules which we formerly
laid down, will be discovered to be not only empty and nugatory, but full of
manifest impiety. Be the judgment of the flesh what it may, there is nothing
which God more abhors than fictitious worship. To these are added pernicious and
damnable notions, hypocrites, after performing such frivolities, thinking that
they have acquired no ordinary righteousness, placing the substance of piety in
external observances, and despising all others who appear less careful in regard
to them.
8. It is of no use to enumerate all the separate forms. But as
monastic vows are held in great veneration, because they seem to be approved by
the public judgment of the Church, I will say a few words concerning them. And,
first, lest any one defend the monachism of the present day on the ground of the
long prescription, it is to be observed, that the ancient mode of living in
monasteries was very different. The persons who retired to them were those who
wished to train themselves to the greatest austerity and patience. The
discipline practiced by the monks then resembled that which the Lacedemonians
are said to have used under the laws of Lycurgus, and was even much more
rigorous. They slept on the ground, their drink was water, their food bread,
herbs, and roots, their chief luxuries oil and pulse. From more delicate food
and care of the body they abstained. These things might seem hyperbolical were
they not vouched by experienced eye witnesses, as Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, and
Chrysostom. By such rudimentary training they prepared themselves for greater
offices. For of the fact that monastic colleges were then a kind of seminaries
of the ecclesiastical order, both those whom we lately named are very competent
witnesses (they were all brought up in monasteries, and thence called to the
episcopal office), as well as several other great and excellent men of their
age. Augustine also shows that in his time the monasteries were wont to furnish
the Church with clergy. For he thus addresses the monks of the island of Caprae:
“We exhort you, brethren in the Lord, to keep your purpose, and persevere
to the end; and if at any time our mother Church requires your labour, you will
neither undertake it with eager elation, nor reject it from the blandishment of
sloth, but with meek hearts obey God. You will not prefer your own ease to the
necessities of the Church. Had no good men been willing to minister to her when
in travail, it would have been impossible for you to be
born”58[8] (August. Ep. 82).
He is speaking of the ministry by which believers are spiritually born again. In
like manner, he says to Aurelius (Ep. 76), “It is both an occasion of
lapse to them, and a most unbecoming injury to the clerical order, if the
deserters of monasteries are elected to the clerical warfare, since from those
who remain in the monastery our custom is to appoint to the clerical office only
the better and more approved. Unless, perhaps, as the vulgar say, A bad
chorister is a good symphonist, so, in like manner, it will be jestingly said of
us, A bad monk is a good clergyman. There will be too much cause for grief if we
stir up monks to such ruinous pride, and deem the clergy deserving of so grave
an affront, seeing that sometimes a good monk scarcely makes a good clerk; he
may have sufficient continence, but be deficient in necessary learning.”
From these passages, it appears that pious men were wont to prepare for the
government of the Church by monastic discipline, that thus they might be more
apt and better trained to undertake the important office: not that all attained
to this object, or even aimed at it, since the great majority of monks were
illiterate men. Those who were fit were selected.
9. Augustine, in two
passages in particular, gives a portraiture of the form of ancient monasticism.
The one is in his book, De Moribus Ecclesiú Catholicú (On the
Manners of the Catholic Church), where he maintains the holiness of that
profession against the calumnies of the Manichees; the other in a treatise,
entitled, De Opere Monachorum (On the Work of Monks), where he inveighs
against certain degenerate monks who had begun to corrupt that institution. I
will here give a summary of what he there delivers, and, as far as I can, in his
own words: “Despising the allurements of this world, and congregated in
common for a most chaste and most holy life, they pass their lives together,
spending their time in prayer, reading, and discourse, not swollen with pride,
not turbulent through petulance, not livid with envy. No one possesses anything
of his own: no one is burdensome to any man. They labour with their hands in
things by which the body may be fed, and the mind not withdrawn from God. The
fruit of their labour they hand over to those whom they call deans. Those deans,
disposing of the whole with great care, render an account to one whom they call
father. These fathers, who are not only of the purest morals, but most
distinguished for divine learning, and noble in all things, without any pride,
consult those whom they call their sons, though the former have full authority
to command, and the latter a great inclination to obey. At the close of the day
they assemble each from his cell, and without having broken their fast, to hear
their father, and to the number of three thousand at least (he is speaking of
Egypt and the East) they assemble under each father. Then the body is refreshed,
so far as suffices for safety and health, every one curbing his concupiscence so
as not to be profuse in the scanty and very mean diet which is provided. Thus
they not only abstain from flesh and wine for the purpose of subduing lust, but
from those things which provoke the appetite of the stomach and gullet more
readily, from seeming to some, as it were, more refined. In this way the desire
of exquisite dainties, in which there is no flesh, is wont to be absurdly and
shamefully defended. Any surplus, after necessary food (and the surplus is very
great from the labour of their hands and the frugality of their meals), is
carefully distributed to the needy, the more carefully that it was not procured
by those who distribute. For they never act with the view of having abundance
for themselves, but always act with the view of allowing no superfluity to
remain with them” (August. De Mor. Eccl. Cath. c. 31). Afterwards
describing their austerity, of which he had himself seen instances both at Milan
and elsewhere, he says, “Meanwhile, no one is urged to austerities which
he is unable to bear: no one is obliged to do what he declines, nor condemned by
the others, whom he acknowledges himself too weak to imitate. For they remember
how greatly charity is commended: they remember that to the pure all things are
pure (Tit. 1:15). Wherefore, all their vigilance is employed, not in rejecting
kinds of food as polluted, but in subduing concupiscence, and maintaining
brotherly love. They remember, ëMeats for the belly, and the belly for
meats,’ &c. (1 Cor. 6:13). Many, however strong, abstain because of
the weak. In many this is not the cause of action; they take pleasure in
sustaining themselves on the meanest and least expensive food. Hence the very
persons who in health restrain themselves, decline not in sickness to use what
their health requires. Many do not drink wine, and yet do not think themselves
polluted by it, for they most humanely cause it to be given to the more sickly,
and to those whose health requires it; and some who foolishly refuse, they
fraternally admonish, lest by vain superstition they sooner become more weak
than more holy. Thus they sedulously practice piety, while they know that bodily
exercise is only for a short time. Charity especially is observed: their food is
adapted to charity, their speech to charity, their dress to charity, their looks
to charity. They go together, and breathe only charity: they deem it as unlawful
to offend charity as to offend God; if any one opposes it, he is cast out and
shunned; if any one offends it, he is not permitted to remain one day”
(August. De Moribus Eccl. Cath. c. 33). Since this holy man appears in these
words to have exhibited the monastic life of ancient times as in a picture, I
have thought it right to insert them here, though somewhat long, because I
perceive that I would be considerably longer if I collected them from different
writers, however compendious I might study to be.
10. Here, however, I
had no intention to discuss the whole subject. I only wished to show, by the
way, what kind of monks the early Church had, and what the monastic profession
then was, that from the contrast sound readers might judge how great the
effrontery is of those who allege antiquity in support of present monkism.
Augustine, while tracing out a holy and legitimate monasticism, would keep away
all rigorous exaction of those things which the word of the Lord has left free.
But in the present day nothing is more rigorously exacted. For they deem it an
inexpiable crime if any one deviates in the least degree from the prescribed
form in colour or species of dress, in the kind of food, or in other frivolous
and frigid ceremonies. Augustine strenuously contends that it is not lawful for
monks to live in idleness on other men’s means. (August. De Oper. Monach.)
He denies that any such example was to be found in his day in a well-regulated
monastery. Our monks place the principal part of their holiness in idleness. For
if you take away their idleness, where will that contemplative life by which
they glory that they excel all others, and make a near approach to the angels?
Augustine, in fine, requires a monasticism which may be nothing else than a
training and assistant to the offices of piety which are recommended to all
Christians. What? When he makes charity its chief and almost its only rule, do
we think he praises that combination by which a few men, bound to each other,
are separated from the whole body of the Church? Nay, he wishes them to set an
example to others of preserving the unity of the Church. So different is the
nature of present monachism in both respects, that it would be difficult to find
anything so dissimilar, not to say contrary. For our monks, not satisfied with
that piety, on the study of which alone Christ enjoins his followers to be
intent, imagine some new kind of piety, by aspiring to which they are more
perfect than all other men.
11. If they deny this, I should like to know
why they honour their own order only with the title of perfection, and deny it
to all other divine callings.58[9] I
am not unaware of the sophistical solution that their order is not so called
because it contains perfection in itself, but because it is the best of all for
acquiring perfection. When they would extol themselves to the people; when they
would lay a snare for rash and ignorant youth; when they would assert their
privileges and exalt their own dignity to the disparagement of others, they
boast that they are in a state of perfection. When they are too closely pressed
to be able to defend this vain arrogance, they betake themselves to the
subterfuge that they have not yet obtained perfection, but that they are in a
state in which they aspire to it more than others; meanwhile, the people
continue to admire as if the monastic life alone were angelic, perfect, and
purified from every vice. Under this pretence they ply a most gainful traffic,
while their moderation lies buried in a few
volumes.59[0] Who sees not that this
is intolerable trifling? But let us treat with them as if they ascribed nothing
more to their profession than to call it a state for acquiring perfection.
Surely by giving it this name, they distinguish it by a special mark from other
modes of life. And who will allow such honour to be transferred to an
institution of which not one syllable is said in approbation, while all the
other callings of God are deemed unworthy of the same, though not only commanded
by his sacred lips, but adorned with distinguished titles? And how great the
insult offered to God, when some device of man is preferred to all the modes of
life which he has ordered, and by his testimony approved?
12. But let
them say I calumniated them when I declared that they were not contented with
the rule prescribed by God. Still, though I were silent, they more than
sufficiently accuse themselves; for they plainly declare that they undertake a
greater burden than Christ has imposed on his followers, since they promise that
they will keep evangelical counsels regarding the love of enemies, the
suppression of vindictive feelings, and abstinence from swearing, counsels to
which Christians are not commonly astricted. In this what antiquity can they
pretend? None of the ancients ever thought of such a thing: all with one voice
proclaim that not one syllable proceeded from Christ which it is not necessary
to obey. And the very things which these worthy expounders pretend that Christ
only counselled they uniformly declare, without any doubt, that he expressly
enjoined. But as we have shown above, that this is a most pestilential error,
let it suffice here to have briefly observed that monasticism, as it now exists,
founded on an idea which all pious men ought to execrate-namely, the pretence
that there is some more perfect rule of life than that common rule which God has
delivered to the whole Church. Whatever is built on this foundation cannot but
be abominable.
13. But they produce another argument for their
perfection, and deem it invincible. Our Lord said to the young man who put a
question to him concerning the perfection of righteousness, “If thou wilt
be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor” (Mt. 19:21).
Whether they do so, I do not now dispute. Let us grant for the present that they
do. They boast, then, that they have become perfect by abandoning their all. If
the sum off perfection consists in this, what is the meaning of Paul’s
doctrine, that though a man should give all his goods to feed the poor, and have
not charity, he is nothing? (1 Cor. 13:3). What kind of perfection is that
which, if charity be wanting, is with the individual himself reduced to nothing?
Here they must of necessity answer that it is indeed the highest, but is not the
only work of perfection. But here again Paul interposes; and hesitates not to
declare that charity, without any renunciation of that sort, is the “bond
of perfectness” (Col. 3:14). If it is certain that there is no
disagreement between the scholar and the master, and the latter clearly denies
that the perfection of a man consists in renouncing all his goods, and on the
other hand asserts that perfection may exist without it, we must see in what
sense we should understand the words of Christ, “If thou wilt be perfect,
go and sell that thou hast.” Now, there wil1 not be the least obscurity in
the meaning if we consider (this ought to be attended to in all our
Saviour’s discourses) to whom the words are addressed (Luke 10:25). A
young man asks by what works he shall enter into eternal life. Christ, as he was
asked concerning works, refers him to the law. And justly; for, considered in
itself, it is the way of eternal life, and its inefficacy to give eternal life
is owing to our depravity. By this answer Christ declared that he did not
deliver any other rule of life than that which had formerly been delivered in
the law of the Lord. Thus he both bore testimony to the divine law, that it was
a doctrine of perfect righteousness, and at the same time met the calumnious
charge of seeming, by some new rule of life, to incite the people to revolt from
the law. The young man, who was not ill-disposed, but was puffed up with vain
confidence, answers that he had observed all the precepts of the law from his
youth. It is absolutely certain that he was immeasurably distant from the goal
which he boasted of having reached. Had his boast been true, he would have
wanted nothing of absolute perfection. For it has been demonstrated above, that
the law contains in it a perfect righteousness. This is even obvious from the
fact, that the observance of it is called the way to eternal life. To show him
how little progress he had made in that righteousness which he too boldly
answered that he had fulfilled, it was right to bring before him his besetting
sin. Now, while he abounded in riches, he had his heart set upon them.
Therefore, because he did not feel this secret wound, it is probed by
Christ-”Go,” says he, “and sell that thou hast.” Had he
been as good a keeper of the law as he supposed, he would not have gone away
sorrowful on hearing these words. For he who loves God with his whole heart, not
only regards everything which wars with his love as dross, but hates it as
destruction (Phil. 3:8). Therefore, when Christ orders a rich miser to leave all
that he has, it is the same as if he had ordered the ambitious to renounce all
his honours, the voluptuous all his luxuries, the unchaste all the instruments
of his lust. Thus consciences, which are not reached by any general admonition,
are to be recalled to a particular feeling of their particular sin. In vain,
therefore, do they wrest that special case to a general interpretation, as if
Christ had decided that the perfection of man consists in the abandonment of his
goods, since he intended nothing more by the expression than to bring a youth
who was out of measure satisfied with himself to feel his sore, and so
understand that he was still at a great distance from that perfect obedience of
the law which he falsely ascribed to himself. I admit that this passage was ill
understood by some of the
Fathers;59[1] and hence arose an
affectation of voluntary poverty, those only being thought blest who abandoned
all earthly goods, and in a state of destitution devoted themselves to Christ.
But I am confident that, after my exposition, no good and reasonable man will
have any dubiety here as to the mind of Christ.
14. Still there was
nothing with the Fathers less intended than to establish that kind of perfection
which was afterwards fabricated by cowled monks, in order to rear up a species
of double Christianity. For as yet the sacrilegious dogma was not broached which
compares the profession of monasticism to baptism, nay, plainly asserts that it
is the form of a second baptism. Who can doubt that the Fathers with their whole
hearts abhorred such blasphemy? Then what need is there to demonstrate, by
words, that the last quality which Augustine mentions as belonging to the
ancient monks-viz. that they in all things accommodated themselves to charity-is
most alien from this new profession? The thing itself declares that all who
retire into monasteries withdraw from the Church. For how? Do they not separate
themselves from the legitimate society of the faithful, by acquiring for
themselves a special ministry and private administration of the sacraments? What
is meant by destroying the communion of the Church if this is not? And to follow
out the comparison with which I began, and at once close the point, what
resemblance have they in this respect to the ancient monks? These, though they
dwelt separately from others, had not a separate Church; they partook of the
sacraments with others, they attended public meetings, and were then a part of
the people. But what have those men done in erecting a private altar for
themselves but broken the bond of unity? For they have excommunicated themselves
from the whole body of the Church, and contemned the ordinary ministry by which
the Lord has been pleased that peace and charity should be preserved among his
followers. Wherefore I hold that as many monasteries as there are in the present
day, so many conventicles are there of schismatics, who have disturbed
ecclesiastical order, and been cut off from the legitimate society of the
faithful. And that there might be no doubt as to their separation, they have
given themselves the various names of factions. They have not been ashamed to
glory in that which Paul so execrates, that he is unable to express his
detestation too strongly. Unless, indeed, we suppose that Christ was not divided
by the Corinthians, when one teacher set himself above another (1 Cor. 1:12, 13;
3:4); and that now no injury is done to Christ when, instead of Christians, we
hear some called Benedictines, others Franciscans, others Dominicans, and so
called, that while they affect to be distinguished from the common body of
Christians, they proudly substitute these names for a religious profession.
15. The differences which I have hitherto pointed out between the
ancient monks and those of our age are not in manners, but in profession. Hence
let my readers remember that I have spoken of monachism rather than of monks;
and marked, not the vices which cleave to a few, but vices which are inseparable
from the very mode of life. In regard to manners, of what use is it to
particularise and show how great the difference? This much is
certain,59[2] that there is no order
of men more polluted by all kinds of vicious turpitude; nowhere do faction,
hatred, party-spirit, and intrigue, more prevail. In a few monasteries, indeed,
they live chastely, if we are to call it chastity, where lust is so far
repressed as not to be openly infamous; still you will scarcely find one in ten
which is not rather a brothel than a sacred abode of chastity. But how frugally
they live? Just like swine wallowing in their sties. But lest they complain that
I deal too unmercifully with them, I go no farther; although any one who knows
the case will admit, that in the few things which I have said, I have not spoken
in the spirit of an accuser. Augustine though he testifies, that the monks
excelled so much in chastity, yet complains that there were many vagabonds, who,
by wicked arts and impostures, extracted money from the more simple, plying a
shameful traffic, by carrying about the relics of martyrs, and vending any dead
man’s bones for relics, bringing ignominy on their order by many similar
iniquities. As he declares that he had seen none better than those who had
profited in monasteries; so he laments that he had seen none worse than those
who had backslidden in monasteries. What would he say were he, in the present
day, to see now almost all monasteries overflowing, and in a manner bursting,
with numerous deplorable vices? I say nothing but what is notorious to all; and
yet this charge does not apply to all without a single exception; for, as the
rule and discipline of holy living was never so well framed in monasteries as
that there were not always some drones very unlike the others; so I hold that,
in the present day, monks have not so completely degenerated from that holy
antiquity as not to have some good men among them; but these few lie scattered
up and down among a huge multitude of wicked and dishonest men, and are not only
despised, but even petulantly assailed, sometimes even treated cruelly by the
others, who, according to the Milesian proverb, think they ought to have no good
man among them.
16. By this contrast between ancient and modern
monasticism, I trust I have gained my object, which was to show that our cowled
monks falsely pretend the example of the primitive Church in defence of their
profession; since they differ no less from the monks of that period than apes do
from men. Meanwhile I disguise not that even in that ancient form which
Augustine commends, there was something which little pleases me. I admit that
they were not superstitious in the external exercises of a more rigorous
discipline, but I say that they were not without a degree of affectation and
false zeal. It was a fine thing to cast away their substance, and free
themselves from all worldly cares; but God sets more value on the pious
management of a household, when the head of it, discarding all avarice,
ambition, and other lusts of the flesh, makes it his purpose to serve God in
some particular vocation. It is fine to philosophise in seclusion, far away from
the intercourse of society; but it ill accords with Christian meekness for any
one, as if in hatred of the human race, to fly to the wilderness and to
solitude, and at the same time desert the duties which the Lord has especially
commanded. Were we to grant that there was nothing worse in that profession,
there is certainly no small evil in its having introduced a useless and perilous
example into the Church.
17. Now, then, let us see the nature of the
vows by which the monks of the present day are initiated into this famous order.
First, as their intention is to institute a new and fictitious worship with a
view to gain favour with God, I conclude from what has been said above, that
everything which they vow is abomination to God. Secondly, I hold that as they
frame their own mode of life at pleasure, without any regard to the calling of
God, or to his approbation, the attempt is rash and unlawful; because their
conscience has no ground on which it can support itself before God; and
“whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Moreover, I
maintain that in astricting themselves to many perverse and impious modes of
worship, such as are exhibited in modern monasticism, they consecrate themselves
not to God but to the devil. For why should the prophets have been permitted to
say that the Israelites sacrificed their sons to devils and not to God (Deut.
32:17; Ps. 106:37), merely because they had corrupted the true worship of God by
profane ceremonies; and we not be permitted to say the same thing of monks who,
along with the cowl, cover themselves with the net of a thousand impious
superstitions? Then what is their species of vows? They offer God a promise of
perpetual virginity, as if they had previously made a compact with him to free
them from the necessity of marriage. They cannot allege that they make this vow
trusting entirely to the grace of God; for, seeing he declares this to be a
special gift not given to all (Mt. 19:11), no man has a right to assume that the
gift will be his. Let those who have it use it; and if at any time they feel the
infirmity of the flesh, let them have recourse to the aid of him by whose power
alone they can resist. If this avails not, let them not despise the remedy which
is offered to them. If the faculty of continence is denied, the voice of God
distinctly calls upon them to marry. By continence I mean not merely that by
which the body is kept pure from fornication, but that by which the mind keeps
its chastity untainted. For Paul enjoins caution not only against external
lasciviousness, but also burning of mind (1 Cor. 7:9). It has been the practice
(they say) from the remotest period, for those who wished to devote themselves
entirely to God, to bind themselves by a vow of continence. I confess that the
custom is ancient, but I do not admit that the age when it commenced was so free
from every defect that all that was then done is to be regarded as a rule.
Moreover, the inexorable rigour of holding that after the vow is conceived there
is no room for repentance, crept in gradually. This is clear from Cyprian.
“If virgins have dedicated themselves to Christian faith, let them live
modestly and chastely, without pretence. Thus strong and stable, let them wait
for the reward of virginity. But if they will not, or cannot persevere, it is
better to marry, than by their faults to fall into the fire.” In the
present day, with what invectives would they not lacerate any one who should
seek to temper the vow of continence by such an equitable course? Those,
therefore, have wandered far from the ancient custom who not only use no
moderation, and grant no pardon when any one proves unequal to the performance
of his vow, but shamelessly declare that it is a more heinous sin to cure the
intemperance of the flesh by marriage, than to defile body and soul by whoredom.
18. But they still insist and attempt to show that this vow was used in
the days of the apostles, because Paul says that widows who marry after having
once undertaken a public office, “cast off their first faith” (1
Tim. 5:12). I by no means deny that widows who dedicated themselves and their
labours to the Church, at the same time came under an obligation of perpetual
celibacy, not because they regarded it in the light of a religious duty, as
afterwards began to be the case, but because they could not perform their
functions unless they had their time at their own command, and were free from
the nuptial tie. But if, after giving their pledge, they began to look to a new
marriage, what else was this but to shake off the calling of God? It is not
strange, therefore, when Paul says that by such desires they grow wanton against
Christ. In further explanation he afterwards adds, that by not performing their
promises to the Church, they violate and nullify their first faith given in
baptism; one of the things contained in this first faith being, that every one
should correspond to his calling. Unless you choose rather to interpret that,
having lost their modesty, they afterwards cast off all care of decency,
prostituting themselves to all kinds of lasciviousness and pertness, leading
licentious and dissolute lives, than which nothing can less become Christian
women. I am much pleased with this exposition. Our answer then is, that those
widows who were admitted to a public ministry came under an obligation of
perpetual celibacy, and hence we easily understand how, when they married, they
threw off all modesty, and became more insolent than became Christian women that
in this way they not only sinned by violating the faith given to the Church, but
revolted from the common rule of pious women. But, first, I deny that they had
any other reason for professing celibacy than just because marriage was
altogether inconsistent with the function which they undertook. Hence they bound
themselves to celibacy only in so far as the nature of their function required.
Secondly, I do not admit that they were bound to celibacy in such a sense that
it was not better for them to marry than to suffer by the incitements of the
flesh, and fall into uncleanness. Thirdly, I hold that what Paul enjoined was in
the common case free from danger, because he orders the selection to be made
from those who, contented with one marriage, had already given proof of
continence. Our only reason for disapproving of the vow of celibacy is, because
it is improperly regarded as an act of worship, and is rashly undertaken by
persons who have not the power of keeping it.
19. But what ground can
there be for applying this passage to nuns? For deaconesses were appointed, not
to soothe God by chantings or unintelligible murmurs, and spend the rest of
their time in idleness; but to perform a public ministry of the Church toward
the poor, and to labour with all zeal, assiduity, and diligence, in offices of
charity. They did not vow celibacy, that they might thereafter exhibit
abstinence from marriage as a kind of worship rendered to God, but only that
they might be freer from encumbrance in executing their office. In fine, they
did not vow on attaining adolescence, or in the bloom of life, and so afterwards
learn, by too late experience, over what a precipice they had plunged
themselves, but after they were thought to have surmounted all danger, they took
a vow not less safe than holy. But not to press the two former points, I say
that it was unlawful to allow women to take a vow of continence before their
sixtieth year, since the apostle admits such only, and enjoins the younger to
marry and beget children. Therefore, it is impossible, on any ground, to excuse
the deduction, first of twelve, then of twenty, and, lastly, of thirty years.
Still less possible is it to tolerate the case of miserable girls, who, before
they have reached an age at which they can know themselves, or have any
experience of their character, are not only induced by fraud, but compelled by
force and threats, to entangle themselves in these accursed snares. I will not
enter at length into a refutation of the other two vows. This only I say, that
besides involving (as matters stand in the present day) not a few superstitions,
they seem to be purposely framed in such a manner, as to make those who take
them mock God and men. But lest we should seem, with too malignant feeling, to
attack every particular point, we will be contented with the general refutation
which has been given above.
20. The nature of the vows which are
legitimate and acceptable to God, I think I have sufficiently explained. Yet,
because some ill-informed and timid consciences, even when a vow displeases, and
is condemned, nevertheless hesitate as to the obligation, and are grievously
tormented, shuddering at the thought of violating a pledge given to God, and, on
the other hand, fearing to sin more by keeping it,-we must here come to their
aid, and enable them to escape from this difficulty. And to take away all
scruple at once, I say that all vows not legitimate, and not duly conceived, as
they are of no account with God, should be regarded by us as null. (See Calv. ad
Concil. Trident.) For if, in human contracts, those promises only are binding in
which he with whom we contract wishes to have us bound, it is absurd to say that
we are bound to perform things which God does not at all require of us,
especially since our works can only be right when they please God, and have the
testimony of our consciences that they do please him. For it always remains
fixed, that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). By
this Paul means, that any work undertaken in doubt is vicious, because at the
root of all good works lies faith, which assures us that they are acceptable to
God. Therefore, if Christian men may not attempt anything without this
assurance, why, if they have undertaken anything rashly through ignorance, may
they not afterwards be freed, and desist from their error? Since vows rashly
undertaken are of this description, they not only oblige not, but must
necessarily be rescinded. What, then, when they are not only of no estimation in
the sight of God, but are even an abomination, as has already been demonstrated?
It is needless farther to discuss a point which does not require it. To appease
pious consciences, and free them from all doubt, this one argument seems to me
sufficient-viz. that all works whatsoever which flow not from a pure fountain,
and are not directed to a proper end, are repudiated by God, and so repudiated,
that he no less forbids us to continue than to begin them. Hence it follows,
that vows dictated by error and superstition are of no weight with God, and
ought to be abandoned by us.
21. He who understands this solution is
furnished with the means of repelling the calumnies of the wicked against those
who withdraw from monasticism to some honest kind of livelihood. They are
grievously charged with having perjured themselves, and broken their faith,
because they have broken the bond (vulgarly supposed to be indissoluble) by
which they had bound themselves to God and the Church. But I say, first, there
is no bond when that which man confirms God abrogates; and, secondly, even
granting that they were bound when they remained entangled in ignorance and
error, now, since they have been enlightened by the knowledge of the truth, I
hold that they are, at the same time, free by the grace of Christ. For if such
is the efficacy of the cross of Christ, that it frees us from the curse of the
divine law by which we were held bound, how much more must it rescue us from
extraneous chains, which are nothing but the wily nets of Satan? There can be no
doubt, therefore, that all on whom Christ shines with the light of his Gospel,
he frees from all the snares in which they had entangled themselves through
superstition. At the same time, they have another defence if they were unfit for
celibacy. For if an impossible vow is certain destruction to the soul, which God
wills to be saved and not destroyed, it follows that it ought by no means to be
adhered to. Now, how impossible the vow of continence is to those who have not
received it by special gift, we have shown, and experience, even were I silent,
declares: while the great obscenity with which almost all monasteries teem is a
thing not unknown. If any seem more decent and modest than others, they are not,
however, chaste. The sin of unchastity urges, and lurks within. Thus it is that
God, by fearful examples, punishes the audacity of men, when, unmindful of their
infirmity, they, against nature, affect that which has been denied to them, and
despising the remedies which the Lord has placed in their hands, are confident
in their ability to overcome the disease of incontinence by contumacious
obstinacy. For what other name can we give it, when a man, admonished of his
need of marriage, and of the remedy with which the Lord has thereby furnished,
not only despises it, but binds himself by an oath to despise it?
CHAPTER 14.
OF THE
SACRAMENTS.
This chapter consists of two principal parts,-I. Of
sacraments in general. The sum of the doctrine stated, sec. 1-6. Two classes of
opponents to be guarded against-viz. those who undervalue the power of the
sacraments, sec. 7-13; and those who attribute too much to the sacraments, sec.
14-17. II. Of the sacraments in particular, both of the Old and the New
Testament. Their scope and meaning. Refutation of those who have either too high
or too low ideas of the sacraments.
Sections.
1. Of the
sacraments in general. A sacrament defined.
2. Meaning of the word
sacrament.
3. Definition explained. Why God seals his promises to us by
sacraments.
4. The word which ought to accompany the element, that the
sacrament may be complete.
5. Error of those who attempt to separate
the word, or promise of God, from the element.
6. Why sacraments are
called Signs of the Covenant.
7. They are such signs, though the wicked
should receive them, but are signs of grace only to believers.
8.
Objections to this view answered.
9. No secret virtue in the
sacraments. Their whole efficacy depends on the inward operation of the Spirit.
10. Objections answered. Illustrated by a simile.
11. Of the
increase of faith by the preaching of the word.
12. In what way, and
how far, the sacraments are confirmations of our faith.
13. Some regard
the sacraments as mere signs. This view refuted.
14. Some again
attribute too much to the sacraments. Refutation.
15. Refutation
confirmed by a passage from Augustine.
16. Previous views more fully
explained.
17. The matter of the sacrament always present when the
sacrament is duly administered.
18. Extensive meaning of the term
sacrament.
19. The ordinary sacraments in the Church. How necessary
they are.
20. The sacraments of the Old and of the New Testament. The
end of both the same -viz. to lead us to Christ.
21. This apparent in
the sacraments of the Old Testament.
22. Apparent also in the
sacraments of the New Testament.
23. Impious doctrine of the Schoolmen
as to the difference between the Old and the New Testaments.
24.
Scholastic objection answered.
25. Another objection answered.
26. Sacraments of the New Testament sometimes excessively extolled by
early Theologians. Their meaning explained.
1. AKIN to the preaching of
the gospel, we have another help to our faith in the sacraments, in regard to
which, it greatly concerns us that some sure doctrine should be delivered,
informing us both of the end for which they were instituted, and of their
present use. First, we must attend to what a sacrament is. It seems to me, then,
a simple and appropriate definition to say, that it is an external sign, by
which the Lord seals on our consciences his promises of good-will toward us, in
order to sustain the weakness of our faith, and we in our turn testify our piety
towards him, both before himself, and before angels as well as men. We may also
define more briefly by calling it a testimony of the divine favour toward us,
confirmed by an external sign, with a corresponding attestation of our faith
towards Him. You may make your choice of these definitions, which in meaning
differ not from that of Augustine, which defines a sacrament to be a visible
sign of a sacred thing, or a visible form of an invisible grace, but does not
contain a better or surer explanation. As its brevity makes it somewhat obscure,
and thereby misleads the more illiterate, I wished to remove all doubt, and make
the definition fuller by stating it at greater length.
2. The reason why
the ancients used the term in this sense is not obscure. The old interpreter,
whenever he wished to render the Greek term ?????????? into Latin, especially
when it was used with reference to divine things, used the word
sacramentum. Thus, in Ephesians, “Having made known unto us the
mystery (sacramentum) of his will;” and again, “If ye have
heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-wards,
how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery”
(sacramentum) (Eph. 1:9; 3:2). In the Colossians, “Even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to
his saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery” (sacramentum) (Col. 1:26). Also in the First Epistle to
Timothy, “Without controversy, great is the mystery (sacramentum)
of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). He was
unwilling to use the word arcanum (secret), lest the word should seem
beneath the magnitude of the thing meant. When the thing, therefore, was sacred
and secret, he used the term sacramentum. In this sense it frequently
occurs in ecclesiastical writers. And it is well known, that what the Latins
call sacramenta, the Greeks call ????????? (mysteries). The sameness of
meaning removes all dispute. Hence it is that the term was applied to those
signs which gave an august representation of things spiritual and sublime. This
is also observed by Augustine, “It were tedious to discourse of the
variety of signs; those which relate to divine things are called
sacraments” (August. Ep. 5. ad Marcell.).
3. From the definition
which we have given, we perceive that there never is a sacrament without an
antecedent promise, the sacrament being added as a kind of appendix, with the
view of confirming and sealing the promise, and giving a better attestation, or
rather, in a manner, confirming it. In this way God provides first for our
ignorance and sluggishness, and, secondly, for our infirmity; and yet, properly
speaking, it does not so much confirm his word as establish us in the faith of
it. [2] For the truth of God is in
itself sufficiently stable and certain, and cannot receive a better confirmation
from any other quarter than from itself. But as our faith is slender and weak,
so if it be not propped up on every side, and supported by all kinds of means,
it is forthwith shaken and tossed to and fro, wavers, and even falls. And here,
indeed, our merciful Lord, with boundless condescension, so accommodates himself
to our capacity, that seeing how from our animal nature we are always creeping
on the ground, and cleaving to the flesh, having no thought of what is
spiritual, and not even forming an idea of it, he declines not by means of these
earthly elements to lead us to himself, and even in the flesh to exhibit a
mirror of spiritual blessings. For, as Chrysostom says (Hom. 60, ad Popul.).
“Were we incorporeal, he would give us these things in a naked and
incorporeal form. Now because our souls are implanted in bodies, he delivers
spiritual things under things visible. Not that the qualities which are set
before us in the sacraments are inherent in the nature of the things, but God
gives them this signification.”
4. This is commonly expressed by
saying that a sacrament consists of the word and the external sign. By the word
we ought to understand not one which, muttered without meaning and without
faith, by its sound merely, as by a magical incantation, has the effect of
consecrating the element, but one which, preached, makes us understand what the
visible sign means. The thing, therefore, which was frequently done, under the
tyranny of the Pope, was not free from great profanation of the mystery, for
they deemed it sufficient if the priest muttered the formula of consecration,
while the people, without understanding, looked stupidly on. Nay, this was done
for the express purpose of preventing any instruction from thereby reaching the
people: for all was said in Latin to illiterate hearers. Superstition afterwards
was carried to such a height, that the consecration was thought not to be duly
performed except in a low grumble, which few could hear. Very different is the
doctrine of Augustine concerning the sacramental word. “Let the word be
added to the element, and it will become a sacrament. For whence can there be so
much virtue in water as to touch the body and cleanse the heart, unless by the
agency of the word, and this not because it is said, but because it is believed?
For even in the word the transient sound is one thing, the permanent power
another. This is the word of faith which we preach says the Apostle” (Rom.
10:8). Hence, in the Acts of the Apostles, we have the expression, “Purify
their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9). And the Apostle Peter says, “The
like figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us (not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience)” (1 Pet. 3:21).
“This is the word of faith which we preach: by which word doubtless
baptism also, in order that it may be able to cleanse, is consecrated”
(August. Hom. in Joann. 13). You see how he requires preaching to the production
of faith. And we need not labour to prove this, since there is not the least
room for doubt as to what Christ did, and commanded us to do, as to what the
apostles followed, and a purer Church observed. Nay, it is known that, from the
very beginning of the world, whenever God offered any sign to the holy
Patriarchs, it was inseparably attached to doctrine, without which our senses
would gaze bewildered on an unmeaning object. Therefore, when we hear mention
made of the sacramental word, let us understand the promise which, proclaimed
aloud by the minister, leads the people by the hand to that to which the sign
tends and directs us.
5. Nor are those to be listened to who oppose this
view with a more subtle than solid dilemma. They argue thus: We either know that
the word of God which precedes the sacrament is the true will of God, or we do
not know it. If we know it, we learn nothing new from the sacrament which
succeeds. If we do not know it, we cannot learn it from the sacrament, whose
whole efficacy depends on the word. Our brief reply is: The seals which are
affixed to diplomas, and other public deeds, are nothing considered in
themselves, and would be affixed to no purpose if nothing was written on the
parchment, and yet this does not prevent them from sealing and confirming when
they are appended to writings. It cannot be alleged that this comparison is a
recent fiction of our own, since Paul himself used it, terming circumcision a
seal (Rom. 4:11), where he expressly maintains that the circumcision of
Abraham was not for justification, but was an attestation to the covenant, by
the faith of which he had been previously justified. And how, pray, can any one
be greatly offended when we teach that the promise is sealed by the sacrament,
since it is plain, from the promises themselves, that one promise confirms
another? The clearer any evidence is, the fitter is it to support our faith. But
sacraments bring with them the clearest promises, and, when compared with the
word, have this peculiarity, that they represent promises to the life, as if
painted in a picture. Nor ought we to be moved by an objection founded on the
distinction between sacraments and the seals of documents-viz. that since both
consist of the carnal elements of this world, the former cannot be sufficient or
adequate to seal the promises of God, which are spiritual and eternal, though
the latter may be employed to seal the edicts of princes concerning fleeting and
fading things. But the believer, when the sacraments are presented to his eye,
does not stop short at the carnal spectacle, but by the steps of analogy which I
have indicated, rises with pious consideration to the sublime mysteries which
lie hidden in the sacraments.
6. As the Lord calls his promises
covenants (Gen. 6:18; 9:9; 17:2), and sacraments signs of the covenants, so
something similar may be inferred from human covenants. What could the slaughter
of a hog effect, unless words were interposed or rather preceded? Swine are
often killed without any interior or occult mystery. What could be gained by
pledging the right hand, since hands are not unfrequently joined in giving
battle? But when words have preceded, then by such symbols of covenant sanction
is given to laws, though previously conceived, digested, and enacted by words.
Sacraments, therefore, are exercises which confirm our faith in the word of God;
and because we are carnal, they are exhibited under carnal objects, that thus
they may train us in accommodation to our sluggish capacity, just as nurses lead
children by the hand. And hence Augustine calls a sacrament a visible
word (August. in Joann. Hom. 89), because it represents the promises of God
as in a picture, and places them in our view in a graphic bodily form (August.
cont. Faust. Lib. 19). We might refer to other similitudes, by which sacraments
are more plainly designated, as when they are called the pillars of our faith.
For just as a building stands and leans on its foundation, and yet is rendered
more stable when supported by pillars, so faith leans on the word of God as its
proper foundation, and yet when sacraments are added leans more firmly, as if
resting on pillars. Or we may call them mirrors, in which we may contemplate the
riches of the grace which God bestows upon us. For then, as has been said, he
manifests himself to us in as far as our dulness can enable us to recognise him,
and testifies his love and kindness to us more expressly than by word.
7. It is irrational to contend that sacraments are not manifestations of
divine grace toward us, because they are held forth to the ungodly also, who,
however, so far from experiencing God to be more propitious to them, only incur
greater condemnation. By the same reasoning, the gospel will be no manifestation
of the grace of God, because it is spurned by many who hear it; nor will Christ
himself be a manifestation of grace, because of the many by whom he was seen and
known, very few received him. Something similar may be seen in public
enactments. A great part of the body of the people deride and evade the
authenticating seal, though they know it was employed by their sovereign to
confirm his will; others trample it under foot, as a matter by no means
appertaining to them; while others even execrate it: so that, seeing the
condition of the two things to be alike, the appropriateness of the comparison
which I made above ought to be more readily allowed. It is certain, therefore,
that the Lord offers us his mercy, and a pledge of his grace, both in his sacred
word and in the sacraments; but it is not apprehended save by those who receive
the word and sacraments with firm faith: in like manner as Christ, though
offered and held forth for salvation to all, is not, however, acknowledged and
received by all. Augustine, when intending to intimate this, said that the
efficacy of the word is produced in the sacrament, not because it is spoken,
but because it is believed. Hence Paul, addressing believers, includes
communion with Christ, in the sacraments, as when he says, “As many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Again,
“For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body” (1 Cor.
12:13). But when he speaks of a preposterous use of the sacraments, he
attributes nothing more to them than to frigid, empty figures; thereby
intimating, that however the ungodly and hypocrites may, by their perverseness,
either suppress, or obscure, or impede the effect of divine grace in the
sacraments, that does not prevent them, where and whenever God is so pleased,
from giving a true evidence of communion with Christ, or prevent them from
exhibiting, and the Spirit of God from performing, the very thing which they
promise. We conclude, therefore, that the sacraments are truly termed evidences
of divine grace, and, as it were, seals of the good-will which he entertains
toward us. They, by sealing it to us, sustain, nourish, confirm, and increase
our faith. The objections usually urged against this view are frivolous and
weak. They say that our faith, if it is good, cannot be made better; for there
is no faith save that which leans unshakingly, firmly, and undividedly, on the
mercy of God. It had been better for the objectors to pray, with the apostles,
“Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5), than confidently to maintain
a perfection of faith which none of the sons of men ever attained, none ever
shall attain, in this life. Let them explain what kind of faith his was who
said, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24). That
faith, though only commenced, was good, and might, by the removal of the
unbelief, be made better. But there is no better argument to refute them than
their own consciousness. For if they confess themselves sinners (this, whether
they will or not, they cannot deny), then they must of necessity impute this
very quality to the imperfection of their faith.
8. But Philip, they
say, replied to the eunuch who asked to be baptized, “If thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest” (Acts 8:37). What room is there for a
confirmation of baptism when faith fills the whole heart? I, in my turn, ask
them, Do they not feel that a good part of their heart is void of faith-do they
not perceive new additions to it every day? There was one who boasted that he
grew old while learning. Thrice miserable, then, are we Christians if we grow
old without making progress, we whose faith ought to advance through every
period of life until it grow up into a perfect man (Eph. 4:13). In this passage,
therefore, to believe with the whole heart, is not to believe Christ
perfectly, but only to embrace him sincerely with heart and soul; not to be
filled with him, but with ardent affection to hunger and thirst, and sigh after
him. It is usual in Scripture to say that a thing is done with the whole heart,
when it is done sincerely and cordially. Of this description are the following
passages:-”With my whole heart have I sought thee” (Ps. 119:10);
“I will confess unto thee with my whole heart,” &c. In like
manner, when the fraudulent and deceitful are rebuked, it is said “with
flattering lips, and with a double heart, do they speak” (Ps. 12:2). The
objectors next add-”If faith is increased by means of the sacraments, the
Holy Spirit is given in vain, seeing it is his office to begin, sustain, and
consummate our faith.” I admit, indeed, that faith is the proper and
entire work of the Holy Spirit, enlightened by whom we recognise God and the
treasures of his grace, and without whose illumination our mind is so blind that
it can see nothing, so stupid that it has no relish for spiritual things. But
for the one Divine blessing which they proclaim we count three. For, first, the
Lord teaches and trains us by his word; next, he confirms us by his sacraments;
lastly, he illumines our mind by the light of his Holy Spirit, and opens up an
entrance into our hearts for his word and sacraments, which would otherwise only
strike our ears, and fall upon our sight, but by no means affect us inwardly.
9. Wherefore, with regard to the increase and confirmation of faith, I
would remind the reader (though I think I have already expressed it in
unambiguous terms), that in assigning this office to the sacraments, it is not
as if I thought that there is a kind of secret efficacy perpetually inherent in
them, by which they can of themselves promote or strengthen faith, but because
our Lord has instituted them for the express purpose of helping to establish and
increase our faith. The sacraments duly perform their office only when
accompanied by the Spirit, the internal Master, whose energy alone penetrates
the heart, stirs up the affections, and procures access for the sacraments into
our souls. If he is wanting, the sacraments can avail us no more than the sun
shining on the eyeballs of the blind, or sounds uttered in the ears of the deaf.
Wherefore, in distributing between the Spirit and the sacraments, I ascribe the
whole energy to him, and leave only a ministry to them; this ministry, without
the agency of the Spirit, is empty and frivolous, but when he acts within, and
exerts his power, it is replete with energy. It is now clear in what way,
according to this view, a pious mind is confirmed in faith by means of the
sacraments-viz. in the same way in which the light of the sun is seen by the
eye, and the sound of the voice heard by the ear; the former of which would not
be at all affected by the light unless it had a pupil on which the light might
fall; nor the latter reached by any sound, however loud, were it not naturally
adapted for hearing. But if it is true, as has been explained, that in the eye
it is the power of vision which enables it to see the light, and in the ear the
power of hearing which enables it to perceive the voice, and that in our hearts
it is the work of the Holy Spirit to commence, maintain, cherish, and establish
faith, then it follows, both that the sacraments do not avail one iota without
the energy of the Holy Spirit; and that yet in hearts previously taught by that
preceptor, there is nothing to prevent the sacraments from strengthening and
increasing faith. There is only this difference, that the faculty of seeing and
hearing is naturally implanted in the eye and ear; whereas, Christ acts in our
minds above the measure of nature by special grace.
10. In this way,
also, we dispose of certain objections by which some anxious minds are annoyed.
If we ascribe either an increase or confirmation of faith to creatures,
injustice is done to the Spirit of God, who alone ought to be regarded as its
author. But we do not rob him of the merit of confirming and increasing faith;
nay, rather, we maintain that that which confirms and increases faith, is
nothing else than the preparing of our minds by his internal illumination to
receive that confirmation which is set forth by the sacraments. But if the
subject is still obscure, it will be made plain by the following similitude:
Were you to begin to persuade a person by word to do something, you would think
of all the arguments by which he may be brought over to your view, and in a
manner compelled to serve your purpose. But nothing is gained if the individual
himself possess not a clear and acute judgment, by which he may be able to weigh
the value of your arguments; if, moreover, he is not of a docile disposition,
and ready to listen to doctrine; if, in fine, he has no such idea of your faith
and prudence as in a manner to prejudice him in your favour, and secure his
assent. For there are many obstinate spirits who are not to be bent by any
arguments; and where faith is suspected, or authority contemned, little progress
is made even with the docile. On the other hand, when opposite feelings exist,
the result will be, that the person whose interests you are consulting will
acquiesce in the very counsels which he would otherwise have derided. The same
work is performed in us by the Spirit. That the word may not fall upon our ear,
or the sacraments be presented to our eye in vain, he shows that it is God who
there speaks to us, softens our obdurate hearts, and frames them to the
obedience which is due to his word; in short, transmits those external words and
sacraments from the ear to the soul. Both word and sacraments, therefore,
confirm our faith, bringing under view the kind intentions of our heavenly
Father, in the knowledge of which the whole assurance of our faith depends, and
by which its strength is increased; and the Spirit also confirms our faith when,
by engraving that assurance on our minds, he renders it effectual. Meanwhile, it
is easy for the Father of lights, in like manner as he illumines the bodily eye
by the rays of the sun, to illumine our minds by the sacraments, as by a kind of
intermediate brightness.
11. This property our Lord showed to belong to
the external word, when, in the parable, he compared it to seed (Mt. 13:4; Luke
8:15). For as the seed, when it falls on a deserted and neglected part of the
field, can do nothing but die, but when thrown into ground properly laboured and
cultivated, will yield a hundred-fold; so the word of God, when addressed to any
stubborn spirit, will remain without fruit, as if thrown upon the barren waste,
but when it meets with a soul which the hand of the heavenly Spirit has subdued,
will be most fruitful. But if the case of the seed and of the word is the same,
and from the seed corn can grow and increase, and attain to maturity, why may
not faith also take its beginning, increase, and completion from the word? Both
things are admirably explained by Paul in different passages. For when he would
remind the Corinthians how God had given effect to his labours, he boasts that
he possessed the ministry of the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:4); just as if his preaching
were inseparably connected with the power of the Holy Spirit, in inwardly
enlightening the mind, and stimulating it. But in another passage, when he would
remind them what the power of the word is in itself, when preached by man, he
compares ministers to husbandmen, who, after they have expended labour and
industry in cultivating the ground, have nothing more that they can do. For what
would ploughing, and sowing, and watering avail, unless that which was sown
should, by the kindness of Heaven, vegetate? Wherefore he concludes, that he
that planteth, and he that watereth is nothing, but that the whole is to be
ascribed to God, who alone gives the increase. The apostles, therefore, exert
the power of the Spirit in their preaching, inasmuch as God uses them as
instruments which he has ordained for the unfolding of his spiritual grace.
Still, however, we must not lose sight of the distinction, but remember what man
is able of himself to do, and what is peculiar to God.
12. The
sacraments are confirmations of our faith in such a sense, that the Lord,
sometimes, when he sees meet to withdraw our assurance of the things which he
had promised in the sacraments, takes away the sacraments themselves. When he
deprives Adam of the gift of immortality, and expels him from the garden,
“lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and live
for ever” (Gen. 3:22). What is this we hear? Could that fruit have
restored Adam to the immortality from which he had already fallen? By no means.
It is just as if he had said, Lest he indulge in vain confidence, if allowed to
retain the symbol of my promise, let that be withdrawn which might give him some
hope of immortality. On this ground, when the apostle urges the Ephesians to
remember, that they “were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12), he says that they were
not partakers of circumcision. He thus intimates metonymically, that all were
excluded from the promise who had not received the badge of the promise. To the
other objection-viz. that when so much power is attributed to creatures, the
glory of God is bestowed upon them, and thereby impaired-it is obvious to reply,
that we attribute no power to the creatures. All we say is, that God uses the
means and instruments which he sees to be expedient, in order that all things
may be subservient to his glory, he being the Lord and disposer of all.
Therefore, as by bread and other aliment he feeds our bodies, as by the sun he
illumines, and by fire gives warmth to the world, and yet bread, sun, and fire
are nothing, save inasmuch as they are instruments under which he dispenses his
blessings to us; so in like manner he spiritually nourishes our faith by means
of the sacraments, whose only office is to make his promises visible to our eye,
or rather, to be pledges of his promises. And as it is our duty in regard to the
other creatures which the divine liberality and kindness has destined for our
use, and by whose instrumentality he bestows the gifts of his goodness upon us,
to put no confidence in them, nor to admire and extol them as the causes of our
mercies; so neither ought our confidence to be fixed on the sacraments, nor
ought the glory of God to be transferred to them, but passing beyond them all,
our faith and confession should rise to Him who is the Author of the sacraments
and of all things.
13. There is nothing in the argument which some found
on the very term sacrament. This term, they say, while it has many
significations in approved authors, has only one which is applicable to
signs-namely, when it is used for the formal oath which the soldier gives to his
commander on entering the service. For as by that military oath recruits bind
themselves to be faithful to their commander, and make a profession of military
service; so by our signs we acknowledge Christ to be our commander, and declare
that we serve under his standard. They add similitudes, in order to make the
matter more clear. As the toga distinguished the Romans from the Greeks, who
wore the pallium; and as the different orders of Romans were distinguished from
each other by their peculiar insignia; e. g., the senatorial from the
equestrian by purple, and crescent shoes, and the equestrian from the plebeian
by a ring, so we wear our symbols to distinguish us from the profane. But it is
sufficiently clear from what has been said above, that the ancients, in giving
the name of sacraments to signs, had not at all attended to the use of the term
by Latin writers, but had, for the sake of convenience, given it this new
signification, as a means of simply expressing sacred signs. But were we to
argue more subtilely, we might say that they seem to have given the term this
signification in a manner analogous to that in which they employ the term faith
in the sense in which it is now used. For while faith is truth in performing
promises, they have used it for the certainty or firm persuasion which is had of
the truth. In this way, while a sacrament is the act of the soldier when he vows
obedience to his commander, they made it the act by which the commander admits
soldiers to the ranks. For in the sacraments the Lord promises that he will be
our God, and we that we will be his people. But we omit such subtleties, since I
think I have shown by arguments abundantly plain, that all which ancient writers
intended was to intimate, that sacraments are the signs of sacred and spiritual
things. The similitudes which are drawn from external objects (chap. 15 sec. 1),
we indeed admit; but we approve not, that that which is a secondary thing in
sacraments is by them made the first, and indeed the only thing. The first thing
is, that they may contribute to our faith in God; the secondary, that they may
attest our confession before men. These similitudes are applicable to the
secondary reason. Let it therefore remain a fixed point, that mysteries would be
frigid (as has been seen) were they not helps to our faith, and adjuncts annexed
to doctrine for the same end and purpose.
14. On the other hand, it is
to be observed, that as these objectors impair the force, and altogether
overthrow the use of the sacraments, so there are others who ascribe to the
sacraments a kind of secret virtue, which is nowhere said to have been implanted
in them by God. By this error the more simple and unwary are perilously
deceived, while they are taught to seek the gifts of God where they cannot
possibly be found, and are insensibly withdrawn from God, so as to embrace
instead of his truth mere vanity. For the schools of the Sophists have taught
with general consent that the sacraments of the new law, in other words, those
now in use in the Christian Church, justify, and confer grace, provided only
that we do not interpose the obstacle of mortal sin. It is impossible to
describe how fatal and pestilential this sentiment is, and the more so, that for
many ages it has, to the great loss of the Church, prevailed over a considerable
part of the world. It is plainly of the devil: for, first, in promising a
righteousness without faith, it drives souls headlong on destruction; secondly,
in deriving a cause of righteousness from the sacraments, it entangles miserable
minds, already of their own accord too much inclined to the earth, in a
superstitious idea, which makes them acquiesce in the spectacle of a corporeal
object rather than in God himself. I wish we had not such experience of both
evils as to make it altogether unnecessary to give a lengthened proof of them.
For what is a sacrament received without faith, but most certain destruction to
the Church? For, seeing that nothing is to be expected beyond the promise, and
the promise no less denounces wrath to the unbeliever than offers grace to the
believer, it is an error to suppose that anything more is conferred by the
sacraments than is offered by the word of God, and obtained by true faith. From
this another thing follows-viz. that assurance of salvation does not depend on
participation in the sacraments, as if justification consisted in it. This,
which is treasured up in Christ alone, we know to be communicated, not less by
the preaching of the Gospel than by the seal of the sacrament, and may be
completely enjoyed without this seal. So true is it, as Augustine declares, that
there may be invisible sanctification without a visible sign, and, on the other
hand, a visible sign without true sanctification (August. de QuÊst. Vet.
Test. Lib. 3). For, as he elsewhere says, “Men put on Christ, sometimes to
the extent of partaking in the sacrament, and sometimes to the extent of
holiness of life” (August. de Bapt. Cont. Donat. cap. 24). The former may
be common to the good and the bad, the latter is peculiar to the good.
15. Hence the distinction, if properly understood, repeatedly made by
Augustine between the sacrament and the matter of the sacrament.
For he does not mean merely that the figure and truth are therein contained, but
that they do not so cohere as not to be separable, and that in this connection
it is always necessary to distinguish the thing from the sign, so as not to
transfer to the one what belongs to the other.
[3] Augustine speaks of the separation
when he says that in the elect alone the sacraments accomplish what they
represent (Augustin. de Bapt. Parvul.). Again, when speaking of the Jews, he
says, “Though the sacraments were common to all, the grace was not common:
yet grace is the virtue of the sacraments. Thus, too, the laver of regeneration
is now common to all, but the grace by which the members of Christ are
regenerated with their head is not common to all” (August. in Ps. 78).
Again, in another place, speaking of the Lord’s Supper, he says, “We
also this day receive visible food; but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue
of the sacrament another. Why is it that many partake of the altar and die, and
die by partaking? For even the cup of the Lord was poison to Judas, not because
he received what was evil, but being wicked he wickedly received what was
good” (August. in Joann. Hom. 26). A little after, he says, “The
sacrament of this thing, that is, of the unity of the body and blood of Christ,
is in some places prepared every day, in others at certain intervals at the
Lord’s table, which is partaken by some unto life, by others unto
destruction. But the thing itself, of which there is a sacrament, is life to
all, and destruction to none who partake of it.” Some time before he had
said, “He who may have eaten shall not die, but he must be one who attains
to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; who eats inwardly,
not outwardly; who eats with the heart, and not with the teeth.” Here you
are uniformly told that a sacrament is so separated from the reality by the
unworthiness of the partaker, that nothing remains but an empty and useless
figure. Now, in order that you may have not a sign devoid of truth, but the
thing with the sign, the Word which is included in it must be apprehended by
faith. Thus, in so far as by means of the sacraments you will profit in the
communion of Christ, will you derive advantage from them.
16. If this is
obscure from brevity, I will explain it more at length. I say that Christ is the
matter, or, if you rather choose it, the substance of all the sacraments, since
in him they have their whole solidity, and out of him promise nothing. Hence the
less toleration is due to the error of Peter Lombard, who distinctly makes them
causes of the righteousness and salvation of which they are parts (Sent. Lib. 4
Dist. 1). Bidding adieu to all other causes of righteousness which the wit of
man devises, our duty is to hold by this only. In so far, therefore, as we are
assisted by their instrumentality in cherishing, confirming, and increasing the
true knowledge of Christ, so as both to possess him more fully, and enjoy him in
all his richness, so far are they effectual in regard to us. This is the case
when that which is there offered is received by us in true faith. Therefore, you
will ask, Do the wicked, by their ingratitude, make the ordinance of God
fruitless and void? I answer, that what I have said is not to be understood as
if the power and truth of the sacrament depended on the condition or pleasure of
him who receives it. That which God instituted continues firm, and retains its
nature, however men may vary; but since it is one thing to offer, and another to
receive, there is nothing to prevent a symbol, consecrated by the word of the
Lord, from being truly what it is said to be, and preserving its power, though
it may at the same time confer no benefit on the wicked and ungodly. This
question is well solved by Augustine in a few words: “If you receive
carnally, it ceases not to be spiritual, but it is not spiritual to you”
(August. Hom. in Joann. 26). But as Augustine shows in the above passages that a
sacrament is a thing of no value if separated from its truth; so also, when the
two are conjoined, he reminds us that it is necessary to distinguish, in order
that we may not cleave too much to the external sign. “As it is servile
weakness to follow the latter, and take the signs for the thing signified, so to
interpret the signs as of no use is an extravagant error” (August. de
Doct. Christ. Lib. 3 c. 9). He mentions two faults which are here to be avoided;
the one when we receive the signs as if they had been given in vain, and by
malignantly destroying or impairing their secret meanings, prevent them from
yielding any fruit-the other, when by not raising our minds beyond the visible
sign, we attribute to it blessings which are conferred upon us by Christ alone,
and that by means of the Holy Spirit, who makes us to be partakers of Christ,
external signs assisting if they invite us to Christ; whereas, when wrested to
any other purpose, their whole utility is overthrown.
17. Wherefore, let
it be a fixed point, that the office of the sacraments differs not from the word
of God; and this is to hold forth and offer Christ to us, and, in him, the
treasures of heavenly grace. They confer nothing, and avail nothing, if not
received in faith, just as wine and oil, or any other liquor, however large the
quantity which you pour out, will run away and perish unless there be an open
vessel to receive it. When the vessel is not open, though it may be sprinkled
all over, it will nevertheless remain entirely empty. We must be aware of being
led into a kindred error by the terms, somewhat too extravagant, which ancient
Christian writers have employed in extolling the dignity of the sacraments. We
must not suppose that there is some latent virtue inherent in the sacraments by
which they, in themselves, confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon us, in the
same way in which wine is drunk out of a cup, since the only office divinely
assigned them is to attest and ratify the benevolence of the Lord towards us;
and they avail no farther than accompanied by the Holy Spirit to open our minds
and hearts, and make us capable of receiving this testimony, in which various
distinguished graces are clearly manifested. For the sacraments, as we lately
observed (chap. 13 sec. 6; and 14 sec. 6, 7), are to us what messengers of good
news are to men, or earnests in ratifying pactions. They do not of themselves
bestow any grace, but they announce and manifest it, and, like earnests and
badges, give a ratification of the gifts which the divine liberality has
bestowed upon us. The Holy Spirit, whom the sacraments do not bring
promiscuously to all, but whom the Lord specially confers on his people, brings
the gifts of God along with him, makes way for the sacraments, and causes them
to bear fruit. But though we deny not that God, by the immediate agency of his
Spirit, countenances his own ordinance, preventing the administration of the
sacraments which he has instituted from being fruitless and vain, still we
maintain that the internal grace of the Spirit, as it is distinct from the
external ministration, ought to be viewed and considered separately. God,
therefore, truly performs whatever he promises and figures by signs; nor are the
signs without effect, for they prove that he is their true and faithful author.
The only question here is, whether the Lord works by proper and intrinsic virtue
(as it is called), or resigns his office to external symbols? We maintain, that
whatever organs he employs detract nothing from his primary operation. In this
doctrine of the sacraments, their dignity is highly extolled, their use plainly
shown, their utility sufficiently proclaimed, and moderation in all things duly
maintained; so that nothing is attributed to them which ought not to be
attributed, and nothing denied them which they ought to possess. Meanwhile, we
get rid of that fiction by which the cause of justification and the power of the
Holy Spirit are included in elements as vessels and vehicles, and the special
power which was overlooked is distinctly explained. Here, also, we ought to
observe, that what the minister figures and attests by outward action, God
performs inwardly, lest that which God claims for himself alone should be
ascribed to mortal man. This Augustine is careful to observe: “How does
both God and Moses sanctify? Not Moses for God, but Moses by visible sacraments
through his ministry, God by invisible grace through the Holy Spirit. Herein is
the whole fruit of visible sacraments; for what do these visible sacraments
avail without that sanctification of invisible grace? “
18. The
term sacrament, in the view we have hitherto taken of it, includes, generally,
all the signs which God ever commanded men to use, that he might make them sure
and confident of the truth of his promises. These he was pleased sometimes to
place in natural objects-sometimes to exhibit in miracles. Of the former class
we have an example, in his giving the tree of life to Adam and Eve, as an
earnest of immortality, that they might feel confident of the promise as often
as they ate of the fruit. Another example was, when he gave the bow in the cloud
to Noah and his posterity, as a memorial that he would not again destroy the
earth by a flood. These were to Adam and Noah as sacraments: not that the tree
could give Adam and Eve the immortality which it could not give to itself; or
the bow (which is only a reflection of the solar rays on the opposite clouds)
could have the effect of confining the waters; but they had a mark engraven on
them by the word of God, to be proofs and seals of his covenant. The tree was
previously a tree, and the bow a bow; but when they were inscribed with the word
of God, a new form was given to them: they began to be what they previously were
not. Lest any one suppose that these things were said in vain, the bow is even
in the present day a witness to us of the covenant which God made with Noah
(Calv. in Gen. 9:6). As often as we look upon it, we read this promise from God,
that the earth will never be destroyed by a flood. Wherefore, if any
philosophaster, to deride the simplicity of our faith, shall contend that the
variety of colours arises naturally from the rays reflected by the opposite
cloud, let us admit the fact; but, at the same time, deride his stupidity in not
recognising God as the Lord and governor of nature, who, at his pleasure, makes
all the elements subservient to his glory. If he had impressed memorials of this
description on the sun, the stars, the earth, and stones, they would all have
been to us as sacraments. For why is the shapeless and the coined silver not of
the same value, seeing they are the same metal? Just because the former has
nothing but its own nature, whereas the latter, impressed with the public stamp,
becomes money, and receives a new value. And shall the Lord not be able to stamp
his creatures with his word, that things which were formerly bare elements may
become sacraments? Examples of the second class were given when he showed light
to Abraham in the smoking furnace (Gen. 15:17), when he covered the fleece with
dew while the ground was dry; and, on the other hand, when the dew covered the
ground while the fleece was untouched, to assure Gideon of victory (Judges
6:37); also, when he made the shadow go back ten degrees on the dial, to assure
Hezekiah of his recovery (2 Kings 20:9; Isa. 38:7). These things, which were
done to assist and establish their faith, were also sacraments.
19. But
my present purpose is to discourse especially of those sacraments which the Lord
has been pleased to institute as ordinary sacraments in his Church, to bring up
his worshippers and servants in one faith, and the confession of one faith. For,
to use the words of Augustine, “In no name of religion, true or false, can
men be assembled, unless united by some common use of visible signs or
sacraments” (August. cont. Faustum, Lib. 9 c. 11). Our most merciful
Father, foreseeing this necessity, from the very first appointed certain
exercises of piety to his servants; these, Satan, by afterwards transferring to
impious and superstitious worship, in many ways corrupted and depraved. Hence
those initiations of the Gentiles into their mysteries, and other degenerate
rites. Yet, although they were full of error and superstition, they were, at the
same time, an indication that men could not be without such external signs of
religion. But, as they were neither founded on the word of God, nor bore
reference to that truth which ought to be held forth by all signs, they are
unworthy of being named when mention is made of the sacred symbols which were
instituted by God, and have not been perverted from their end-viz. to be helps
to true piety. And they consist not of simple signs, like the rainbow and the
tree of life, but of ceremonies, or (if you prefer it) the signs here employed
are ceremonies. But since, as has been said above, they are testimonies of grace
and salvation from the Lord, so, in regard to us, they are marks of profession
by which we openly swear by the name of God, binding ourselves to be faithful to
him. Hence Chrysostom somewhere shrewdly gives them the name of pactions, by
which God enters into covenant with us, and we become bound to holiness and
purity of life, because a mutual stipulation is here interposed between God and
us. For as God there promises to cover and efface any guilt and penalty which we
may have incurred by transgression, and reconciles us to himself in his only
begotten Son, so we, in our turn, oblige ourselves by this profession to the
study of piety and righteousness. And hence it may be justly said, that such
sacraments are ceremonies, by which God is pleased to train his people, first,
to excite, cherish, and strengthen faith within; and, secondly, to testify our
religion to men.
20. Now these have been different at different times,
according to the dispensation which the Lord has seen meet to employ in
manifesting himself to men. Circumcision was enjoined on Abraham and his
posterity, and to it were afterwards added purifications and sacrifices, and
other rites of the Mosaic Law. These were the sacraments of the Jews even until
the advent of Christ. After these were abrogated, the two sacraments of Baptism
and the Lord’s Supper, which the Christian Church now employs, were
instituted. I speak of those which were instituted for the use of the whole
Church. For the laying on of hands, by which the ministers of the Church are
initiated into their office, though I have no objection to its being called a
sacrament, I do not number among ordinary sacraments. The place to be assigned
to the other commonly reputed sacraments we shall see by-and-by. Still the
ancient sacraments had the same end in view as our own-viz. to direct and almost
lead us by the hand to Christ, or rather, were like images to represent him and
hold him forth to our knowledge. But as we have already shown that sacraments
are a kind of seals of the promises of God, so let us hold it as a most certain
truth, that no divine promise has ever been offered to man except in Christ, and
that hence when they remind us of any divine promise, they must of necessity
exhibit Christ. Hence that heavenly pattern of the tabernacle and legal worship
which was shown to Moses in the mount. There is only this difference, that while
the former shadowed forth a promised Christ while he was still expected, the
latter bear testimony to him as already come and manifested.
21. When
these things are explained singly and separately, they will be much clearer.
Circumcision was a sign by which the Jews were reminded that whatever comes of
the seed of man-in other words, the whole nature of man-is corrupt, and requires
to be cut off; moreover, it was a proof and memorial to confirm them in the
promise made to Abraham, of a seed in whom all the nations of the earth should
be blessed, and from whom they themselves were to look for a blessing. That
saving seed, as we are taught by Paul (Gal. 5:16), was Christ, in whom alone
they trusted to recover what they had lost in Adam. Wherefore circumcision was
to them what Paul says it was to Abraham-viz. a sign of the righteousness of
faith (Rom. 9:11):-viz. a seal by which they were more certainly assured that
their faith in waiting for the Lord would be accepted by God for righteousness.
But we shall have a better opportunity elsewhere (chap. 16 sec. 3, 4) of
following out the comparison between circumcision and
baptism.59[3] Their washings and
purifications placed under their eye the uncleanness, defilement, and pollution
with which they were naturally contaminated, and promised another laver in which
all their impurities might be wiped and washed away. This laver was Christ,
washed by whose blood we bring his purity into the sight of God, that he may
cover all our defilements. The sacrifices convicted them of their
unrighteousness, and at the same time taught that there was a necessity for
paying some satisfaction to the justice of God; and that, therefore, there must
be some high priest, some mediator between God and man, to satisfy God by the
shedding of blood, and the immolation of a victim which might suffice for the
remission of sins. The high priest was Christ: he shed his own blood, he was
himself the victim: for in obedience to the Father, he offered himself to death,
and by this obedience abolished the disobedience by which man had provoked the
indignation of God (Phil. 2:8; Rom. 5:19).
22. In regard to our
sacraments, they present Christ the more clearly to us, the more familiarly he
has been manifested to man. ever since he was exhibited by the Father, truly as
he had been promised. For Baptism testifies that we are washed and purified; the
Supper of the Eucharist that we are redeemed. Ablution is figured by water,
satisfaction by blood. Both are found in Christ, who, as John says, “came
by water and blood;” that is, to purify and redeem. Of this the Spirit of
God also is a witness. Nay, there are three witnesses in one, water, Spirit, and
blood. In the water and blood we have an evidence of purification and
redemption, but the Spirit is the primary witness who gives us a full assurance
of this testimony. This sublime mystery was illustriously displayed on the cross
of Christ, when water and blood flowed from his sacred side (John 19:34); which,
for this reason, Augustine justly termed the fountain of our sacraments (August.
Hom. in Joann. 26). Of these we shall shortly treat at greater length. There is
no doubt that, it you compare time with time, the grace of the Spirit is now
more abundantly displayed. For this forms part of the glory of the kingdom of
Christ, as we gather from several passages, and especially from the seventh
chapter of John. In this sense are we to understand the words of Paul, that the
law was “a shadow of good things to come, but the body is of Christ”
(Col. 2:17). His purpose is not to declare the inefficacy of those
manifestations of grace in which God was pleased to prove his truth to the
patriarchs, just as he proves it to us in the present day in Baptism and the
Lord’s Supper, but to contrast the two, and show the great value of what
is given to us, that no one may think it strange that by the advent of Christ
the ceremonies of the law have been abolished.
23. The Scholastic dogma
(to glance at it in passing), by which the difference between the sacraments of
the old and the new dispensation is made so great, that the former did nothing
but shadow forth the grace of God, while the latter actually confer that it,
must be altogether exploded. Since the apostle speaks in no higher terms of the
one than of the other, when he says that the fathers ate of the same spiritual
food, and explains that that food was Christ (1 Cor. 10:3), who will presume to
regard as an empty sign that which gave a manifestation to the Jews of true
communion with Christ? And the state of the case which the apostle is there
treating militates strongly for our view. For to guard against confiding in a
frigid knowledge of Christ, an empty title of Christianity and external
observances, and thereby daring to contemn the judgment of God, he exhibits
signal examples of divine severity in the Jews, to make us aware that if we
indulge in the same vices, the same punishments which they suffered are
impending over us. Now, to make the comparison appropriate, it was necessary to
show that there is no inequality between us and them in those blessings in which
he forbade us to glory. Therefore, he first makes them equal to us in the
sacraments, and leaves us not one iota of privilege which could give us hopes of
impunity. Nor can we justly attribute more to our baptism than he elsewhere
attributes to circumcision, when he terms it a seal of the righteousness of
faith (Rom. 4:11). Whatever, therefore, is now exhibited to us in the
sacraments, the Jews formerly received in theirs-viz. Christ, with his spiritual
riches. The same efficacy which ours possess they experienced in theirs-viz.
that they were seals of the divine favour toward them in regard to the hope of
eternal salvation. Had the objectors been sound expounders of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, they would not have been so deluded, but reading therein that sins were
not expiated by legal ceremonies, nay, that the ancient shadows were of no
importance to justification, they overlooked the contrast which is there drawn,
and fastening on the single point, that the law in itself was of no avail to the
worshipper, thought that they were mere figures, devoid of truth. The purpose of
the apostle is to show that there is nothing in the ceremonial law until we
arrive at Christ, on whom alone the whole efficacy depends.
24. But they
will found on what Paul says of the circumcision of the
letter,59[4] and object that it is
in no esteem with God; that it confers nothing, is empty; that passages such as
these seem to set it far beneath our baptism. But by no means. For the very same
thing might justly be said of baptism. Indeed, it is said; first by Paul
himself, when he shows that God regards not the external ablution by which we
are initiated into religion, unless the mind is purified inwardly, and maintains
its purity to the end; and, secondly, by Peter, when he declares that the
reality of baptism consists not in external ablution, but in the testimony of a
good conscience. But it seems that in another passage he speaks with the
greatest contempt of circumcision made with hands, when he contrasts it with the
circumcision made by Christ. I answer, that not even in that passage is there
anything derogatory to its dignity. Paul is there disputing against those who
insisted upon it as necessary, after it had been abrogated. He therefore
admonishes believers to lay aside ancient shadows, and cleave to truth. These
teachers, he says, insist that your bodies shall be circumcised. But you have
been spiritually circumcised both in soul and body. You have, therefore, a
manifestation of the reality, and this is far better than the shadow. Still any
one might have answered, that the figure was not to be despised because they had
the reality, since among the fathers also was exemplified that putting off of
the old man of which he was speaking, and yet to them external circumcision was
not superfluous. This objection he anticipates, when he immediately adds, that
the Colossians were buried together with Christ by baptism, thereby intimating
that baptism is now to Christians what circumcision was to those of ancient
times; and that the latter, therefore, could not be imposed on Christians
without injury to the former.
25. But there is more difficulty in
explaining the passage which follows, and which I lately quote
[5]-viz. that all the Jewish
ceremonies were shadows of things to come, but the body is of Christ (Col.
2:17). The most difficult point of all, however, is that which is discussed in
several chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews-namely, that the blood of beasts
did not reach to the conscience; that the law was a shadow of good things to
come, but not the very image of the things (Heb. 10:1); that worshippers under
the Mosaic ceremonies obtained no degree of perfection, and so forth. I repeat
what I have already hinted, that Paul does not represent the ceremonies as
shadowy because they had nothing solid in them, but because their completion was
in a manner suspended until the manifestation of Christ.
[4] Again, I hold that the words are to
be understood not of their efficiency, but rather of the mode of significancy.
For until Christ was manifested in the flesh, all signs shadowed him as absent,
however he might inwardly exert the presence of his power, and consequently of
his person on believers. But the most important observation is, that in all
these passages Paul does not speak simply but by way of reply. He was contending
with false apostles, who maintained that piety consisted in mere ceremonies,
without any respect to Christ; for their refutation it was sufficient merely to
consider what effect ceremonies have in themselves. This, too, was the scope of
the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Let us remember, therefore, that he is
here treating of ceremonies not taken in their true and native signification,
but when wrested to a false and vicious interpretation, not of the legitimate
use, but of the superstitious abuse of them. What wonder, then, if ceremonies,
when separated from Christ, are devoid of all virtue? All signs become null when
the thing signified is taken away. Thus Christ, when addressing those who
thought that manna was nothing more than food for the body, accommodates his
language to their gross opinion, and says, that he furnished a better food, one
which fed souls for immortality. But if you require a clearer solution, the
substance comes to this: First, the whole apparatus of ceremonies under the
Mosaic law, unless directed to Christ, is evanescent and null. Secondly, these
ceremonies had such respect to Christ, that they had their fulfilment only when
Christ was manifested in the flesh. Lastly, at his advent they behoved to
disappear, just as the shadow vanishes in the clear light of the sun. But I now
touch more briefly on the point, because I defer the future consideration of it
till I come to the place where I intend to compare baptism with circumcision.
26. Those wretched sophists are perhaps deceived by the extravagant
eulogiums on our signs which occur in ancient writers: for instance, the
following passage of Augustine: “The sacraments of the old law only
promised a Saviour, whereas ours give salvation” (August. Proem. in Ps.
73). Not perceiving that these and similar figures of speech are hyperbolical,
they too have promulgated their hyperbolical dogmas, but in a sense altogether
alien from that of ancient writers. For Augustine means nothing more than in
another place where he says, “The sacraments of the Mosaic law foretold
Christ, ours announce him” (QuÊst. sup. Numer. c. 33). And again,
“Those were promises of things to be fulfilled, these indications of the
fulfilment” (Contra Faustum, Lib. 19 c. 14); as if he had said, Those
figured him when he was still expected, ours, now that he has arrived, exhibit
him as present. Moreover, with regard to the mode of signifying, he says, as he
also elsewhere indicates, “The Law and the Prophets had sacraments
foretelling a thing future, the sacraments of our time attest that what they
foretold as to come has come” (Cont. Liter. Petil. Lib. 2 c. 37). His
sentiments concerning the reality and efficacy, he explains in several passages,
as when he says, “The sacraments of the Jews were different in the signs,
alike in the things signified; different in the visible appearance, alike in
spiritual power” (Hom. in Joann. 26). Again, “In different signs
there was the same faith: it was thus in different signs as in different words,
because the words change the sound according to times, and yet words are nothing
else than signs. The fathers drank of the same spiritual drink, but not of the
same corporeal drink. See then, how, while faith remains, signs vary. There the
rock was Christ; to us that is Christ which is placed on the altar. They as a
great sacrament drank of the water flowing from the rock: believers know what we
drink. If you look at the visible appearance there was a difference; if at the
intelligible signification, they drank of the same spiritual drink.”
Again, “In this mystery their food and drink are the same as ours; the
same in meaning, not in form, for the same Christ was figured to them in the
rock; to us he has been manifested in the flesh” (in Ps. 77). Though we
grant that in this respect also there is some difference. Both testify that the
paternal kindness of God, and the graces of the Spirit, are offered us in
Christ, but ours more clearly and splendidly. In both there is an exhibition of
Christ, but in ours it is more full and complete, in accordance with that
distinction between the Old and New Testaments of which we have discoursed
above. And this is the meaning of Augustine (whom we quote more frequently, as
being the best and most faithful witness of all antiquity), where he says that
after Christ was revealed, sacraments were instituted, fewer in number, but of
more august significancy and more excellent power (De Doct. Christ. Lib. 3; et
Ep. ad Janur.). It is here proper to remind the reader, that all the trifling
talk of the sophists concerning the opus
operatum,59[6]
[5] is not only false. but repugnant to
the very nature of sacraments, which God appointed in order that believers, who
are void and in want of all good. might bring nothing of their own, but simply
beg. Hence it follows, that in receiving them they do nothing which deserves
praise, and that in this action (which in respect of them is merely
passive59[7]) no work can be
ascribed to them.
CHAPTER
15.
OF BAPTISM.
There are two parts
of this chapter,-I. Dissertation on the two ends of Baptism, sec. 1-13. II. The
second part may be reduced to four heads. Of the use of Baptism, sec. 14, 15. Of
the worthiness or unworthiness of the minister, sec. 16-18. Of the corruptions
by which this sacrament was polluted, sec. 19. To whom reference is had in the
dispensation, sec. 20-22.
Sections.
1. Baptism defined.
Its primary object. This consists of three things. 1. To attest the forgiveness
of sins.
2. Passages of Scripture proving the forgiveness of sins.
3. Forgiveness not only of past but also of future sins. This no
encouragement to license in sin.
4 Refutation of those who share
forgiveness between Baptism and Repentance.
5 Second thing in
Baptism-viz. to teach that we are ingrafted into Christ for mortification and
newness of life.
6. Third thing in Baptism-viz. to teach us that we are
united to Christ so as to be partakers of all his blessings. Second and third
things conspicuous in the baptism both of John and the apostles.
7.
Identity of the baptism of John and the apostles.
8. An objection to
this refuted.
9. The benefits of baptism typified to the Israelites by
the passage of the Red Sea and the pillar of cloud.
10. Objection of
those who imagine that there is some kind of perfect renovation after baptism.
Original depravity remains after baptism. Its existence in infants. The elect
after baptism are righteous in this life only by imputation.
11.
Original corruption trying to the pious during the whole course of their lives.
They do not, on this account, seek a licence for sin. They rather walk more
cautiously and safely in the ways of the Lord.
12. The trouble
occasioned by corruption, shown by the example and testimony of the Apostle
Paul.
13. Another end of baptism is to serve as our confession to men.
14. Second part of the chapter. Of baptism as a confirmation of our
faith.
15. This illustrated by the examples of Cornelius and Paul. Of
the use of baptism as a confession of faith.
16. Baptism not affected
by the worthiness or unworthiness of the minister. Hence no necessity to
rebaptise those who were baptised under the Papacy.
17. Nothing in the
argument that those so baptised remained some years blind and unbelieving. The
promise of God remains firm. God, in inviting the Jews to repentance, does not
enjoin them to be again circumcised.
18. No ground to allege that Paul
rebaptised certain of John’s disciples. The baptism of John. What it is to
be baptised in the name of Christ.
19. The corruptions introduced into
baptism. The form of pure Christian baptism. Immersion or sprinkling should be
left free.
20. To whom the dispensation of baptism belongs. Not to
private individuals or women, but to the ministers of the Church. Origin of the
baptism of private individuals and women. An argument in favour of it refuted.
21. Exploded also by Tertullian and Epiphanius.
22. Objection
founded on the case of Zipporah. Answer. Children dying before baptism not
excluded from heaven, provided the want of it was not caused by negligence or
contempt.
1. BAPTISM is the initiatory sign by which we are admitted to
the fellowship of the Church, that being ingrafted into Christ we may be
accounted children of God. Moreover, the end for which God has given it (this I
have shown to be common to all mysteries) is, first, that it may be conducive to
our faith in him; and, secondly, that it may serve the purpose of a confession
among men. The nature of both institutions we shall explain in order. Baptism
contributes to our faith three things, which require to be treated separately.
The first object, therefore, for which it is appointed by the Lord, is to be a
sign and evidence of our purification, or (better to explain my meaning) it is a
kind of sealed instrument by which he assures us that all our sins are so
deleted, covered, and effaced, that they will never come into his sight, never
be mentioned, never imputed. For it is his will that all who have believed, be
baptised for the remission of sins. Hence those who have thought that baptism is
nothing else than the badge and mark by which we profess our religion before
men, in the same way as soldiers attest their profession by bearing the insignia
of their commander, having not attended to what was the principal thing in
baptism; and this is, that we are to receive it in connection with the promise,
“He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).
2. In this sense is to be understood the statement of Paul, that
“Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:25, 26); and
again, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost” (Titus 3:5). Peter also says that “baptism also doth now save
us” (1 Peter 3:21). For he did not mean to intimate that our ablution and
salvation are perfected by water, or that water possesses in itself the virtue
of purifying, regenerating, and renewing; nor does he mean that it is the cause
of salvation, but only that the knowledge and certainty of such gifts are
perceived in this sacrament. This the words themselves evidently show. For Paul
connects together the word of life and baptism of water, as if he had said, by
the gospel the message of our ablution and sanctification is announced; by
baptism this message is sealed. And Peter immediately subjoins, that that
baptism is “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer
of a good conscience toward God, which is of faith.” Nay, the only
purification which baptism promises is by means of the sprinkling of the blood
of Christ, who is figured by water from the resemblance to cleansing and
washing. Who, then, can say that we are cleansed by that water which certainly
attests that the blood of Christ is our true and only laver? So that we cannot
have a better argument to refute the hallucination of those who ascribe the
whole to the virtue of water than we derive from the very meaning of baptism,
which leads us away as well from the visible element which is presented to our
eye, as from all other means, that it may fix our minds on Christ alone.
3. Nor is it to be supposed that baptism is bestowed only with reference
to the past, so that, in regard to new lapses into which we fall after baptism,
we must seek new remedies of expiation in other so-called sacraments, just as if
the power of baptism had become obsolete. To this error, in ancient times, it
was owing that some refused to be initiated by baptism until their life was in
extreme danger, and they were drawing their last breath, that they might thus
obtain pardon for all the past. Against this preposterous precaution ancient
bishops frequently inveigh in their writings. We ought to consider that at
whatever time we are baptised, we are washed and purified once for the whole of
life. Wherefore, as often as we fall, we must recall the remembrance of our
baptism, and thus fortify our minds, so as to feel certain and secure of the
remission of sins. For though, when once administered, it seems to have passed,
it is not abolished by subsequent sins. For the purity of Christ was therein
offered to us, always is in force, and is not destroyed by any stain: it wipes
and washes away all our defilements. Nor must we hence assume a licence of
sinning for the future (there is certainly nothing in it to countenance such
audacity), but this doctrine is intended only for those who, when they have
sinned, groan under their sins burdened and oppressed, that they may have
wherewith to support and console themselves, and not rush headlong into despair.
Thus Paul says that Christ was made a propitiation for us for the remission of
sins that are past (Rom. 3:25). By this he denies not that constant and
perpetual forgiveness of sins is thereby obtained even till death: he only
intimates that it is designed by the Father for those poor sinners who, wounded
by remorse of conscience, sigh for the physician. To these the mercy of God is
offered. Those who, from hopes of impunity, seek a licence for sin, only provoke
the wrath and justice of God.
4. I know it is a common belief that
forgiveness, which at our first regeneration we receive by baptism alone, is
after baptism procured by means of penitence and the keys (see chap. 19 sec.
17). But those who entertain this fiction err from not considering that the
power of the keys, of which they speak, so depends on baptism, that it ought not
on any account to be separated from it. The sinner receives forgiveness by the
ministry of the Church; in other words, not without the preaching of the gospel.
And of what nature is this preaching? That we are washed from our sins by the
blood of Christ. And what is the sign and evidence of that washing if it be not
baptism? We see, then, that that forgiveness has reference to baptism. This
error had its origin in the fictitious sacrament of penance, on which I have
already touched. What remains will be said at the proper place. There is no
wonder if men who, from the grossness of their minds, are excessively attached
to external things, have here also betrayed the defect,-if not contented with
the pure institution of God, they have introduced new helps devised by
themselves, as if baptism were not itself a sacrament of penance. But if
repentance is recommended during the whole of life, the power of baptism ought
to have the same extent. Wherefore, there can be no doubt that all the godly
may, during the whole course of their lives, whenever they are vexed by a
consciousness of their sins, recall the remembrance of their baptism, that they
may thereby assure themselves of that sole and perpetual ablution which we have
in the blood of Christ.
5. Another benefit of baptism is, that it shows
us our mortification in Christ and new life in him. “Know ye not,”
says the apostle, “that as many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ,
were baptised into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death,” that we “should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3,
4). By these words, he not only exhorts us to imitation of Christ, as if he had
said, that we are admonished by baptism, in like manner as Christ died, to die
to our lusts, and as he rose, to rise to righteousness; but he traces the matter
much higher, that Christ by baptism has made us partakers of his death,
ingrafting us into it. And as the twig derives substance and nourishment from
the root to which it is attached, so those who receive baptism with true faith
truly feel the efficacy of Christ’s death in the mortification of their
flesh, and the efficacy of his resurrection in the quickening of the Spirit. On
this he founds his exhortation, that if we are Christians we should be dead unto
sin, and alive unto righteousness. He elsewhere uses the same argument-viz. that
we are circumcised, and put off the old man, after we are buried in Christ by
baptism (Col. 2:12). And in this sense, in the passage which we formerly quoted,
he calls it “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost” (Tit. 3:5). We are promised, first, the free pardon of sins and
imputation of righteousness; and, secondly, the grace of the Holy Spirit, to
form us again to newness of life.
6. The last advantage which our faith
receives from baptism is its assuring us not only that we are ingrafted into the
death and life of Christ, but so united to Christ himself as to be partakers of
all his blessings. For he consecrated and sanctified baptism in his own body,
that he might have it in common with us as the firmest bond of union and
fellowship which he deigned to form with us; and hence Paul proves us to be the
sons of God, from the fact that we put on Christ in baptism (Gal. 3:27). Thus we
see the fulfilment of our baptism in Christ, whom for this reason we call the
proper object of baptism. Hence it is not strange that the apostles are said to
have baptised in the name of Christ, though they were enjoined to baptise in the
name of the Father and Spirit also (Acts 8:16; 19:5; Mt. 28:19). For all the
divine gifts held forth in baptism are found in Christ alone. And yet he who
baptises into Christ cannot but at the same time invoke the name of the Father
and the Spirit. For we are cleansed by his blood, just because our gracious
Father, of his incomparable mercy, willing to receive us into favour, appointed
him Mediator to effect our reconciliation with himself. Regeneration we obtain
from his death and resurrection only, when sanctified by his Spirit we are
imbued with a new and spiritual nature. Wherefore we obtain, and in a manner
distinctly perceive, in the Father the cause, in the Son the matter, and in the
Spirit the effect of our purification and regeneration. Thus first John
baptised, and thus afterwards the apostles by the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins, understanding by the term repentance, regeneration,
and by the remission of sins, ablution.
7. This makes it
perfectly certain that the ministry of John was the very same as that which was
afterwards delegated to the apostles. For the different hands by which baptism
is administered do not make it a different baptism, but sameness of doctrine
proves it to be the same. John and the apostles agreed in one doctrine. Both
baptised unto repentance, both for remission of sins, both in the name of
Christ, from whom repentance and remission of sins proceed. John pointed to him
as the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world (John 1:29), thus
describing him as the victim accepted of the Father, the propitiation of
righteousness, and the author of salvation. What could the apostles add to this
confession? Wherefore, let no one be perplexed because ancient writers labour to
distinguish the one from the other. Their views ought not to be in such esteem
with us as to shake the certainty of Scripture. For who would listen to
Chrysostom denying that remission of sins was included in the baptism of John
(Hom. in Mt. 1:14), rather than to Luke asserting, on the contrary, that John
preached “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins?”
(Luke 3:3). Nor can we admit Augustine’s subtlety, that by the baptism of
John sins were forgiven in hope, but by the baptism of Christ are forgiven in
reality. For seeing the Evangelist clearly declares that John in his baptism
promised the remission of sins, why detract from this eulogium when no necessity
compels it? Should any one ask what difference the word of God makes, he will
find it to be nothing more than that John baptised in the name of him who was to
come, the apostles in the name of him who was already manifested (Luke 3:16;
Acts 19:4).
8. This fact, that the gifts of the Spirit were more
liberally poured out after the resurrection of Christ, does not go to establish
a diversity of baptisms. For baptism, administered by the apostles while he was
still on the earth, was called his baptism, and yet the Spirit was not poured
out in larger abundance on it than on the baptism of John. Nay, not even after
the ascension did the Samaritans receive the Spirit above the ordinary measure
of former believers, till Peter and John were sent to lay hands on them (Acts
8:14-17). I imagine that the thing which imposed on ancient writers, and made
them say that the one baptism was only a preparative to the other, was, because
they read that those who had received the baptism of John were again baptised by
Paul (Acts 19:3-5; Mt. 3:11). How greatly they are mistaken in this will be most
clearly explained in its own place. Why, then, did John say that he baptised
with water, but there was one coming who would baptise with the Holy Ghost and
with fire? This may be explained in a few words. He did not mean to distinguish
the one baptism from the other, but he contrasted his own person with the person
of Christ, saying, that while he was a minister of water, Christ was the giver
of the Holy Spirit, and would declare this virtue by a visible miracle on the
day on which he would send the Holy Spirit on the apostles, under the form of
tongues of fire. What greater boast could the apostles make, and what greater
those who baptise in the present day? For they are only ministers of the
external sign, whereas Christ is the Author of internal grace, as those same
ancient writers uniformly teach, and, in particular, Augustine, who, in his
refutation of the Donatists, founds chiefly on this axiom, Whoever it is that
baptises, Christ alone presides.
9. The things which we have said, both
of mortification and ablution, were adumbrated among the people of Israel, who,
for that reason, are described by the apostle as having been baptised in the
cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. 10:2). Mortification was figured when the Lord,
vindicating them from the hand of Pharaoh and from cruel bondage, paved a way
for them through the Red Sea, and drowned Pharaoh himself and their Egyptian
foes, who were pressing close behind, and threatening them with destruction. For
in this way also he promises us in baptism, and shows by a given sign that we
are led by his might, and delivered from the captivity of Egypt, that is, from
the bondage of sin, that our Pharaoh is drowned; in other words, the devil,
although he ceases not to try and harass us. But as that Egyptian was not
plunged into the depth of the sea, but cast out upon the shore, still alarmed
the Israelites by the terror of his look, though he could not hurt them, so our
enemy still threatens, shows his arms and is felt, but cannot conquer. The cloud
was a symbol of purification (Num. 9:18). For as the Lord then covered them by
an opposite cloud, and kept them cool, that they might not faint or pine away
under the burning rays of the sun; so in baptism we perceive that we are covered
and protected by the blood of Christ, lest the wrath of God, which is truly an
intolerable flame, should lie upon us. Although the mystery was then obscure,
and known to few, yet as there is no other method of obtaining salvation than in
those two graces, God was pleased that the ancient fathers, whom he had adopted
as heirs, should be furnished with both badges.
10. It is now clear how
false the doctrine is which some long ago taught, and others still persist in,
that by baptism we are exempted and set free from original sin, and from the
corruption which was propagated by Adam to all his posterity, and that we are
restored to the same righteousness and purity of nature which Adam would have
had if he had maintained the integrity in which he was created. This class of
teachers never understand what is meant by original sin, original righteousness,
or the grace of baptism. Now, it has been previously shown (Book 2 chap. 1 sec.
8), that original sin is the depravity and corruption of our nature, which first
makes us liable to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which
Scripture terms the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19). The two things,
therefore, must be distinctly observed-viz. that we are vitiated and perverted
in all parts of our nature, and then, on account of this corruption, are justly
held to be condemned and convicted before God, to whom nothing is acceptable but
purity, innocence, and righteousness. And hence, even infants bring their
condemnation with them from their mother’s womb; for although they have
not yet brought forth the fruits of their unrighteousness, they have its seed
included in them. Nay, their whole nature is, as it were, a seed of sin, and,
therefore, cannot but be odious and abominable to God. Believers become assured
by baptism, that this condemnation is entirely withdrawn from them, since (as
has been said) the Lord by this sign promises that a full and entire remission
has been made, both of the guilt which was imputed to us, and the penalty
incurred by the guilt. They also apprehend righteousness, but such righteousness
as the people of God can obtain in this life-viz. by imputation only, God, in
his mercy, regarding them as righteous and innocent.
11. Another point
is, that this corruption never ceases in us, but constantly produces new
fruits-viz. those works of the flesh which we previously described, just as a
burning furnace perpetually sends forth flame and sparks, or a fountain is ever
pouring out water. For concupiscence never wholly dies or is extinguished in
men, until, freed by death from the body of death, they have altogether laid
aside their own nature (Book 3 chap. 3 sec. 10-13). Baptism, indeed, tells us
that our Pharaoh is drowned and sin mortified; not so, however, as no longer to
exist, or give no trouble, but only so as not to have dominion. For as long as
we live shut up in this prison of the body, the remains of sin dwell in us, but
if we faithfully hold the promise which God has given us in baptism, they will
neither rule nor reign. But let no man deceive himself, let no man look
complacently on his disease, when he hears that sin always dwells in us. When we
say so, it is not in order that those who are otherwise too prone to sin may
sleep securely in their sins, but only that those who are tried and stung by the
flesh may not faint and despond. Let them rather reflect that they are still on
the way, and think that they have made great progress when they feel that their
concupiscence is somewhat diminished from day to day, until they shall have
reached the point at which they aim-viz. the final death of the flesh; a death
which shall be completed at the termination of this mortal life. Meanwhile, let
them cease not to contend strenuously, and animate themselves to further
progress, and press on to complete victory. Their efforts should be stimulated
by the consideration, that after a lengthened struggle much still remains to be
done. We ought to hold that we are baptised for the mortification of our flesh,
which is begun in baptism, is prosecuted every day, and will be finished when we
depart from this life to go to the Lord.
12. Here we say nothing more
than the apostle Paul expounds most clearly in the sixth and seventh chapters of
the Epistle to the Romans. He had discoursed of free justification, but as some
wicked men thence inferred that they were to live as they listed, because their
acceptance with God was not procured by the merit of works, he adds, that all
who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ are at the same time
regenerated by the Spirit, and that we have an earnest of this regeneration in
baptism. Hence he exhorts believers not to allow sin to reign in their members.
And because he knew that there is always some infirmity in believers, lest they
should be cast down on this account, he adds, for their consolation, that they
are not under the law. Again, as there may seem a danger that Christians might
grow presumptuous because they were not under the yoke of the law, he shows what
the nature of the abrogation is, and at the same time what the use of the law
is. This question he had already postponed a second time. The substance is, that
we are freed from the rigour of the law in order that we may adhere to Christ,
and that the office of the law is to convince us of our depravity, and make us
confess our impotence and wretchedness. Moreover, as this malignity of nature is
not so easily apparent in a profane man who, without fear of God, indulges his
passions, he gives an example in the regenerate man, in other words, in himself.
He therefore says that he had a constant struggle with the remains of his flesh,
and was kept in miserable bondage, so as to be unable to devote himself entirely
to the obedience of the divine law. Hence he is forced to groan and exclaim,
“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?” (Rom. 7:24). But if the children of God are kept captive in prison
as long as they live, they must necessarily feel very anxious at the thought of
their danger, unless their fears are allayed. For this single purpose, then, he
subjoins the consolation, that there is “now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Hence he teaches that those whom the Lord
has once admitted into favour, and ingrafted into communion with Christ, and
received into the fellowship of the Church by baptism, are freed from guilt and
condemnation while they persevere in the faith of Christ, though they may be
beset by sin and thus bear sin about with them. If this is the simple and
genuine interpretation of Paul’s meaning, we cannot think that there is
anything strange in the doctrine which he here
delivers.59[8]
13. Baptism
serves as our confession before men, inasmuch as it is a mark by which we openly
declare that we wish to be ranked among the people of God, by which we testify
that we concur with all Christians in the worship of one God, and in one
religion; by which, in short, we publicly assert our faith, so that not only do
our hearts breathe, but our tongues also, and all the members of our body, in
every way they can, proclaim the praise of God. In this way, as is meet,
everything we have is made subservient to the glory of God, which ought
everywhere to be displayed, and others are stimulated by our example to the same
course. To this Paul referred when he asked the Corinthians whether or not they
had been baptised in the name of Christ (1 Cor. 1:13); intimating, that by the
very circumstance of having been baptised in his name, they had devoted
themselves to him, had sworn and bound themselves in allegiance to him before
men, so that they could no longer confess any other than Christ alone, unless
they would abjure the confession which they had made in baptism.
14. Now
that the end to which the Lord had regard in the institution of baptism has been
explained, it is easy to judge in what way we ought to use and receive it. For
inasmuch as it is appointed to elevate, nourish, and confirm our faith, we are
to receive it as from the hand of its author, being firmly persuaded that it is
himself who speaks to us by means of the sign; that it is himself who washes and
purifies us, and effaces the remembrance of our faults; that it is himself who
makes us the partakers of his death, destroys the kingdom of Satan, subdues the
power of concupiscence, nay, makes us one with himself, that being clothed with
him we may be accounted the children of God. These things, I say, we ought to
feel as truly and certainly in our mind as we see our body washed, immersed, and
surrounded with water. For this analogy or similitude furnishes the surest rule
in the sacraments-viz. that in corporeal things we are to see spiritual, just as
if they were actually exhibited to our eye, since the Lord has been pleased to
represent them by such figures; not that such graces are included and bound in
the sacrament, so as to be conferred by its efficacy, but only that by this
badge the Lord declares to us that he is pleased to bestow all these things upon
us. Nor does he merely feed our eyes with bare show; he leads us to the actual
object, and effectually performs what he figures.
15. We have a proof of
this in Cornelius the centurion, who, after he had been previously endued with
the graces of the Holy Spirit, was baptised for the remission of sins, not
seeking a fuller forgiveness from baptism, but a surer exercise of faith; nay,
an argument for assurance from a pledge. It will, perhaps, be objected, Why did
Ananias say to Paul that he washed away his sins by baptism (Acts 22:16), if
sins are not washed away by the power of baptism? I answer, we are said to
receive, procure, and obtain, whatever according to the perception of our faith
is exhibited to us by the Lord, whether he then attests it for the first time,
or gives additional confirmation to what he had previously attested. All then
that Ananias meant to say was, Be baptised, Paul, that you may be assured that
your sins are forgiven you. In baptism, the Lord promises forgiveness of sins:
receive it, and be secure. I have no intention, however, to detract from the
power of baptism. I would only add to the sign the substance and reality,
inasmuch as God works by external means. But from this sacrament, as from all
others, we gain nothing, unless in so far as we receive in faith. If faith is
wanting, it will be an evidence of our ingratitude, by which we are proved
guilty before God, for not believing the promise there given. In so far as it is
a sign of our confession, we ought thereby to testify that we confide in the
mercy of God, and are pure, through the forgiveness of sins which Christ Jesus
has procured for us; that we have entered into the Church of God, that with one
consent of faith and love we may live in concord with all believers. This last
was Paul’s meaning, when he said that “by one Spirit are we all
baptised into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13).
16. Moreover, if we have
rightly determined that a sacrament is not to be estimated by the hand of him by
whom it is administered, but is to be received as from the hand of God himself,
from whom it undoubtedly proceeded, we may hence infer that its dignity neither
gains nor loses by the administrator. And, just as among men, when a letter has
been sent, if the hand and seal is recognised, it is not of the least
consequence who or what the messenger was; so it ought to be sufficient for us
to recognise the hand and seal of our Lord in his sacraments, let the
administrator be who he may. This confutes the error of the Donatists, who
measured the efficacy and worth of the sacrament by the dignity of the minister.
Such in the present day are our Catabaptists, who deny that we are duly
baptised, because we were baptised in the Papacy by wicked men and idolaters;
hence they furiously insist on anabaptism. Against these absurdities we shall be
sufficiently fortified if we reflect that by baptism we were initiated not into
the name of any man, but into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit; and, therefore, that baptism is not of man, but of God, by whomsoever it
may have been administered. Be it that those who baptised us were most ignorant
of God and all piety, or were despisers, still they did not baptise us into a
fellowship with their ignorance or sacrilege, but into the faith of Jesus
Christ, because the name which they invoked was not their own but God’s,
nor did they baptise into any other name. But if baptism was of God, it
certainly included in it the promise of forgiveness of sin, mortification of the
flesh, quickening of the Spirit, and communion with Christ. Thus it did not harm
the Jews that they were circumcised by impure and apostate priests. It did not
nullify the symbol so as to make it necessary to repeat it. It was enough to
return to its genuine origin. The objection that baptism ought to be celebrated
in the assembly of the godly, does not prove that it loses its whole efficacy
because it is partly defective. When we show what ought to be done to keep
baptism pure and free from every taint, we do not abolish the institution of God
though idolaters may corrupt it. Circumcision was anciently vitiated by many
superstitions, and yet ceased not to be regarded as a symbol of grace; nor did
Josiah and Hezekiah, when they assembled out of all Israel those who had
revolted from God, call them to be circumcised anew.
17. Then, again,
when they ask us what faith for several years followed our baptism, that they
may thereby prove that our baptism was in vain, since it is not sanctified
unless the word of the promise is received with faith, our answer is, that being
blind and unbelieving, we for a long time did not hold the promise which was
given us in baptism, but that still the promise, as it was of God, always
remained fixed, and firm, and true. Although all men should be false and
perfidious, yet God ceases not to be true (Rom. 3:3, 4); though all were lost,
Christ remains safe. We acknowledge, therefore, that at that time baptism
profited us nothing, since in us the offered promise, without which baptism is
nothing, lay neglected. Now, when by the grace of God we begin to repent, we
accuse our blindness and hardness of heart in having been so long ungrateful for
his great goodness. But we do not believe that the promise itself has vanished,
we rather reflect thus: God in baptism promises the remission of sins, and will
undoubtedly perform what he has promised to all believers. That promise was
offered to us in baptism, let us therefore embrace it in faith. In regard to us,
indeed, it was long buried on account of unbelief; now, therefore, let us with
faith receive it. Wherefore, when the Lord invites the Jewish people to
repentance, he gives no injunction concerning another circumcision, though (as
we have said) they were circumcised by a wicked and sacrilegious hand, and had
long lived in the same impiety. All he urges is conversion of heart. For how
much soever the covenant might have been violated by them, the symbol of the
covenant always remained, according to the appointment of the Lord, firm and
inviolable. Solely, therefore, on the condition of repentance, were they
restored to the covenant which God had once made with them in circumcision,
though this which they had received at the hand of a covenant-breaking priest,
they had themselves as much as in them lay polluted and extinguished.
18. But they seem to think the weapon which they brandish irresistible,
when they allege that Paul rebaptised those who had been baptised with the
baptism of John (Acts 19:3, 5). For if, by our confession, the baptism of John
was the same as ours, then, in like manner as those who had been improperly
trained, when they learned the true faith, were rebaptised into it, ought that
baptism which was without true doctrine to be accounted as nothing, and hence we
ought to be baptised anew into the true religion with which we are now, for the
first time, imbued? It seems to some that it was a foolish imitator of John,
who, by a former baptism, had initiated them into vain superstition. This, it is
thought, may be conjectured from the fact, that they acknowledge their entire
ignorance of the Holy Spirit, an ignorance in which John never would have left
his disciples. But it is not probable that the Jews, even though they had not
been baptised at all, would have been destitute of all knowledge of the Spirit,
who is celebrated in so many passages of Scripture. Their answer, therefore,
that they knew not whether there was a Spirit, must be understood as if they had
said, that they had not yet heard whether or not the gifts of the Spirit, as to
which Paul questioned them, were given to the disciples of Christ. I grant that
John’s was a true baptism, and one and the same with the baptism of
Christ. But I deny that they were rebaptised (see Calv. Instruct. adv.
Anabapt.). What then is meant by the words, “They were baptised in the
name of the Lord Jesus”? Some interpret that they were only instructed in
sound doctrine by Paul; but I would rather interpret more simply, that the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, in other words, the visible gifts of the Holy
Spirit, were given by the laying on of hands. These are sometimes designated
under the name of baptism. Thus, on the day of Pentecost, the apostles are said
to have remembered the words of the Lord concerning the baptism of the Spirit
and of fire. And Peter relates that the same words occurred to him when he saw
these gifts poured out on Cornelius and his family and kindred. There is nothing
repugnant to this interpretation in its being afterwards added, “When Paul
had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them” (Acts 19:6).
For Luke does not narrate two different things, but follows the form of
narrative common to the Hebrews, who first give the substance, and then explain
more fully. This any one may perceive from the mere context. For he says,
“When they heard this they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them.” In
this last sentence is described what the nature of the baptism was. But if
ignorance vitiates a former, and requires to be corrected by a second baptism,
the apostles should first of all have been rebaptised, since for more than three
full years after their baptism they had scarcely received any slender portion of
purer doctrine. Then so numerous being the acts of ignorance which by the mercy
of God are daily corrected in us, what rivers would suffice for so many repeated
baptisms?
19. The force, dignity, utility, and end of the sacrament must
now, if I mistake not, be sufficiently clear. In regard to the external symbol,
I wish the genuine institution of Christ had been maintained as fit to repress
the audacity of men. As if to be baptised with water, according to the precept
of Christ, had been a contemptible thing, a benedicion, or rather incantation,
was devised to pollute the true consecration of water. There was afterwards
added the taper and chrism, while
exorcism59[9] was thought to open
the door for baptism. Though I am not unaware how ancient the origin of this
adventitious farrago is, still it is lawful for me and all the godly to reject
whatever men have presumed to add to the institution of Christ. When Satan saw
that by the foolish credulity of the world his impostures were received almost
without objection at the commencement of the gospel, he proceeded to grosser
mockery: hence spittle and other follies, to the open disgrace of baptism, were
introduced with unbridled
licence.60[0] From our experience
of them, let us learn that there is nothing holier, or better, or safer, than to
be contented with the authority of Christ alone. How much better, therefore, is
it to lay aside all theatrical pomp, which dazzles the eyes of the simple, and
dulls their minds, and when any one is to be baptised to bring him forward and
present him to God, the whole Church looking on as witnesses, and praying over
him; to recite the Confession of Faith, in which the catechumen has been
instructed, explain the promises which are given in baptism, then baptise in the
name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and conclude with prayer
and thanksgiving. In this way, nothing which is appropriate would be omitted,
and the one ceremony, which proceeded from its divine Author, would shine forth
most brightly, not being buried or polluted by extraneous observances. Whether
the person baptised is to be wholly immersed, and that whether once or thrice,
or whether he is only to be sprinkled with water, is not of the least
consequence: churches should be at liberty to adopt either, according to the
diversity of climates, although it is evident that the term baptise means
to immerse, and that this was the form used by the primitive
Church.60[1]
[6]
20. It is here also
pertinent to observe, that it is improper for private individuals to take upon
themselves the administration of baptism; for it, as well as the dispensation of
the Supper, is part of the ministerial office. For Christ did not give command
to any men or women whatever to baptise, but to those whom he had appointed
apostles. And when, in the administration of the Supper, he ordered his
disciples to do what they had seen him do (he having done the part of a
legitimate dispenser), he doubtless meant that in this they should imitate his
example. The practice which has been in use for many ages, and even almost from
the very commencement of the Church, for laics to baptise, in danger of death,
when a minister could not be present in time, cannot, it appears to me, be
defended on sufficient grounds. Even the early Christians who observed or
tolerated this practice were not clear whether it were rightly done. This doubt
is expressed by Augustine when he says, “Although a laic have given
baptism when compelled by necessity, I know not whether any one can piously say
that it ought to be repeated. For if it is done without any necessity compelling
it, it is usurpation of another’s office; but if necessity urges, it is
either no fault, or a venial one” (August. Cont. Epist. Parmen. Lib. 2 c.
13). With regard to women, it was decreed, without exception, in the Council of
Carthage (cap. 100), that they were not to presume to baptise at all. But there
is a danger that he who is sick may be deprived of the gift of regeneration if
he decease without baptism! By no means. Our children, before they are born, God
declares that he adopts for his own when he promises that he will be a God to
us, and to our seed after us. In this promise their salvation is included. None
will dare to offer such an insult to God as to deny that he is able to give
effect to his promise. How much evil has been caused by the dogma, ill
expounded, that baptism is necessary to salvation, few perceive, and therefore
think caution the less necessary. For when the opinion prevails that all are
lost who happen not to be dipped in water, our condition becomes worse than that
of God’s ancient people, as if his grace were more restrained than under
the Law. In that case, Christ will be thought to have come not to fulfil, but to
abolish the promises, since the promise, which was then effectual in itself to
confer salvation before the eighth day, would not now be effectual without the
help of a sign.
21. What the custom was before Augustine’s day is
gathered, first, from Tertullian, who says, that a woman is not permitted to
speak in the Church, nor yet to teach, or baptise, or offer, that she may not
claim to herself any office of the man, not to say of the priest (Tertull. Cont.
HÊres. Lib. 1). Of the same thing we have a sufficient witness in
Epiphanius, when he upbraids Marcian with giving permission to women to baptise.
I am not unaware of the answer given by those who take an opposite view-viz.
that common use is very different from an extraordinary remedy used under the
pressure of extreme necessity-but since he declares it mockery to allow women to
baptise, and makes no exception, it is sufficiently plain that the corruption is
condemned as inexcusable on any pretext. In his Third Book, also, when he says
that it was not even permitted to the holy mother of Christ, he makes no
reservation.
22. The example of Zipporah (Exod. 4:25) is irrelevantly
quoted. Because the angel of God was appeased after she took a stone and
circumcised her son, it is erroneously inferred that her act was approved by
God. Were it so, we must say that God was pleased with a worship which Gentiles
brought from Assyria, and set up in
Samaria.60[2] But other valid
reasons prove, that what a foolish woman did is ignorantly drawn into a
precedent. Were I to say that there was something special in the case, making it
unfit for a precedent-and especially as we nowhere read that the command to
circumcise was specially given to priests, the cases of baptism and circumcision
are different-I should give a sufficient refutation. For the words of Christ are
plain: “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them”
(Mt. 28:19). Since he appointed the same persons to be preachers of the Gospel,
and dispensers of baptism-and in the Church, “no man taketh this honour
unto himself,” as the apostle declares (Heb. 5:4), “but he that is
called of God, as was Aaron”-any one who baptises without a lawful call
usurps another’s office. Paul declares, that whatever we attempt with a
dubious conscience, even in the minutest matters, as in meat and drink, is sin
(Rom. 14:23). Therefore, in baptism by women, the sin is the greater, when it is
plain that the rule delivered by Christ is violated, seeing we know it to be
unlawful to put asunder what God has joined. But all this I pass; only I would
have my readers to observe, that the last thing intended by Zipporah was to
perform a service to God. Seeing her son in danger, she frets and murmurs, and,
not without indignation, throws down the foreskin on the ground; thus upbraiding
her husband, and taking offence at God. In short, it is plain that her whole
procedure is dictated by passion: she complains both against her husband and
against God, because she is forced to spill the blood of her son. We may add,
that however well she might have conducted herself in all other respects, yet
her presumption is inexcusable in this, in circumcising her son while her
husband is present, and that husband not a mere private individual, but Moses,
the chief prophet of God, than whom no greater ever arose in Israel. This was no
more allowable in her, than it would be for women in the present day under the
eye of a bishop. But this controversy will at once be disposed of when we
maintain, that children who happen to depart this life before an opportunity of
immersing them in water, are not excluded from the kingdom of heaven. Now, it
has been seen, that unless we admit this position, great injury is done to the
covenant of God, as if in itself it were weak, whereas its effect depends not
either on baptism, or on any accessaries. The sacrament is afterwards added as a
kind of seal, not to give efficacy to the promise, as if in itself invalid, but
merely to confirm it to us. Hence it follows, that the children of believers are
not baptised, in order that though formerly aliens from the Church, they may
then, for the first time, become children of God, but rather are received into
the Church by a formal sign, because, in virtue of the promise, they previously
belonged to the body of Christ. Hence if, in omitting the sign, their is neither
sloth, nor contempt, nor negligence, we are safe from all danger. By far the
better course, therefore, is to pay such respect to the ordinance of God as not
to seek the sacraments in any other quarter than where the Lord has deposited
them. When we cannot receive them from the Church, the grace of God is not so
inseparably annexed to them that we cannot obtain it by faith, according to his
word.
CHAPTER
16.
PDOBAPTISM. ITS ACCORDANCE WITH THE
INSTITUTION OF CHRIST, AND THE NATURE OF THE SIGN.
Divisions of
this chapter,-I. Confirmation of the orthodox doctrine of PÊdobaptism,
sec. 1-9. II. Refutation of the arguments which the Anabaptists urge against
PÊdobaptism, sec. 10-30. III. Special objections of Servetus refuted, sec.
31, 32.
Sections.
1. PÊdobaptism. The consideration
of the question necessary and useful. PÊdobaptism of divine origin.
2. This demonstrated from a consideration of the promises. These
explain the nature and validity of PÊdobaptism.
3. Promises
annexed to the symbol of water cannot be better seen than in the institution of
circumcision.
4. The promise and thing figured in circumcision and
baptism one and the same. The only difference in the external ceremony.
5. Hence the baptism of the children of Christian parents as competent
as the circumcision of Jewish children. An objection founded on a stated day for
circumcision refuted.
6. An argument for PÊdobaptism founded on
the covenant which God made with Abraham. An objection disposed of. The grace of
God not diminished by the advent of Christ.
7. Argument founded on
Christ’s invitation to children. Objection answered.
8.
Objection, that no infants were baptised by the apostles. Answer. Objection,
that pÊdobaptism is a novelty. Answer.
9. Twofold use and benefit
of pÊdobaptism. In respect, 1. Of parents. 2. Of children baptised.
10 Second part of the chapter, stating the arguments of Anabaptists.
Alleged dissimilitude between baptism and circumcision. First answer.
11. Second answer. The covenant in baptism and circumcision not
different.
12. Third answer.
13. Infants, both Jewish and
Christian, comprehended in the covenant.
14. Objection considered.
15. The Jews being comprehended in the covenant, no substantial
difference between baptism and circumcision.
16. Another argument of
the Anabaptists considered.
17. Argument that children are not fit to
understand baptism, and therefore should not be baptised.
18. Answer
continued.
19. Answer continued.
20. Answer continued.
21. Answer continued.
22. Argument, that baptism being
appointed for the remission of sins, infants, not having sinned, ought not to be
baptised. Answer.
23. Argument against pÊdobaptism, founded on
the practice of the apostles. Answer.
24. Answer continued.
25.
Argument founded on a saying of our Lord to Nicodemus. Answer.
26.
Error of those who adjudge all who die unbaptised to eternal destruction.
27. Argument against pÊdobaptism, founded on the precept and
example of our Saviour, in requiring instruction to precede baptism. Answer.
28. Answer continued.
29. Answer continued.
30.
Argument, that there is no stronger reason for giving baptism to children than
for giving them the Lord’s Supper. Answer.
31. Last part of the
chapter, refuting the arguments of Servetus.
32. Why Satan so violently
assails pÊdobaptism.
1. BUT since, in this age, certain frenzied
spirits have raised, and even now continue to raise, great disturbance in the
Church on account of pÊdobaptism, I cannot avoid here, by way of appendix,
adding something to restrain their fury. Should any one think me more prolix
than the subject is worth, let him reflect that, in a matter of the greatest
moment, so much is due to the peace and purity of the Church, that we should not
fastidiously object to whatever may be conducive to both. I may add, that I will
study so to arrange this discussion, that it will tend, in no small degree,
still farther to illustrate the subject of
baptism.60[3] The argument by
which pÊdobaptism is assailed is, no doubt, specious-viz. that it is not
founded on the institution of God, but was introduced merely by human
presumption and depraved curiosity, and afterwards, by a foolish facility,
rashly received in practice; whereas a sacrament has not a thread to hang upon,
if it rest not on the sure foundation of the word of God. But what if, when the
matter is properly attended to, it should be found that a calumny is falsely and
unjustly brought against the holy ordinance of the Lord? First, then, let us
inquire into its origin. Should it appear to have been devised merely by human
rashness, let us abandon it, and regulate the true observance of baptism
entirely by the will of the Lord; but should it be proved to be by no means
destitute of his sure authority, let us beware of discarding the sacred
institutions of God, and thereby insulting their Author.
2. In the first
place, then, it is a well-known doctrine, and one as to which all the pious are
agreed,-that the right consideration of signs does not lie merely in the outward
ceremonies, but depends chiefly on the promise and the spiritual mysteries, to
typify which the ceremonies themselves are appointed. He, therefore, who would
thoroughly understand the effect of baptism-its object and true character-must
not stop short at the element and corporeal object. but look forward to the
divine promises which are therein offered to us, and rise to the internal
secrets which are therein represented. He who understands these has reached the
solid truth, and, so to speak, the whole substance of baptism, and will thence
perceive the nature and use of outward sprinkling. On the other hand, he who
passes them by in contempt, and keeps his thoughts entirely fixed on the visible
ceremony, will neither understand the force, nor the proper nature of baptism,
nor comprehend what is meant, or what end is gained by the use of water. This is
confirmed by passages of Scripture too numerous and too clear to make it
necessary here to discuss them more at length. It remains, therefore, to inquire
into the nature and efficacy of baptism, as evinced by the promises therein
given. Scripture shows, first, that it points to that cleansing from sin
which we obtain by the blood of Christ; and, secondly, to the
mortification of the flesh which consists in participation in his death, by
which believers are regenerated to newness of life, and thereby to the
fellowship of Christ. To these general heads may be referred all that the
Scriptures teach concerning baptism, with this addition, that it is also a
symbol to testify our religion to men.
3. Now, since prior to the
institution of baptism, the people of God had circumcision in its stead, let us
see how far these two signs differ, and how far they resemble each other. In
this way it will appear what analogy there is between them. When the Lord
enjoins Abraham to observe circumcision (Gen. 17:10), he premises that he would
be a God unto him and to his seed, adding, that in himself was a perfect
sufficiency of all things, and that Abraham might reckon on his hand as a
fountain of every blessing. These words include the promise of eternal life, as
our Saviour interprets when he employs it to prove the immortality and
resurrection of believers: “God,” says he, “is not the God of
the dead, but of the living” (Mt. 22:32). Hence, too, Paul, when showing
to the Ephesians how great the destruction was from which the Lord had delivered
them, seeing that they had not been admitted to the covenant of circumcision,
infers that at that time they were aliens from the covenant of promise, without
God, and without hope (Eph. 2:12), all these being comprehended in the covenant.
Now, the first access to God, the first entrance to immortal life, is the
remission of sins. Hence it follows, that this corresponds to the promise of our
cleansing in baptism. The Lord afterwards covenants with Abraham, that he is to
walk before him in sincerity and innocence of heart: this applies to
mortification or regeneration. And lest any should doubt whether circumcision
were the sign of mortification, Moses explains more clearly elsewhere when he
exhorts the people of Israel to circumcise the foreskin of their heart, because
the Lord had chosen them for his own people, out of all the nations of the
earth. As the Lord, in choosing the posterity of Abraham for his people,
commands them to be circumcised, so Moses declares that they are to be
circumcised in heart, thus explaining what is typified by that carnal
circumcision. Then, lest any one should attempt this in his own strength, he
shows that it is the work of divine grace. All this is so often inculcated by
the prophets, that there is no occasion here to collect the passages which
everywhere occur. We have, therefore, a spiritual promise given to the fathers
in circumcision, similar to that which is given to us in baptism, since it
figured to them both the forgiveness of sins and the mortification of the flesh.
Besides, as we have shown that Christ, in whom both of these reside, is the
foundation of baptism, so must he also be the foundation of circumcision. For he
is promised to Abraham, and in him all nations are blessed. To seal this grace,
the sign of circumcision is added.
4. There is now no difficulty in
seeing wherein the two signs agree, and wherein they differ. The promise, in
which we have shown that the power of the signs consists, is one in both-viz.
the promise of the paternal favour of God, of forgiveness of sins, and eternal
life. And the thing figured is one and the same-viz. regeneration. The
foundation on which the completion of these things depends is one in both.
Wherefore, there is no difference in the internal meaning, from which the whole
power and peculiar nature of the sacrament is to be estimated. The only
difference which remains is in the external ceremony, which is the least part of
it, the chief part consisting in the promise and the thing signified. Hence we
may conclude, that everything applicable to circumcision applies also to
baptism, excepting always the difference in the visible ceremony. To this
analogy and comparison we are led by that rule of the apostle, in which he
enjoins us to bring every interpretation of Scripture to the analogy of
faith [7] (Rom. 12:3, 6). And
certainly in this matter the truth may almost be felt. For just as circumcision,
which was a kind of badge to the Jews, assuring them that they were adopted as
the people and family of God, was their first entrance into the Church, while
they, in their turn, professed their allegiance to God, so now we are initiated
by baptism, so as to be enrolled among his people, and at the same time swear
unto his name. Hence it is incontrovertible, that baptism has been substituted
for circumcision, and performs the same office.
5. Now, if we are to
investigate whether or not baptism is justly given to infants, will we not say
that the man trifles, or rather is delirious, who would stop short at the
element of water, and the external observance, and not allow his mind to rise to
the spiritual mystery? If reason is listened to, it will undoubtedly appear that
baptism is properly administered to infants as a thing due to them. The Lord did
not anciently bestow circumcision upon them without making them partakers of all
the things signified by circumcision. He would have deluded his people with mere
imposture, had he quieted them with fallacious symbols: the very idea is
shocking. He distinctly declares, that the circumcision of the infant will be
instead of a seal of the promise of the covenant. But if the covenant remains
firm and fixed, it is no less applicable to the children of Christians in the
present day, than to the children of the Jews under the Old Testament. Now, if
they are partakers of the thing signified, how can they be denied the sign? If
they obtain the reality, how can they be refused the figure? The external sign
is so united in the sacrament with the word, that it cannot be separated from
it: but if they can be separated, to which of the two shall we attach the
greater value? Surely, when we see that the sign is subservient to the word, we
shall say that it is subordinate, and assign it the inferior place. Since, then,
the word of baptism is destined for infants, why should we deny them the sign,
which is an appendage of the word? This one reason, could no other be furnished,
would be amply sufficient to refute all gainsayers. The objection, that there
was a fixed day for circumcision, is a mere quibble. We admit that we are not
now, like the Jews, tied down to certain days; but when the Lord declares, that
though he prescribes no day, yet he is pleased that infants shall be formally
admitted to his covenant, what more do we ask?
6. Scripture gives us a
still clearer knowledge of the truth. For it is most evident that the covenant,
which the Lord once made with Abraham, is not less applicable to Christians now
than it was anciently to the Jewish people, and therefore that word has no less
reference to Christians than to Jews. Unless, indeed, we imagine that Christ, by
his advent, diminished, or curtailed the grace of the Father-an idea not free
from execrable blasphemy. Wherefore, both the children of the Jews, because,
when made heirs of that covenant, they were separated from the heathen, were
called a holy seed, and for the same reason the children of Christians, or those
who have only one believing parent, are called holy, and, by the testimony of
the apostle, differ from the impure seed of idolaters. Then, since the Lord,
immediately after the covenant was made with Abraham, ordered it to be sealed in
infants by an outward sacrament, how can it be said that Christians are not to
attest it in the present day, and seal it in their children? Let it not be
objected, that the only symbol by which the Lord ordered his covenant to be
confirmed was that of circumcision, which was long ago abrogated. It is easy to
answer, that, in accordance with the form of the old dispensation, he appointed
circumcision to confirm his covenant, but that it being abrogated, the same
reason for confirmation still continues, a reason which we have in common with
the Jews. Hence it is always necessary carefully to consider what is common to
both, and wherein they differed from us. The covenant is common, and the reason
for confirming it is common. The mode of confirming it is so far different, that
they had circumcision, instead of which we now have baptism. Otherwise, if the
testimony by which the Jews were assured of the salvation of their seed is taken
from us, the consequence will be, that, by the advent of Christ, the grace of
God, which was formerly given to the Jews, is more obscure and less perfectly
attested to us. If this cannot be said without extreme insult to Christ, by whom
the infinite goodness of the Father has been more brightly and benignly than
ever shed upon the earth, and declared to men, it must be confessed that it
cannot be more confined, and less clearly manifested, than under the obscure
shadows of the law.
7. Hence our Lord Jesus Christ, to give an example
from which the world might learn that he had come to enlarge rather than to
limit the grace of the Father, kindly takes the little children in his arms, and
rebukes his disciples for attempting to prevent them from, coming (Mt. 19:13),
because they were keeping those to whom the kingdom of heaven belonged away from
him, through whom alone there is access to heaven. But it will be asked, What
resemblance is there between baptism and our Saviour embracing little children?
He is not said to have baptised, but to have received, embraced, and blessed
them; and, therefore, if we would imitate his example, we must give infants the
benefit of our prayers, not baptise them. But let us attend to the act of our
Saviour a little more carefully than these men do. For we must not lightly
overlook the fact, that our Saviour, in ordering little children to be brought
to him, adds the reason, “ of such is the kingdom of heaven.” And he
afterwards testifies his good-will by act, when he embraces them, and with
prayer and benediction commends them to his Father. If it is right that children
should be brought to Christ, why should they not be admitted to baptism, the
symbol of our communion and fellowship with Christ? If the kingdom of heaven is
theirs, why should they be denied the sign by which access, as it were, is
opened to the Church, that being admitted into it they may be enrolled among the
heirs of the heavenly kingdom? How unjust were we to drive away those whom
Christ invites to himself, to spoil those whom he adorns with his gifts, to
exclude those whom he spontaneously admits. But if we insist on discussing the
difference between our Saviour’s act and baptism, in how much higher
esteem shall we hold baptism (by which we testify that infants are included in
the divine covenant), than the taking up, embracing, laying hands on children,
and praying over them, acts by which Christ, when present, declares both that
they are his, and are sanctified by him. By the other cavils by which the
objectors endeavour to evade this passage, they only betray their ignorance:
they quibble that, because our Saviour says “Suffer little children to
come,” they must have been several years old, and fit to come. But they
are called by the Evangelists ???????????????????, terms which denote infants
still at their mothers’ breasts. The term “come” is used
simply for “approach.” See the quibbles to which men are obliged to
have recourse when they have hardened themselves against the truth! There is
nothing more solid in their allegation, that the kingdom of heaven is not
assigned to children, but to those like children, since the expression is,
“of such,” not “of themselves.” If this is admitted,
what will be the reason which our Saviour employs to show that they are not
strangers to him from nonage? When he orders that little children shall be
allowed to come to him, nothing is plainer than that mere infancy is meant. Lest
this should seem absurd, he adds, “Of such is the kingdom of
heaven.” But if infants must necessarily be comprehended, the expression,
“of such,” clearly shows that infants themselves, and those like
them, are intended.
8. Every one must now see that pÊdobaptism,
which receives such strong support from Scripture, is by no means of human
invention. Nor is there anything plausible in the objection, that we nowhere
read of even one infant having been baptised by the hands of the apostles. For
although this is not expressly narrated by the Evangelists, yet as they are not
expressly excluded when mention is made of any baptised family (Acts 16:15, 32),
what man of sense will argue from this that they were not baptised? If such
kinds of argument were good, it would be necessary, in like manner, to interdict
women from the Lord’s Supper, since we do not read that they were ever
admitted to it in the days of the apostles. But here we are contented with the
rule of faith. For when we reflect on the nature of the ordinance of the
Lord’s Supper, we easily judge who the persons are to whom the use of it
is to be communicated. The same we observe in the case of baptism. For,
attending to the end for which it was instituted, we clearly perceive that it is
not less applicable to children than to those of more advanced years, and that,
therefore, they cannot be deprived of it without manifest fraud to the will of
its divine Author. The assertion which they disseminate among the common people,
that a long series of years elapsed after the resurrection of Christ, during
which pÊdobaptism was unknown, is a shameful falsehood, since there is no
writer, however ancient, who does not trace its origin to the days of the
apostles.
9. It remains briefly to indicate what benefit redounds from
the observance, both to believers who bring their children to the church to be
baptised, and to the infants themselves, to whom the sacred water is applied,
that no one may despise the ordinance as useless or superfluous: though any one
who would think of ridiculing baptism under this pretence, would also ridicule
the divine ordinance of circumcision: for what can they adduce to impugn the
one, that may not be retorted against the other? Thus the Lord punishes the
arrogance of those who forthwith condemn whatever their carnal sense cannot
comprehend. But God furnishes us with other weapons to repress their stupidity.
His holy institution, from which we feel that our faith derives admirable
consolation, deserves not to be called superfluous. For the divine symbol
communicated to the child, as with the impress of a seal, confirms the promise
given to the godly parent, and declares that the Lord will be a God not to him
only, but to his seed; not merely visiting him with his grace and goodness, but
his posterity also to the thousandth generation. When the infinite goodness of
God is thus displayed, it, in the first place, furnishes most ample materials
for proclaiming his glory, and fills pious breasts with no ordinary joy, urging
them more strongly to love their affectionate Parent, when they see that, on
their account, he extends his care to their posterity. I am not moved by the
objection, that the promise ought to be sufficient to confirm the salvation of
our children. It has seemed otherwise to God, who, seeing our weakness, has
herein been pleased to condescend to it. Let those, then, who embrace the
promise of mercy to their children, consider it as their duty to offer them to
the Church, to be sealed with the symbol of mercy, and animate themselves to
surer confidence, on seeing with the bodily eye the covenant of the Lord
engraven on the bodies of their children. On the other hand, children derive
some benefit from their baptism, when, being ingrafted into the body of the
Church, they are made an object of greater interest to the other members. Then
when they have grown up, they are thereby strongly urged to an earnest desire of
serving God, who has received them as sons by the formal symbol of adoption,
before, from nonage, they were able to recognise him as their Father. In fine,
we ought to stand greatly in awe of the denunciation, that God will take
vengeance on every one who despises to impress the symbol of the covenant on his
child (Gen. 17:15), such contempt being a rejection, and, as it were, abjuration
of the offered grace.
10. Let us now discuss the arguments by which some
furious madmen cease not to assail this holy ordinance of God. And, first,
feeling themselves pressed beyond measure by the resemblance between baptism and
circumcision, they contend that there is a wide difference between the two
signs, that the one has nothing in common with the other. They maintain that the
things meant are different, that the covenant is altogether different, and that
the persons included under the name of children are different. When they first
proceed to the proof, they pretend that circumcision was a figure of
mortification, not of baptism. This we willingly concede to them, for it
admirably supports our view, in support of which the only proof we use is, that
baptism and circumcision are signs of mortification. Hence we conclude that the
one was substituted for the other, baptism representing to us the very thing
which circumcision signified to the Jews. In asserting a difference of covenant,
with what barbarian audacity do they corrupt and destroy Scripture? and that not
in one passage only, but so as not to leave any passage safe and entire. The
Jews they depict as so carnal as to resemble brutes more than men, representing
the covenant which was made with them as reaching no farther than a temporary
life, and the promises which were given to them as dwindling down into present
and corporeal blessings. If this dogma is received, what remains but that the
Jewish nation was overloaded for a time with divine kindness (just as swine are
gorged in their sty), that they might at last perish eternally? Whenever we
quote circumcision and the promises annexed to it, they answer, that
circumcision was a literal sign, and that its promises were carnal.
11.
Certainly, if circumcision was a literal sign, the same view must be taken of
baptism, since, in the second chapter to the Colossians, the apostle makes the
one to be not a whit more spiritual than the other. For he says that in Christ
we “are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” In
explanation of his sentiment he immediately adds, that we are “buried with
him in baptism.” What do these words mean, but just that the truth and
completion of baptism is the truth and completion of circumcision, since they
represent one thing? For his object is to show that baptism is the same thing to
Christians that circumcision formerly was to the Jews. Now, since we have
already clearly shown that the promises of both signs, and the mysteries which
are represented by them, agree, we shall not dwell on the point longer at
present. I would only remind believers to reflect, without anything being said
by me, whether that is to be regarded as an earthly and literal sign, which has
nothing heavenly or spiritual under it. But lest they should blind the simple
with their smoke, we shall, in passing, dispose of one objection by which they
cloak this most impudent falsehood. It is absolutely certain that the original
promises comprehending the covenant which God made with the Israelites under the
old dispensation were spiritual, and had reference to eternal life, and were, of
course, in like manner spiritually received by the fathers, that they might
thence entertain a sure hope of immortality, and aspire to it with their whole
soul. Meanwhile, we are far from denying that he testified his kindness to them
by carnal and earthly blessings; though we hold that by these the hope of
spiritual promises was confirmed. In this manner, when he promised eternal
blessedness to his servant Abraham, he, in order to place a manifest indication
of favour before his eye, added the promise of possession of the land of Canaan.
In the same way we should understand all the terrestrial promises which were
given to the Jewish nation, the spiritual promise, as the head to which the
others bore reference, always holding the first place. Having handled this
subject fully when treating of the difference between the old and the new
dispensations, I now only glance at it.
12. Under the appellation of
children the difference they observe is this, that the children of
Abraham, under the old dispensation, were those who derived their origin from
his seed, but that the appellation is now given to those who imitate his faith,
and therefore that carnal infancy, which was ingrafted into the fellowship of
the covenant by circumcision, typified the spiritual children of the new
covenant, who are regenerated by the word of God to immortal life. In these
words we indeed discover a small spark of truth, but these giddy spirits err
grievously in this, that laying hold of whatever comes first to their hand, when
they ought to proceed farther, and compare many things together, they
obstinately fasten upon one single word. Hence it cannot but happen that they
are every now and then deluded, because they do not exert themselves to obtain a
full knowledge of any subject. We certainly admit that the carnal seed of
Abraham for a time held the place of the spiritual seed, which is ingrafted into
him by faith (Gal. 4:28; Rom. 4:12). For we are called his sons, though we have
no natural relationship with him. But if they mean, as they not obscurely show,
that the spiritual promise was never made to the carnal seed of Abraham, they
are greatly mistaken. We must, therefore, take a better aim, one to which we are
directed by the infallible guidance of Scripture. The Lord therefore promises to
Abraham that he shall have a seed in whom all the nations of the earth will be
blessed, and at the same time assures him that he will be a God both to him and
his seed. All who in faith receive Christ as the author of the blessing are the
heirs of this promise, and accordingly are called the children of Abraham.
13. Although, after the resurrection of Christ, the boundaries of the
kingdom began to be extended far and wide into all nations indiscriminately, so
that, according to the declaration of Christ, believers were collected from all
quarters to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven
(Mt. 8:11), still, for many ages before, the Jews had enjoyed this great mercy.
And as he had selected them (while passing by all other nations) to be for a
time the depositaries of his favour, he designated them as his peculiar
purchased people (Exod. 19:5). In attestation of this kindness, he appointed
circumcision, by which symbol the Jews were taught that God watched over their
safety, and they were thereby raised to the hope of eternal life. For what can
ever be wanting to him whom God has once taken under his protection? Wherefore
the apostle, to prove that the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, were the children
of Abraham, speaks in this way: “Faith was reckoned to Abraham for
righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in
uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet
being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe,
though they be not circumcised: that righteousness might be imputed to them
also: and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision
only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which
he had yet being uncircumcised” (Rom. 4:9-12). Do we not see that both are
made equal in dignity? For, to the time appointed by the divine decree, he was
the father of circumcision. But when, as the apostle elsewhere writes (Eph.
2:14), the wall of partition which separated the Gentiles from the Jews was
broken down, to them, also, access was given to the kingdom of God, and he
became their father, and that without the sign of circumcision, its place being
supplied by baptism. In saying expressly that Abraham was not the father of
those who were of the circumcision only, his object was to repress the
superciliousness of some who, laying aside all regard to godliness, plumed
themselves on mere ceremonies. In like manner, we may, in the present day,
refute the vanity of those who, in baptism, seek nothing but water.
14.
But in opposition to this is produced a passage from the Epistle to the Romans,
in which the apostle says, that those who are of the flesh are not the children
of Abraham, but that those only who are the children of promise are considered
as the seed (Rom. 9:7). For he seems to insinuate, that carnal relationship to
Abraham, which we think of some consequence, is nothing. But we must attend
carefully to the subject which the apostle is there treating. His object being
to show to the Jews that the goodness of God was not restricted to the seed of
Abraham, nay, that of itself it contributes nothing, produces, in proof of the
fact, the cases of Ishmael and Esau. These being rejected, just as if they had
been strangers, although, according to the flesh, they were the genuine
offspring of Abraham, the blessing resides in Isaac and Jacob. This proves what
he afterwards affirms-viz. that salvation depends on the mercy which God bestows
on whomsoever he pleases, but that the Jews have no ground to glory or plume
themselves on the name of the covenant, unless they keep the law of the
covenant, that is, obey the word. On the other hand, after casting down their
vain confidence in their origin, because he was aware that the covenant which
had been made with the posterity of Abraham could not properly prove fruitless,
he declares, that due honour should still be paid to carnal relationship to
Abraham, in consequence of which, the Jews were the primary and native heirs of
the gospel, unless in so far as they were, for their ingratitude, rejected as
unworthy, and yet rejected so as not to leave their nation utterly destitute of
the heavenly blessing. For this reason, though they were contumacious breakers
of the covenant, he styles them holy (such respect does he pay to the holy
generation which God had honoured with his sacred covenant), while we, in
comparison of them, are termed posthumous, or abortive children of Abraham, and
that not by nature, but by adoption, just as if a twig were broken from its own
tree, and ingrafted on another stock. Therefore, that they might not be
defrauded of their privilege, it was necessary that the gospel should first be
preached to them. For they are, as it were, the first-born in the family of God.
The honour due, on this account, must therefore be paid them, until they have
rejected the offer, and, by their ingratitude, caused it to be transferred to
the Gentiles. Nor, however great the contumacy with which they persist in
warring against the gospel, are we therefore to despise them. We must consider,
that in respect of the promise, the blessing of God still resides among them;
and, as the apostle testifies, will never entirely depart from them, seeing that
“the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom. 11:29).
15. Such is the value of the promise given to the posterity of
Abraham,-such the balance in which it is to be weighed. Hence, though we have no
doubt that in distinguishing the children of God from bastards and foreigners,
that the election of God reigns freely, we, at the same time, perceive that he
was pleased specially to embrace the seed of Abraham with his mercy, and, for
the better attestation of it, to seal it by circumcision. The case of the
Christian Church is entirely of the same description; for as Paul there declares
that the Jews are sanctified by their parents, so he elsewhere says that the
children of Christians derive sanctification from their parents. Hence it is
inferred, that those who are chargeable with impurity are justly separated from
others. Now, who can have any doubt as to the falsehood of their subsequent
averment-viz. that the infants who were formerly circumcised only typified the
spiritual infancy which is produced by the regeneration of the word of God? When
the apostle says, that “Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision
for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Rom.
15:8), he does not philosophise subtilely, as if he had said, Since the covenant
made with Abraham has respect unto his seed, Christ, in order to perform and
discharge the promise made by the Father, came for the salvation of the Jewish
nation. Do you see how he considers that, after the resurrection of Christ, the
promise is to be fulfilled to the seed of Abraham, not allegorically, but
literally, as the words express? To the same effect is the declaration of Peter
to the Jews: “The promise is unto you and to your children” (Acts
2:39); and in the next chapter, he calls them the children of the
covenant, that is, heirs. Not widely different from this is the other
passage of the apostle, above quoted, in which he regards and describes
circumcision performed on infants as an attestation to the communion which they
have with Christ. And, indeed, if we listen to the absurdities of those men,
what will become of the promise by which the Lord, in the second commandment of
his law, engages to be gracious to the seed of his servants for a thousand
generations? Shall we here have recourse to allegory? This were the merest
quibble. Shall we say that it has been abrogated? In this way, we should do away
with the law which Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfil, inasmuch as it
turns to our everlasting good. Therefore, let it be without controversy, that
God is so good and liberal to his people, that he is pleased, as a mark of his
favour, to extend their privileges to the children born to them.
16. The
distinctions which these men attempt to draw between baptism and circumcision
are not only ridiculous, and void of all semblance of reason, but at variance
with each other. For, when they affirm that baptism refers to the first day of
spiritual contest, and circumcision to the eighth day, mortification being
already accomplished, they immediately forget the distinction, and change their
song, representing circumcision as typifying the mortification of the flesh, and
baptism as a burial, which is given to none but those who are already dead. What
are these giddy contradictions but frenzied dreams? According to the former
view, baptism ought to precede circumcision; according to the latter, it should
come after it. It is not the first time we have seen the minds of men wander to
and fro when they substitute their dreams for the infallible word of God. We
hold, therefore, that their former distinction is a mere imagination. Were we
disposed to make an allegory of the eighth day, theirs would not be the proper
mode of it. It were much better with the early Christians to refer the number
eight to the resurrection, which took place on the eighth day, and on which we
know that newness of life depends, or to the whole course of the present life,
during which, mortification ought to be in progress, only terminating when life
itself terminates; although it would seem that God intended to provide for the
tenderness of infancy by deferring circumcision to the eighth day, as the wound
would have been more dangerous if inflicted immediately after birth. How much
more rational is the declaration of Scripture, that we, when already dead, are
buried by baptism (Rom. 6:4); since it distinctly states, that we are buried
into death that we may thoroughly die, and thenceforth aim at that
mortification? Equally ingenious is their cavil, that women should not be
baptised if baptism is to be made conformable to circumcision. For if it is most
certain that the sanctification of the seed of Israel was attested by the sign
of circumcision, it cannot be doubted that it was appointed alike for the
sanctification of males and females. But though the right could only be
performed on males, yet the females were, through them, partners and associates
in circumcision. Wherefore, disregarding all such quibbling distinctions, let us
fix on the very complete resemblance between baptism and circumcision, as seen
in the internal office, the promise, the use, and the effect.
17. They
seem to think they produce their strongest reason for denying baptism to
children, when they allege, that they are as yet unfit, from nonage, to
understand the mystery which is there sealed-viz. spiritual regeneration, which
is not applicable to earliest infancy. Hence they infer, that children are only
to be regarded as sons of Adam until they have attained an age fit for the
reception of the second birth. But all this is directly opposed to the truth of
God. For if they are to be accounted sons of Adam, they are left in death,
since, in Adam, we can do nothing but die. On the contrary, Christ bids them be
brought to him. Why so? Because he is life. Therefore, that he may quicken them,
he makes them partners with himself; whereas these men would drive them away
from Christ, and adjudge them to death. For if they pretend that infants do not
perish when they are accounted the sons of Adam, the error is more than
sufficiently confuted by the testimony of Scripture (1 Cor. 15:22). For seeing
it declares that in Adam all die, it follows, that no hope of life remains
unless in Christ. Therefore, that we may become heirs of life, we must
communicate with him. Again, seeing it is elsewhere written that we are all by
nature the children of wrath (Eph. 2:3), and conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5), of
which condemnation is the inseparable attendant, we must part with our own
nature before we have any access to the kingdom of God. And what can be clearer
than the expression, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God”? (1 Cor. 15:50.) Therefore, let everything that is our own be
abolished (this cannot be without regeneration), and then we shall perceive this
possession of the kingdom. In fine, if Christ speaks truly when he declares that
he is life, we must necessarily be ingrafted into him by whom we are delivered
from the bondage of death. But how, they ask, are infants regenerated, when not
possessing a knowledge of either good or evil? We answer, that the work of God,
though beyond the reach of our capacity, is not therefore null. Moreover,
infants who are to be saved (and that some are saved at this age is certain)
must, without question, be previously regenerated by the Lord. For if they bring
innate corruption with them from their mother’s womb, they must be
purified before they can be admitted into the kingdom of God, into which shall
not enter anything that defileth (Rev. 21:27). If they are born sinners, as
David and Paul affirm, they must either remain unaccepted and hated by God, or
be justified. And why do we ask more, when the Judge himself publicly declares,
that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”?
(John 3:3.) But to silence this class of objectors, God gave, in the case of
John the Baptist, whom he sanctified from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15), a
proof of what he might do in others. They gain nothing by the quibble to which
they here resort-viz. that this was only once done, and therefore it does not
forthwith follow that the Lord always acts thus with infants. That is not the
mode in which we reason. Our only object is to show, that they unjustly and
malignantly confine the power of God within limits, within which it cannot be
confined. As little weight is due to another subterfuge. They allege that, by
the usual phraseology of Scripture, “from the womb,” has the same
meaning as “from childhood.” But it is easy to see that the angel
had a different meaning when he announced to Zacharias that the child not yet
born would be filled with the Holy Spirit. Instead of attempting to give a law
to God, let us hold that he sanctifies whom he pleases, in the way in which he
sanctified John, seeing that his power is not impaired.
18. And, indeed,
Christ was sanctified from earliest infancy, that he might sanctify his elect in
himself at any age, without distinction. For as he, in order to wipe away the
guilt of disobedience which had been committed in our flesh, assumed that very
flesh, that in it he might, on our account, and in our stead, perform a perfect
obedience, so he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that, completely pervaded
with his holiness in the flesh which he had assumed, he might transfuse it into
us. If in Christ we have a perfect pattern of all the graces which God bestows
on all his children, in this instance we have a proof that the age of infancy is
not incapable of receiving sanctification. This, at least, we set down as
incontrovertible, that none of the elect is called away from the present life
without being previously sanctified and regenerated by the Spirit of God.
[8] As to their objection that, in
Scripture, the Spirit acknowledges no sanctification save that from
incorruptible seed, that is, the word of God, they erroneously interpret
Peter’s words, in which he comprehends only believers who had been taught
by the preaching of the gospel (1 Pet. 1:23). We confess, indeed, that the word
of the Lord is the only seed of spiritual regeneration; but we deny the
inference that, therefore, the power of God cannot regenerate infants. This is
as possible and easy for him, as it is wondrous and incomprehensible to us. It
were dangerous to deny that the Lord is able to furnish them with the knowledge
of himself in any way he pleases.
19. But faith, they say,
cometh by hearing, the use of which infants have not yet obtained, nor
can they be fit to know God, being, as Moses declares, without the knowledge of
good and evil (Deut. 1:39). But they observe not that where the apostle makes
hearing the beginning of faith, he is only describing the usual economy and
dispensation which the Lord is wont to employ in calling his people, and not
laying down an invariable rule, for which no other method can be substituted.
Many he certainly has called and endued with the true knowledge of himself, by
internal means, by the illumination of the Spirit, without the intervention of
preaching. But since they deem it very absurd to attribute any knowledge of God
to infants, whom Moses makes void of the knowledge of’ good and evil, let
them tell me where the danger lies if they are said now to receive some part of
that grace, of which they are to have the full measure shortly after. For if
fulness of life consists in the perfect knowledge of God, since some of those
whom death hurries away in the first moments of infancy pass into life eternal,
they are certainly admitted to behold the immediate presence of God. Those,
therefore, whom the Lord is to illumine with the full brightness of his light,
why may he not, if he so pleases, irradiate at present with some small beam,
especially if he does not remove their ignorance, before he delivers them from
the prison of the flesh? I would not rashly affirm that they are endued with the
same faith which we experience in ourselves, or have any knowledge at all
resembling faith (this I would rather leave undecided);
[9] but I would somewhat curb the
stolid arrogance of those men who, as with inflated cheeks, affirm or deny
whatever suits them.
20. In order to gain a stronger footing here, they
add, that baptism is a sacrament of penitence and faith, and as neither of these
is applicable to tender infancy, we must beware of rendering its meaning empty
and vain, by admitting infants to the communion of baptism. But these darts are
directed more against God then against us; since the fact that circumcision was
a sign of repentance is completely established by many passages of Scripture
(Jer. 4:4). Thus Paul terms it a seal of the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:11).
Let God, then, be demanded why he ordered circumcision to be performed on the
bodies of infants? For baptism and circumcision being here in the same case,
they cannot give anything to the latter without conceding it to the former. If
they recur to their usual evasion, that, by the age of infancy, spiritual
infants were then figured, we have already closed this means of escape against
them. We say, then, that since God imparted circumcision, the sign of repentance
and faith, to infants, it should not seem absurd that they are now made
partakers of baptism, unless men choose to clamour against an institution of
God. But as in all his acts, so here also, enough of wisdom and righteousness
shines forth to repress the slanders of the ungodly. For although infants, at
the moment when they were circumcised, did not comprehend what the sign meant,
still they were truly circumcised for the mortification of their corrupt and
polluted nature-a mortification at which they afterwards aspired when adults. In
fine, the objection is easily disposed of by the tact, that children are
baptised for future repentance and faith. Though these are not yet formed in
them, yet the seed of both lies hid in them by the secret operation of the
Spirit. This answer at once overthrows all the objections which are twisted
against us out of the meaning of baptism; for instance, the title by which Paul
distinguishes it when he terms it the “washing of regeneration and
renewing” (Tit. 3:5). Hence they argue, that it is not to be given to any
but to those who are capable of such feelings. But we, on the other hand, may
object, that neither ought circumcision, which is designated regeneration, to be
conferred on any but the regenerate. In this way, we shall condemn a divine
institution. Thus, as we have already hinted, all the arguments which tend to
shake circumcision are of no force in assailing baptism. Nor can they escape by
saying, that everything which rests on the authority of God is absolutely fixed,
though there should be no reason for it, but that this reverence is not due to
pÊdobaptism, nor other similar things which are not recommended to us by
the express word of God. They always remain caught in this dilemma. The command
of God to circumcise infants was either legitimate and exempt from cavil, or
deserved reprehension. If there was nothing incompetent or absurd in it, no
absurdity can be shown in the observance of pÊdobaptism.
21. The
charge of absurdity with which they attempt to stigmatise it, we thus dispose
of. If those on whom the Lord has bestowed his election, after receiving the
sign of regeneration, depart this life before they become adults, he, by the
incomprehensible energy of his Spirit, renews them in the way which he alone
sees to be expedient. Should they reach an age when they can be instructed in
the meaning of baptism, they will thereby be animated to greater zeal for
renovation, the badge of which they will learn that they received in earliest
infancy, in order that they might aspire to it during their whole lives. To the
same effect are the two passages in which Paul teaches, that we are buried with
Christ by baptism (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12). For by this he means not that he who is
to be initiated by baptism must have previously been buried with Christ; he
simply declares the doctrine which is taught by baptism, and that to those
already baptised: so that the most senseless cannot maintain from this passage
that it ought to precede baptism. In this way, Moses and the prophets reminded
the people of the thing meant by circumcision, which however infants received.
To the same effect, Paul says to the Galatians, “As many of you as have
been baptised into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Why so? That
they might thereafter live to Christ, to whom previously they had not lived. And
though, in adults, the receiving of the sign ought to follow the understanding
of its meaning, yet, as will shortly be explained, a different rule must be
followed with children. No other conclusion can be drawn from a passage in
Peter, on which they strongly found. He says, that baptism is “not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 3:21). From this
they contend that nothing is left for pÊdobaptism, which becomes mere
empty smoke, as being altogether at variance with the meaning of baptism. But
the delusion which misleads them is, that they would always have the thing to
precede the sign in the order of time.
[0] For the truth of circumcision
consisted in the same answer of a good conscience; but if the truth must
necessarily have preceded, infants would never have been circumcised by the
command of God. But he himself, showing that the answer of a good conscience
forms the truth of circumcision, and, at the same time, commanding infants to be
circumcised, plainly intimates that, in their case, circumcision had reference
to the future. Wherefore, nothing more of present effect is to be required in
pÊdobaptism, than to confirm and sanction the covenant which the Lord has
made with them. The other part of the meaning of the sacrament will follow at
the time which God himself has provided.
22. Every one must, I think,
clearly perceive, that all arguments of this stamp are mere perversions of
Scripture. The other remaining arguments akin to these we shall cursorily
examine. They object, that baptism is given for the remission of sins. When this
is conceded, it strongly supports our view; for, seeing we are born sinners, we
stand in need of forgiveness and pardon from the very womb. Moreover, since God
does not preclude this age from the hope of mercy, but rather gives assurance of
it, why should we deprive it of the sign, which is much inferior to the reality?
The arrow, therefore, which they aim at us, we throw back upon themselves.
Infants receive forgiveness of sins; therefore, they are not to be deprived of
the sign. They adduce the passage from the Ephesians, that Christ gave himself
for the Church, “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word” (Eph. 5:26). Nothing could be quoted more appropriate
than this to overthrow their error: it furnishes us with an easy proof. If, by
baptism, Christ intends to attest the ablution by which he cleanses his Church,
it would seem not equitable to deny this attestation to infants, who are justly
deemed part of the Church, seeing they are called heirs of the heavenly kingdom.
For Paul comprehends the whole Church when he says that it was cleansed by the
washing of water. In like manner, from his expression in another place, that by
baptism we are ingrafted into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 7:13), we infer, that
infants, whom he enumerates among his members, are to be baptised, in order that
they may not be dissevered from his body. See the violent onset which they make
with all their engines on the bulwarks of our faith.
23. They now come
down to the custom and practice of the apostolic age, alleging that there is no
instance of any one having been admitted to baptism without a previous
profession of faith and repentance. For when Peter is asked by his hearers, who
were pricked in their heart, “What shall we do?” his advise is,
“Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ,
for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:37, 38). In like manner, when Philip
was asked by the eunuch to baptise him, he answered, “If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest.” Hence they think they can make out
that baptism cannot be lawfully given to any one without previous faith and
repentance. If we yield to this argument, the former passage, in which there is
no mention of faith, will prove that repentance alone is sufficient, and the
latter, which makes no requirement of repentance, that there is need only of
faith. They will object, I presume, that the one passage helps the other, and
that both, therefore, are to be connected. I, in my turn, maintain that these
two must be compared with other passages which contribute somewhat to the
solution of this difficulty. There are many passages of Scripture whose meaning
depends on their peculiar position. Of this we have an example in the present
instance. Those to whom these things are said by Peter and Philip are of an age
fit to aim at repentance, and receive faith. We strenuously insist that such men
are not to be baptised unless their conversion and faith are discerned, at least
in as far as human judgment can ascertain it. But it is perfectly clear that
infants must be placed in a different class. For when any one formerly joined
the religious communion of Israel, he behoved to be taught the covenant, and
instructed in the law of the Lord, before he received circumcision, because he
was of a different nation; in other words, an alien from the people of Israel,
with whom the covenant, which circumcision sanctioned, had been made.
24. Thus the Lord, when he chose Abraham for himself, did not commence
with circumcision, in the meanwhile concealing what he meant by that sign, but
first announced that he intended to make a covenant with him, and, after his
faith in the promise, made him partaker of the sacrament. Why does the sacrament
come after faith in Abraham, and precede all intelligence in his son Isaac? It
is right that he who, in adult age, is admitted to the fellowship of a covenant
by one from whom he had hitherto been alienated, should previously learn its
conditions; but it is not so with the infant born to him. He, according to the
terms of the promise, is included in the promise by hereditary right from his
mother’s womb. Or, to state the matter more briefly and more clearly, If
the children of believers, without the help of understanding, are partakers of
the covenant, there is no reason why they should be denied the sign, because
they are unable to swear to its stipulations. This undoubtedly is the reason why
the Lord sometimes declares that the children born to the Israelites are
begotten and born to him (Ezek. 16:20; 23:37). For he undoubtedly gives the
place of sons to the children of those to whose seed he has promised that he
will be a Father. But the child descended from unbelieving parents is deemed an
alien to the covenant until he is united to God by faith. Hence, it is not
strange that the sign is withheld when the thing signified would be vain and
fallacious. In that view, Paul says that the Gentiles, so long as they were
plunged in idolatry, were strangers to the covenant (Eph. 2:11). The whole
matter may, if I mistake not, be thus briefly and clearly expounded: Those who,
in adult age, embrace the faith of Christ, having hitherto been aliens from the
covenant, are not to receive the sign of baptism without previous faith and
repentance. These alone can give them access to the fellowship of the covenant,
whereas children, deriving their origin from Christians, as they are immediately
on their birth received by God as heirs of the covenant, are also to be admitted
to baptism. To this we must refer the narrative of the Evangelist, that those
who were baptised by John confessed their sins (Mt. 3:6). This example, we hold,
ought to be observed in the present day. Were a Turk to offer himself for
baptism, we would not at once perform the rite without receiving a confession
which was satisfactory to the Church.
25. Another passage which they
adduce is from the third chapter of John, where our Saviour’s words seem
to them to imply that a present regeneration is required in baptism,
“Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). See, they say, how baptism is termed
regeneration by the lips of our Lord himself, and on what pretext, therefore,
with what consistency is baptism given to those who, it is perfectly obvious,
are not at all capable of regeneration? First, they are in error in imagining
that there is any mention of baptism in this passage, merely because the word
water is used. Nicodemus, after our Saviour had explained to him the corruption
of nature, and the necessity of being born again, kept dreaming of a corporeal
birth, and hence our Saviour intimates the mode in which God regenerates us-viz.
by water and the Spirit; in other words, by the Spirit, who, in irrigating and
cleansing the souls of believers, operates in the manner of water. By
“water and the Spirit,” therefore, I simply understand the Spirit,
which is water. Nor is the expression new. It perfectly accords with that which
is used in the third chapter of Matthew, “He that cometh after me is
mightier than I;” “he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and
with fire” (Mt. 3:11). Therefore, as to baptise with the Holy Spirit, and
with fire, is to confer the Holy Spirit, who, in regeneration, has the office
and nature of fire, so to be born again of water, and of the Spirit, is nothing
else than to receive that power of the Spirit, which has the same effect on the
soul that water has on the body. I know that a different interpretation is
given, but I have no doubt that this is the genuine meaning, because our
Saviour’s only purpose was to teach, that all who aspire to the kingdom of
heaven must lay aside their own disposition. And yet were we disposed to imitate
these men in their mode of cavilling, we might easily, after conceding what they
wish, reply to them, that baptism is prior to faith and repentance, since, in
this passage, our Saviour mentions it before the Spirit. This certainly must be
understood of spiritual gifts, and if they follow baptism, I have gained all I
contend for. But, cavilling aside, the simple interpretation to be adopted is
that which I have given-viz. that no man, until renewed by living water, that
is, by the Spirit, can enter the kingdom of God.
26. This, moreover,
plainly explodes the fiction of those who consign all the unbaptised to eternal
death.60[4] Let us suppose, then,
that, as they insist, baptism is administered to adults only. What will they
make of a youth who, after being embued duly and properly with the rudiments of
piety, while waiting for the day of baptism, is unexpectedly carried off by
sudden death? The promise of our Lord is clear, “He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). We
nowhere read of his having condemned him who was not yet baptised. I would not
be understood as insinuating that baptism may be contemned with impunity. So far
from excusing this contempt, I hold that it violates the covenant of the Lord.
The passage only serves to show, that we must not deem baptism so necessary as
to suppose that every one who has lost the opportunity of obtaining it has
forthwith perished. By assenting to their fiction, we should condemn all,
without exception, whom any accident may have prevented from procuring baptism,
how much soever they may have been endued with the faith by which Christ himself
is possessed. Moreover, baptism being, as they hold, necessary to salvation,
they, in denying it to infants, consign them all to eternal death. Let them now
consider what kind of agreement they have with the words of Christ, who says,
that “of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 19:14). And though we
were to concede everything to them, in regard to the meaning of this passage,
they will extract nothing from it, until they have previously overthrown the
doctrine which we have already established concerning the regeneration of
infants.
27. But they boast of having their strongest bulwark in the
very institution of baptism, which they find in the last chapter of Matthew,
where Christ, sending his disciples into all the world, commands them to teach
and then baptise. Then, in the last chapter of Mark, it is added, “He that
believeth, and is baptised, shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). What more (say
they) do we ask, since the words of Christ distinctly declare, that teaching
must precede baptism, and assign to baptism the place next to faith? Of this
arrangement our Lord himself gave an example, in choosing not to be baptised
till his thirtieth year. In how many ways do they here entangle themselves, and
betray their ignorance! They err more than childishly in this, that they derive
the first institution of baptism from this passage, whereas Christ had, from the
commencement of his ministry, ordered it to be administered by the apostles.
There is no ground, therefore, for contending that the law and rule of baptism
is to be sought from these two passages. as containing the first institution.
But to indulge them in their error, how nerveless is this mode of arguing? Were
I disposed to evasion, I have not only a place of escape, but a wide field to
expatiate in. For when they cling so desperately to the order of the words,
insisting that because it is said, “Go, preach and baptise,” and
again, “Whosoever believes and is baptised,” they must preach before
baptising, and believe before being baptised, why may not we in our turn object,
that they must baptise before teaching the observance of those things which
Christ commanded, because it is said, “Baptise, teaching whatsoever I have
commanded you”? The same thing we observed in the other passage in which
Christ speaks of the regeneration of water and of the Spirit. For if we
interpret as they insist, then baptism must take precedence of spiritual
regeneration, because it is first mentioned. Christ teaches that we are to be
born again, not of the Spirit and of water, but of water and of the Spirit.
28. This unassailable argument, in which they confide so much, seems
already to be considerably shaken; but as we have sufficient protection in the
simplicity of truth, I am unwilling to evade the point by paltry subtleties. Let
them, therefore, have a solid answer. The command here given by Christ relates
principally to the preaching of the gospel: to it baptism is added as a kind of
appendage. Then he merely speaks of baptism in so far as the dispensation of it
is subordinate to the function of teaching. For Christ sends his disciples to
publish the gospel to all nations of the world, that by the doctrine of
salvation they may gather men, who were previously lost, into his kingdom. But
who or what are those men? It is certain that mention is made only of those who
are fit to receive his doctrine. He subjoins, that such, after being taught,
were to be baptised, adding the promise, Whosoever believeth and is baptised,
shall be saved. Is there one syllable about infants in the whole discourse?
What, then, is the form of argument with which they assail us? Those who are of
adult age are to be instructed and brought to the faith before being baptised,
and therefore it is unlawful to make baptism common to infants. They cannot, at
the very utmost, prove any other thing out of this passage, than that the gospel
must be preached to those who are capable of hearing it before they are
baptised; for of such only the passage speaks. From this let them, if they can,
throw an obstacle in the way of baptising infants.
29. But I will make
their fallacies palpable even to the blind, by a very plain similitude. Should
any one insist that infants are to be deprived of food, on the presence that the
apostle permits none to eat but those who labour (2 Thess. 3:10), would he not
deserve to be scouted by all? Why so? Because that which was said of a certain
class of men, and a certain age, he wrests and applies to all indifferently. The
dexterity of these men in the present instance is not greater. That which every
one sees to be intended for adult age merely, they apply to infants, subjecting
them to a rule which was laid down only for those of riper years. With regard to
the example of our Saviour, it gives no countenance to their case. He was not
baptised before his thirtieth year. This is indeed true, but the reason is
obvious; because he then determined to lay the solid foundation of baptism by
his preaching, or rather to confirm the foundation which John had previously
laid. Therefore, when he was pleased with his doctrine to institute baptism,
that he might give the greater authority to his institution, he sanctified it in
his own person, and that at the most befitting time, namely, the commencement of
his ministry. In fine, they can prove nothing more than that baptism received
its origin and commencement with the preaching of the gospel. But if they are
pleased to fix upon the thirtieth year, why do they not observe it, but admit
any one to baptism according to the view which they may have formed of his
proficiency? Nay, even Servetus, one of their masters, although he
pertinaciously insisted on this period, had begun to act the prophet in his
twenty-first year; as if any man could be tolerated in arrogating to himself the
office of a teacher in the Church before he was a member of the Church.
30. At length they object, that there is not greater reason for
admitting infants to baptism than to the Lord’s Supper, to which, however,
they are never admitted: as if Scripture did not in every way draw a wide
distinction between them. In the early Church indeed, the Lord’s Supper
was frequently given to infants, as appears from Cyprian and Augustine (August.
ad Bonif. Lib. 1); but the practice justly became obsolete. For if we attend to
the peculiar nature of baptism, it is a kind of entrance, and as it were
initiation into the Church, by which we are ranked among the people of God, a
sign of our spiritual regeneration, by which we are again born to be children of
God; whereas, on the contrary, the Supper is intended for those of riper years,
who, having passed the tender period of infancy, are fit to bear solid food.
This distinction is very clearly pointed out in Scripture. For there, as far as
regards baptism, the Lord makes no selection of age, whereas he does not admit
all to partake of the Supper, but confines it to those who are fit to discern
the body and blood of the Lord, to examine their own conscience, to show forth
the Lord’s death, and understand its power. Can we wish anything clearer
than what the apostle says, when he thus exhorts, “Let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup”? (1 Cor.
11:28.) Examination, therefore, must precede, and this it were vain to expect
from infants. Again, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” If
they cannot partake worthily without being able duly to discern the sanctity of
the Lord’s body, why should we stretch out poison to our young children
instead of vivifying food? Then what is our Lord’s injunction? “Do
this in remembrance of me.” And what the inference which the apostle draws
from this? “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show
the Lord’s death till he come.” How, pray, can we require infants to
commemorate any event of which they have no understanding; how require them
“to show forth the Lord’s death,” of the nature and benefit of
which they have no idea? Nothing of the kind is prescribed by baptism.
Wherefore, there is the greatest difference between the two signs. This also we
observe in similar signs under the old dispensation. Circumcision, which, as is
well known, corresponds to our baptism, was intended for infants, but the
passover, for which the Supper is substituted, did not admit all kinds of guests
promiscuously, but was duly eaten only by those who were of an age sufficient to
ask the meaning of it (Exod. 12:26). Had these men the least particle of
soundness in their brain, would they be thus blind as to a matter so very clear
and obvious?
31. Though I am unwilling to annoy the reader with the
series of conceits which Servetus, not the least among the Anabaptists, nay, the
great honour of this crew, when girding himself for battle, deemed, when he
adduced them, to be specious arguments, it will be worth while briefly to
dispose of them.60[5] He pretends
that as the symbols of Christ are perfect, they require persons who are perfect,
or at least capable of perfection. But the answer is plain. The perfection of
baptism, which extends even to death, is improperly restricted to one moment of
time; moreover, perfection, in which baptism invites us to make continual
progress during life, is foolishly exacted by him all at once. He objects, that
the symbols of Christ were appointed for remembrance, that every one may
remember that he was buried together with Christ. I answer, that what he coined
out of his own brain does not need refutation, nay, that which he transfers to
baptism properly belongs to the Supper, as appears from Paul’s words,
“Let a man examine himself,” words similar to which are nowhere used
with reference to baptism. Whence we infer, that those who from nonage are
incapable of examination are duly baptised. His third point is, That all who
believe not in the Son remain in death, the wrath of God abideth on them (John
3:36); and, therefore, infants who are unable to believe lie under condemnation.
I answer, that Christ does not there speak of the general guilt in which all the
posterity of Adam are involved, but only threatens the despisers of the gospel,
who proudly and contumaciously spurn the grace which is offered to them. But
this has nothing to do with infants. At the same time, I meet him with the
opposite argument. Every one whom Christ blesses is exempted from the curse of
Adam, and the wrath of God. Therefore, seeing it is certain that infants are
blessed by him, it follows that they are freed from death. He nexts falsely
quotes a passage which is nowhere found, Whosoever is born of the Spirit, hears
the voice of the Spirit. Though we should grant that such a passage occurs in
Scripture, all he can extract from it is, that believers, according as the
Spirit works in them, are framed to obedience. But that which is said of a
certain number, it is illogical to apply to all alike. His fourth objection is,
As that which precedes is animal (1 Cor. 15:46), we must wait the full time for
baptism, which is spiritual. But while I admit that all the posterity of Adam,
born of the flesh, bear their condemnation with them from the womb, I hold that
this is no obstacle to the immediate application of the divine remedy. Servetus
cannot show that by divine appointment, several years must elapse before the new
spiritual life begins. Paul’s testimony is, that though lost by nature,
the children of believers are holy by supernatural grace. He afterwards brings
forward the allegory that David, when going up into mount Zion, took with him
neither the blind nor the lame, but vigorous soldiers (2 Sam. 5:8). But what if
I meet this with the parable in which God invites to the heavenly feast the lame
and the blind? In what way will Servetus disentangle this knot? I ask, moreover,
whether the lame and the maimed had not previously served with David? But it is
superfluous to dwell longer on this argument, which, as the reader will learn
from the sacred history, is founded on mere misquotation. He adds another
allegory- viz. that the apostles were fishers of men, not of children. I ask,
then, What does our Saviour mean when he says that in the net are caught all
kinds of fishes? (Mt. 9:19; 13:47.) But as I have no pleasure in sporting with
allegory, I answer, that when the office of teaching was committed to the
apostles, they were not prohibited from baptising infants. Moreover, I should
like to know why, when the Evangelist uses the term ??????????? (which
comprehends the whole human race without exception), he denies that infants are
included. His seventh argument is, Since spiritual things accord with spiritual
(1 Cor 2:13), infants, not being spiritual, are unfit for baptism. It is plain
how perversely he wrests this passage of Paul. It relates to doctrine. The
Corinthians, pluming themselves excessively on a vain acuteness, Paul rebukes
their folly, because they still require to be imbued with the first rudiments of
heavenly doctrine. Who can infer from this that baptism is to be denied to
infants, whom, when begotten of the flesh, the Lord consecrates to himself by
gratuitous adoption? His objection, that if they are new men, they must be fed
with spiritual food, is easily obviated. By baptism they are admitted into the
fold of Christ, and the symbol of adoption is sufficient for them, until they
grow up and become fit to bear solid food. We must, therefore, wait for the time
of examination, which God distinctly demands in the sacred Supper. His next
objection is, that Christ invites all his people to the sacred Supper. But as it
is plain that he admits those only who are prepared to celebrate the
commemoration of his death, it follows that infants, whom he honoured with his
embrace, remain in a distinct and peculiar position until they grow up, and yet
are not aliens. When he objects, that it is strange why the infant does not
partake of the Supper, I answer, that souls are fed by other food than the
external eating of the Supper, and that accordingly Christ is the food of
infants, though they partake not of the symbol. The case is different with
baptism, by which the door of the Church is thrown open to them. He again
objects, that a good householder distributes meat to his household in due season
(Mt. 24:45). This I willingly admit; but how will he define the time of baptism,
so as to prove that it is not seasonably given to infants? He, moreover, adduces
Christ’s command to the apostles to make haste, because the fields are
already white to the harvest (John 4:35). Our Saviour only means that the
apostles, seeing the present fruit of their labour, should bestir themselves
with more alacrity to teach. Who will infer from this, that harvest only is the
fit time for baptism? His eleventh argument is, That in the primitive Church,
Christians and disciples were the same; but we have already seen that he argues
unskilfully from the part to the whole. The name of disciples is given to men of
full age, who had already been taught, and had assumed the name of Christ, just
as the Jews behoved to be disciples under the law of Moses. Still none could
rightly infer from this that infants, whom the Lord declared to be of his
household, were strangers. Moreover, he alleges that all Christians are
brethren, and that infants cannot belong to this class, so long as we exclude
them from the Supper. But I return to my position, first, that none are heirs of
the kingdom of heaven but those who are the members of Christ; and, secondly,
that the embracing of Christ was the true badge of adoption, in which infants
are joined in common with adults, and that temporary abstinence from the Supper
does not prevent them from belonging to the body of the Church. The thief on the
cross, when converted, became the brother of believers, though he never partook
of the Lord’s Supper. Servetus afterwards adds, that no man becomes our
brother unless by the Spirit of adoption, who is only conferred by the hearing
of faith. I answer, that he always falls back into the same paralogism, because
he preposterously applies to infants what is said only of adults. Paul there
teaches that the ordinary way in which God calls his elect, and brings them to
the faith, is by raising up faithful teachers, and thus stretching out his hand
to them by their ministry and labours. Who will presume from this to give the
law to God, and say that he may not ingraft infants into Christ by some other
secret method? He objects, that Cornelius was baptised after receiving the Holy
Spirit; but how absurdly he would convert a single example into a general rule,
is apparent from the case of the Eunuch and the Samaritans, in regard to whom
the Lord observed a different order, baptism preceding the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. The fifteenth argument is more than absurd. He says that we become gods
by regeneration, but that they are gods to whom the word of God is sent (John
10:35; 2 Pet. 1:4), a thing not possible to infant children. The attributing of
deity to believers is one of his ravings, which this is not the proper place to
discuss; but it betrays the utmost effrontery to wrest the passage in the psalm
(Ps. 82:6) to a meaning so alien to it. Christ says, that kings and magistrates
are called gods by the prophet, because they perform an office divinely
appointed them. This dexterous interpreter transfers what is addressed by
special command to certain individuals to the doctrine of the Gospel, so as to
exterminate infants from the Church. Again, he objects, that infants cannot be
regarded as new men, because they are not begotten by the word. But what I have
said again and again I now repeat, that, for regenerating us, doctrine is an
incorruptible seed, if indeed we are fit to perceive it; but when, from nonage,
we are incapable of being taught, God takes his own methods of regenerating. He
afterwards returns to his allegories, and says, that under the law, the sheep
and the goat were not offered in sacrifice the moment they were dropt (Exod.
12:5). Were I disposed to deal in figures, I might obviously reply, first, that
all the first-born, on opening the matrix, were sacred to the Lord (Exod.
13:12); and, secondly, that a lamb of a year old was to be sacrificed: whence it
follows, that it was not necessary to wait for mature age, the young and tender
offspring having been selected by God for sacrifice. He contends, moreover, that
none could come to Christ but those who were previously prepared by John; as if
John’s ministry had not been temporary. But, to omit this, assuredly there
was no such preparation in the children whom Christ took up in his arms and
blessed. Wherefore, let us have done with his false principle. He at length
calls in the assistance of Trismegistus and the Sybils, to prove that sacred
ablutions are fit only for adults. See how honourably he thinks of Christian
baptism, when he tests it by the profane rites of the Gentiles, and will not
have it administered except in the way pleasing to Trismegistus. We defer more
to the authority of God, who has seen it meet to consecrate infants to himself,
and initiate them by a sacred symbol, the significancy of which they are unable
from nonage to understand. We do not think it lawful to borrow from the
expiations of the Gentiles, in order to change, in our baptism, that eternal and
inviolable law which God enacted in circumcision. His last argument is, If
infants, without understanding, may be baptised, baptism may be mimicked and
jestingly administered by boys in sport. Here let him plead the matter with God,
by whose command circumcision was common to infants before they received
understanding. Was it, then, a fit matter for ridicule or boyish sport, to
overthrow the sacred institution of God? But no wonder that these reprobate
spirits, as if they were under the influence of frenzy, introduce the grossest
absurdities in defence of their errors, because God, by this spirit of
giddiness, justly avenges their pride and obstinacy. I trust I have made it
apparent how feebly Servetus has supported his friends the Anabaptists.
32. No sound man, I presume, can now doubt how rashly the Church is
disturbed by those who excite quarrels and disturbances because of
pÊdobaptism. For it is of importance to observe what Satan means by all
this craft-viz. to rob us of the singular blessing of confidence and spiritual
joy, which is hence to be derived, and in so far to detract from the glory of
the divine goodness. For how sweet is it to pious minds to be assured not only
by word, but even by ocular demonstration, that they are so much in favour with
their heavenly Father, that he interests himself in their prosperity! Here we
may see how he acts towards us as a most provident parent, not ceasing to care
for us even after our death, but consulting and providing for our children.
Ought not our whole heart to be stirred up within us, as David’s was (Ps.
48:11), to bless his name for such a manifestation of goodness? Doubtless the
design of Satan in assaulting pÊdobaptism with all his forces is to keep
out of view, and gradually efface, that attestation of divine grace which the
promise itself presents to our eyes. In this way, not on]y would men be
impiously ungrateful for the mercy of God, but be less careful in training their
children to piety. For it is no slight stimulus to us to bring them up in the
fear of God, and the observance of his law, when we reflect, that from their
birth they have been considered and acknowledged by him as his children.
Wherefore, if we would not maliciously obscure the kindness of God, let us
present to him our infants, to whom he has assigned a place among his friends
and family, that is, the members of the Church.
CHAPTER
17.
OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, AND THE BENEFITS
CONFERRED BY IT.
This chapter is divided into two principal
heads.-I. The first part shows what it is that God exhibits in the Holy Supper,
sec. 1-4; and then in what way and how far it becomes ours, sec. 5-11. II. The
second part is chiefly occupied with a refutation of the errors which
superstition has introduced in regard to the Lord’s Supper. And, first,
Transubstantiation is refuted, sec. 12-15. Next, Consubstantiation and Ubiquity,
sec. 16-19. Thirdly, It is shown that the institution itself is opposed to those
hyperbolical doctors, sec. 20-25. Fourth, The orthodox view is confirmed by
other arguments derived from Scripture, sec. 26-27. Fifth, The authority of the
Fathers is shown to support the same view. Sixth, The presence for which
opponents contend is overthrown, and another presence established, sec. 29-32.
Seventh, What the nature of our communion ought to be, sec. 33, 34. Eighth, The
adoration introduced by opponents refuted. For what end the Lord’s Supper
was instituted, sec. 35-39. Lastly, The examination of communicants is
considered, sec. 40-42. Of the external rites to be observed. Of frequent
communion in both kinds. Objections refuted, sec. 43-50.
Sections.
1. Why the Holy Supper was instituted by
Christ. The knowledge of the sacrament, how necessary. The signs used. Why there
are no others appointed.
2. The manifold uses and advantages of this
sacrament to the pious.
3. The Lord’s Supper exhibits the great
blessings of redemption, and even Christ himself. This even evident from the
words of the institution. The thing specially to be considered in them.
Congruity of the signs and the things signified.
4. The chief parts of
this sacrament.
5. How Christ, the Bread of Life, is to be received by
us. Two faults to be avoided. The receiving of it must bear reference both to
faith and the effect of faith. What meant by eating Christ. In what sense Christ
the bread of life.
6. This mode of eating confirmed by the authority of
Augustine and Chrysostom.
7. It is not sufficient, while omitting all
mention of flesh and blood, to recognise this communion merely as spiritual. It
is impossible fully to comprehend it in the present life.
8. In
explanation of it, it may be observed,-I. There is no life at all save in
Christ. II. Christ has life in a twofold sense; first, in himself, as he is God;
and, secondly, by transfusing it into the flesh which he assumed, that he might
thereby communicate life to us.
9. This confirmed from Cyril, and by a
familiar example. How the flesh of Christ gives life, and what the nature of our
communion with Christ.
10. No distance of place can impede it. In the
Supper it is not presented as an empty symbol, but, as the apostle testifies, we
receive the reality. Objection, that the expression is figurative. Answer. A
sure rule with regard to the sacraments.
11. Conclusion of the first
part of the chapter. The sacrament of the Supper consists of two parts-viz.
corporeal signs, and spiritual truth. These comprehend the meaning, matter, and
effect. Christ truly exhibited to us by symbols.
12. Second part of the
chapter, reduced to nine heads. The transubstantiation of the Papists considered
and refuted. Its origin and absurdity. Why it should be exploded.
13.
Transubstantiation as feigned by the Schoolmen. Refutation. The many
superstitions introduced by their error.
14. The fiction of
transubstantiation why invented contrary to Scripture, and the consent of
antiquity. The term of transubstantiation never used in the early Church.
Objection. Answer.
15. The error of transubstantiation favoured by the
consecration, which was a kind of magical incantation. The bread is not a
sacrament to itself, but to those who receive it. The changing of the rod of
Moses into a serpent gives no countenance to Popish transubstantiation. No
resemblance between it and the words of institution in the Supper. Objection.
Answer.
16. Refutation of consubstantiation; whence the idea of
ubiquity.
17. This ubiquity confounds the natures of Christ. Subtleties
answered.
18. Absurdities connected with consubstantiation. Candid
exposition of the orthodox view.
19. The nature of the true presence of
Christ in the Supper. The true and substantial communion of the body and blood
of the Lord. This orthodox view assailed by turbulent spirits.
20. This
view vindicated from their calumnies. The words of the institution explained in
opposition to the glosses of transubstantiators and consubstantiators. Their
subterfuges and absurd blasphemies.
21. Why the name of the thing
signified is given to the sacramental symbols. This illustrated by passages of
Scripture; also by a passage of Augustine.
22. Refutation of an
objection founded on the words, This is. Objection answered.
23.
Other objections answered.
24. Other objections answered. No question
here as to the omnipotence of God.
25. Other objections answered.
26. The orthodox view further confirmed. I. By a consideration of the
reality of Christ’s body. II. From our Saviour’s declaration that he
would always be in the world. This confirmed by the exposition of Augustine.
27. Refutation of the sophisms of the Ubiquitists. The evasion of
visible and invisible presence refuted.
28. The authority of Fathers
not in favour of these errors as to Christ’s presence. Augustine opposed
to them.
29. Refutation of the invisible presence maintained by
opponents. Refutation from Tertullian, from a saying of Christ after his
resurrection, from the definition of a true body, and from different passages of
Scripture.
30. Ubiquity refuted by various arguments.
31. The
imaginary presence of Transubstantiators, Consubstantiators, and Ubiquitists,
contrasted with the orthodox doctrine.
32. The nature of our
Saviour’s true presence explained. The mode of it incomprehensible.
33. Our communion in the blood and flesh of Christ. Spiritual not oral,
and yet real. Erroneous view of the Schoolmen.
34. This view not
favoured by Augustine. How the wicked eat the body of Christ. Cyril’s
sentiments as to the eating of the body of Christ.
35. Absurdity of the
adoration of sacramental symbols.
36. This adoration condemned. I. By
Christ himself. II. By the Council of Nice. III. By ancient custom. IV. By
Scripture. This adoration is mere idolatry.
37. This adoration
inconsistent with the nature and institution of the sacrament. Ends for which
the sacrament was instituted.
38. Ends for which the sacrament was
instituted.
39. True nature of the sacrament, contrasted with the
Popish observance of it.
40. Nature of an unworthy approach to the
Lord’s table. The great danger of it. The proper remedy in serious
self-examination.
41. The spurious examination introduced by the
Papists. Refutation.
42. The nature of Christian examination.
43. External rites in the administration of the Supper. Many of them
indifferent.
44. Duty of frequent communion. This proved by the
practice of the Church in its purer state, and by the canons of the early
bishops.
45. Frequent communion in the time of Augustine. The neglect
of it censured by Chrysostom.
46. The Popish injunction to communicate
once a-year an execrable invention.
47. Communion in one kind proved to
be an invention of Satan.
48. Subterfuges of the Papists refuted.
49. The practice of the early Church further considered.
50.
Conclusion.
1. AFTER God has once received us into his family, it is not
that he may regard us in the light of servants, but of sons, performing the part
of a kind and anxious parent, and providing for our maintenance during the whole
course of our lives. And, not contented with this, he has been pleased by a
pledge to assure us of his continued liberality. To this end, he has given
another sacrament to his Church by the hand of his only-begotten Son-viz. a
spiritual feast, at which Christ testifies that he himself is living bread (John
6:51), on which our souls feed, for a true and blessed immortality. Now, as the
knowledge of this great mystery is most necessary, and, in proportion to its
importance, demands an accurate exposition, and Satan, in order to deprive the
Church of this inestimable treasure, long ago introduced, first, mists, and then
darkness, to obscure its light, and stirred up strife and contention to alienate
the minds of the simple from a relish for this sacred food, and in our age,
also, has tried the same artifice, I will proceed, after giving a simple summary
adapted to the capacity of the ignorant, to explain those difficulties by which
Satan has tried to ensnare the world. First, then, the signs are bread and wine,
which represent the invisible food which we receive from the body and blood of
Christ. For as God, regenerating us in baptism, ingrafts us into the fellowship
of his Church, and makes us his by adoption, so we have said that he performs
the office of a provident parent, in continually supplying the food by which he
may sustain and preserve us in the life to which he has begotten us by his word.
Moreover, Christ is the only food of our soul, and, therefore, our heavenly
Father invites us to him, that, refreshed by communion with him, we may ever and
anon gather new vigour until we reach the heavenly immortality. But as this
mystery of the secret union of Christ with believers is incomprehensible by
nature, he exhibits its figure and image in visible signs adapted to our
capacity, nay, by giving, as it were, earnests and badges, he makes it as
certain to us as if it were seen by the eye; the familiarity of the similitude
giving it access to minds however dull, and showing that souls are fed by Christ
just as the corporeal life is sustained by bread and wine. We now, therefore,
understand the end which this mystical benediction has in view-viz. to assure us
that the body of Christ was once sacrificed for us, so that we may now eat it,
and, eating, feel within ourselves the efficacy of that one sacrifice,-that his
blood was once shed for us so as to be our perpetual drink. This is the force of
the promise which is added, “Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken
for you” (Mt. 26:26, &c.). The body which was once offered for our
salvation we are enjoined to take and eat, that, while we see ourselves made
partakers of it, we may safely conclude that the virtue of that death will be
efficacious in us. Hence he terms the cup the covenant in his blood. For the
covenant which he once sanctioned by his blood he in a manner renews, or rather
continues, in so far as regards the confirmation of our faith, as often as he
stretches forth his sacred blood as drink to us.
2. Pious souls can
derive great confidence and delight from this sacrament, as being a testimony
that they form one body with Christ, so that everything which is his they may
call their own. Hence it follows, that we can confidently assure ourselves, that
eternal life, of which he himself is the heir, is ours, and that the kingdom of
heaven, into which he has entered, can no more be taken from us than from him;
on the other hand, that we cannot be condemned for our sins, from the guilt of
which he absolves us, seeing he has been pleased that these should be imputed to
himself as if they were his own. This is the wondrous exchange made by his
boundless goodness. Having become with us the Son of Man, he has made us with
himself sons of God. By his own descent to the earth he has prepared our ascent
to heaven. Having received our mortality, he has bestowed on us his immortality.
Having undertaken our weakness, he has made us strong in his strength. Having
submitted to our poverty, he has transferred to us his riches. Having taken upon
himself the burden of unrighteousness with which we were oppressed, he has
clothed us with his righteousness.
3. To all these things we have a
complete attestation in this sacrament, enabling us certainly to conclude that
they are as truly exhibited to us as if Christ were placed in bodily presence
before our view, or handled by our hands. For these are words which can never
lie nor deceive-Take, eat, drink. This is my body, which is broken for you: this
is my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins. In bidding us take, he
intimates that it is ours: in bidding us eat, he intimates that it becomes one
substance with us: in affirming of his body that it was broken, and of his blood
that it was shed for us, he shows that both were not so much his own as ours,
because he took and laid down both, not for his own advantage, but for our
salvation. And we ought carefully to observe, that the chief, and almost the
whole energy of the sacrament, consists in these words, It is broken for you: it
is shed for you. It would not be of much importance to us that the body and
blood of the Lord are now distributed, had they not once been set forth for our
redemption and salvation. Wherefore they are represented under bread and wine,
that we may learn that they are not only ours, but intended to nourish our
spiritual life; that is, as we formerly observed, by the corporeal things which
are produced in the sacrament, we are by a kind of analogy conducted to
spiritual things. Thus when bread is given as a symbol of the body of Christ, we
must immediately think of this similitude. As bread nourishes, sustains, and
protects our bodily life, so the body of Christ is the only food to invigorate
and keep alive the soul. When we behold wine set forth as a symbol of blood, we
must think that such use as wine serves to the body, the same is spiritually
bestowed by the blood of Christ; and the use is to foster, refresh, strengthen,
and exhilarate. For if we duly consider what profit we have gained by the
breaking of his sacred body, and the shedding of his blood, we shall clearly
perceive that these properties of bread and wine, agreeably to this analogy,
most appropriately represent it when they are communicated to us.
4.
Therefore, it is not the principal part of a sacrament simply to hold forth the
body of Christ to us without any higher consideration, but rather to seal and
confirm that promise by which he testifies that his flesh is meat indeed, and
his blood drink indeed, nourishing us unto life eternal, and by which he affirms
that he is the bread of life, of which, whosoever shall eat, shall live for
ever-I say, to seal and confirm that promise, and in order to do so, it sends us
to the cross of Christ, where that promise was performed and fulfilled in all
its parts. For we do not eat Christ duly and savingly unless as crucified, while
with lively apprehension we perceive the efficacy of his death. When he called
himself the bread of life, he did not take that appellation from the sacrament,
as some perversely interpret; but such as he was given to us by the Father, such
he exhibited himself when becoming partaker of our human mortality, he made us
partakers of his divine immortality; when offering himself in sacrifice, he took
our curse upon himself, that he might cover us with his blessing, when by his
death he devoured and swallowed up death, when in his resurrection he raised our
corruptible flesh, which he had put on, to glory and incorruption.
5. It
only remains that the whole become ours by application. This is done by means of
the gospel, and more clearly by the sacred Supper, where Christ offers himself
to us with all his blessings, and we receive him in faith. The sacrament,
therefore, does not make Christ become for the first time the bread of life;
but, while it calls to remembrance that Christ was made the bread of life that
we may constantly eat him, it gives us a taste and relish for that bread, and
makes us feel its efficacy. For it assures us, first, that whatever Christ did
or suffered was done to give us life; and, secondly, that this quickening is
eternal; by it we are ceaselessly nourished, sustained, and preserved in life.
For as Christ would not have not been the bread of life to us if he had not been
born, if he had not died and risen again; so he could not now be the bread of
life, were not the efficacy and fruit of his nativity, death, and resurrection,
eternal. All this Christ has elegantly expressed in these words, “The
bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world” (John 6:51); doubtless intimating, that his body will be as bread
in regard to the spiritual life of the soul, because it was to be delivered to
death for our salvation, and that he extends it to us for food when he makes us
partakers of it by faith. Wherefore he once gave himself that he might become
bread, when he gave himself to be crucified for the redemption of the world; and
he gives himself daily, when in the word of the gospel he offers himself to be
partaken by us, inasmuch as he was crucified, when he seals that offer by the
sacred mystery of the Supper, and when he accomplishes inwardly what he
externally designates. Moreover, two faults are here to be avoided. We must
neither, by setting too little value on the signs, dissever them from their
meanings to which they are in some degree annexed, nor by immoderately extolling
them, seem somewhat to obscure the mysteries themselves. That Christ is the
bread of life by which believers are nourished unto eternal life, no man is so
utterly devoid of religion as not to acknowledge. But all are not agreed as to
the mode of partaking of him. For there are some who define the eating of the
flesh of Christ, and the drinking of his blood, to be, in one word, nothing more
than believing in Christ himself. But Christ seems to me to have intended to
teach something more express and more sublime in that noble discourse, in which
he recommends the eating of his flesh-viz. that we are quickened by the true
partaking of him, which he designated by the terms eating and drinking, lest any
one should suppose that the life which we obtain from him is obtained by simple
knowledge. For as it is not the sight but the eating of bread that gives
nourishment to the body, so the soul must partake of Christ truly and
thoroughly, that by his energy it may grow up into spiritual life. Meanwhile, we
admit that this is nothing else than the eating of faith, and that no other
eating can be imagined. But there is this difference between their mode of
speaking and mine. According to them, to eat is merely to believe; while I
maintain that the flesh of Christ is eaten by believing, because it is made ours
by faith, and that that eating is the effect and fruit of faith; or, if you will
have it more clearly, according to them, eating is faith, whereas it rather
seems to me to be a consequence of faith. The difference is little in words, but
not little in reality. For, although the apostle teaches that Christ dwells in
our hearts by faith (Eph. 3:17), no one will interpret that dwelling to be faith
All see that it explains the admirable effect of faith, because to it it is
owing that believers have Christ dwelling in them. In this way, the Lord was
pleased, by calling himself the bread of life, not only to teach that our
salvation is treasured up in the faith of his death and resurrection, but also,
by virtue of true communication with him, his life passes into us and becomes
ours, just as bread when taken for food gives vigour to the body.
6.
When Augustine, whom they claim as their patron, wrote, that we eat by
believing, all he meant was to indicate that that eating is of faith, and not of
the mouth. This I deny not; but I at the same time add, that by faith we embrace
Christ, not as appearing at a distance, but as uniting himself to us, he being
our head, and we his members. I do not absolutely disapprove of that mode of
speaking; I only deny that it is a full interpretation, if they mean to define
what it is to eat the flesh of Christ. I see that Augustine repeatedly used this
form of expression, as when he said (De Doct. Christ. Lib. 3), “ Unless ye
eat the flesh of the Son of Man” is a figurative expression enjoining us
to have communion with our Lord’s passion, and sweetly and usefully to
treasure in our memory that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us. Also
when he says, “These three thousand men who were converted at the
preaching of Peter (Acts 2:41), by believing, drank the blood which they had
cruelly shed.”60[6] But in
very many other passages he admirably commends faith for this, that by means of
it our souls are not less refreshed by the communion of the blood of Christ,
than our bodies with the bread which they eat. The very same thing is said by
Chrysostom, “Christ makes us his body, not by faith only, but in
reality.” He does not mean that we obtain this blessing from any other
quarter than from faith: he only intends to prevent any one from thinking of
mere imagination when he hears the name of faith. I say nothing of those who
hold that the Supper is merely a mark of external profession, because I think I
sufficiently refuted their error when I treated of the sacraments in general
(Chap. 14 sec. 13). Only let my readers observe, that when the cup is called the
covenant in blood (Luke 22:20), the promise which tends to confirm faith is
expressed. Hence it follows, that unless we have respect to God, and embrace
what he offers, we do not make a right use of the sacred Supper.
7. I am
not satisfied with the view of those who, while acknowledging that we have some
kind of communion with Christ, only make us partakers of the Spirit, omitting
all mention of flesh and blood. As if it were said to no purpose at all, that
his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed; that we have no life
unless we eat that flesh and drink that blood; and so forth. Therefore, if it is
evident that full communion with Christ goes beyond their description, which is
too confined, I will attempt briefly to show how far it extends, before
proceeding to speak of the contrary vice of excess. For I shall have a longer
discussion with these hyperbolical doctors, who, according to their gross ideas,
fabricate an absurd mode of eating and drinking, and transfigure Christ, after
divesting him of his flesh, into a phantom: if, indeed, it be lawful to put this
great mystery into words, a mystery which I feel, and therefore freely confess
that I am unable to comprehend with my mind, so far am I from wishing any one to
measure its sublimity by my feeble capacity. Nay, I rather exhort my readers not
to confine their apprehension within those too narrow limits, but to attempt to
rise much higher than I can guide them. For whenever this subject is considered,
after I have done my utmost, I feel that I have spoken far beneath its dignity.
And though the mind is more powerful in thought than the tongue in expression,
it too is overcome and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the subject. All then
that remains is to break forth in admiration of the mystery, which it is plain
that the mind is inadequate to comprehend, or the tongue to express. I will,
however, give a summary of my view as I best can, not doubting its truth, and
therefore trusting that it will not be disapproved by pious breasts.
8.
First of all, we are taught by the Scriptures that Christ was from the beginning
the living Word of the Father, the fountain and origin of life, from which all
things should always receive life. Hence John at one time calls him the Word of
life, and at another says, that in him was life; intimating, that he, even then
pervading all creatures, instilled into them the power of breathing and living.
He afterwards adds, that the life was at length manifested, when the Son of God,
assuming our nature, exhibited himself in bodily form to be seen and handled.
For although he previously diffused his virtue into the creatures, yet as man,
because alienated from God by sin, had lost the communication of life, and saw
death on every side impending over him, he behoved, in order to regain the hope
of immortality, to be restored to the communion of that Word. How little
confidence can it give you, to know that the Word of God, from which you are at
the greatest distance, contains within himself the fulness of life, whereas in
yourself, in whatever direction you turn, you see nothing but death? But ever
since that fountain of life began to dwell in our nature, he no longer lies hid
at a distance from us, but exhibits himself openly for our participation. Nay,
the very flesh in which he resides he makes vivifying to us, that by partaking
of it we may feed for immortality. “I,” says he, “am that
bread of life;” “I am the living bread which came down from
heaven;” “And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will
give for the life of the world” (John 6:48, 51). By these words he
declares, not only that he is life, inasmuch as he is the eternal Word of God
who came down to us from heaven, but, by coming down, gave vigour to the flesh
which he assumed, that a communication of life to us might thence emanate.
Hence, too, he adds, that his flesh is meat indeed, and that his blood is drink
indeed: by this food believers are reared to eternal life. The pious, therefore,
have admirable comfort in this, that they now find life in their own flesh. For
they not only reach it by easy access, but have it spontaneously set forth
before them. Let them only throw open the door of their hearts that they may
take it into their embrace, and they will obtain it.
9. The flesh of
Christ, however, has not such power in itself as to make us live, seeing that by
its own first condition it was subject to mortality, and even now, when endued
with immortality, lives not by itself. Still it is properly said to be
life-giving, as it is pervaded with the fulness of life for the purpose of
transmitting it to us. In this sense I understand our Saviour’s words as
Cyril interprets them, “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he
given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26). For there properly
he is speaking not of the properties which he possessed with the Father from the
beginning, but of those with which he was invested in the flesh in which he
appeared. Accordingly, he shows that in his humanity also fulness of life
resides, so that every one who communicates in his flesh and blood, at the same
time enjoys the participation of life. The nature of this may be explained by a
familiar example. As water is at one time drunk out of the fountain, at another
drawn, at another led away by conduits to irrigate the fields, and yet does not
flow forth of itself for all these uses, but is taken from its source, which,
with perennial flow, ever and anon sends forth a new and sufficient supply; so
the flesh of Christ is like a rich and inexhaustible fountain, which transfuses
into us the life flowing forth from the Godhead into itself. Now, who sees not
that the communion of the flesh and blood of Christ is necessary to all who
aspire to the heavenly life? Hence those passages of the apostle: The Church is
the “body” of Christ; his “fulness.” He is “the
head,” “from whence the whole body fitly joined together, and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth,” “maketh increase of
the body” (Eph. 1:23; 4:15,16). Our bodies are the “members of
Christ” (1 Cor. 6:15). We perceive that all these things cannot possibly
take place unless he adheres to us wholly in body and spirit. But the very close
connection which unites us to his flesh, he illustrated with still more splendid
epithets, when he said that we “are members of his body, of his flesh, and
of his bones” (Eph. 5:30). At length, to testify that the matter is too
high for utterance, he concludes with exclaiming, “This is a great
mystery” (Eph. 5:32). It were, therefore, extreme infatuation not to
acknowledge the communion of believers with the body and blood of the Lord, a
communion which the apostle declares to be so great, that he chooses rather to
marvel at it than to explain it.
10. The sum is, that the flesh and
blood of Christ feed our souls just as bread and wine maintain and support our
corporeal life. For there would be no aptitude in the sign, did not our souls
find their nourishment in Christ. This could not be, did not Christ truly form
one with us, and refresh us by the eating of his flesh, and the drinking of his
blood. But though it seems an incredible thing that the flesh of Christ, while
at such a distance from us in respect of place, should be food to us, let us
remember how far the secret virtue of the Holy Spirit surpasses all our
conceptions, and how foolish it is to wish to measure its immensity by our
feeble capacity. Therefore, what our mind does not comprehend let faith
conceive-viz. that the Spirit truly unites things separated by space. That
sacred communion of flesh and blood by which Christ transfuses his life into us,
just as if it penetrated our bones and marrow, he testifies and seals in the
Supper, and that not by presenting a vain or empty sign, but by there exerting
an efficacy of the Spirit by which he fulfils what he promises. And truly the
thing there signified he exhibits and offers to all who sit down at that
spiritual feast, although it is beneficially received by believers only who
receive this great benefit with true faith and heartfelt gratitude. For this
reason the apostle said, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not
the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ”? (1 Cor. 10:16.) There is no ground to
object that the expression is figurative, and gives the sign the name of the
thing signified. I admit, indeed, that the breaking of bread is a symbol, not
the reality. But this being admitted, we duly infer from the exhibition of the
symbol that the thing itself is exhibited. For unless we would charge God with
deceit, we will never presume to say that he holds forth an empty symbol.
Therefore, if by the breaking of bread the Lord truly represents the partaking
of his body, there ought to be no doubt whatever that he truly exhibits and
performs it. The rule which the pious ought always to observe is, whenever they
see the symbols instituted by the Lord, to think and feel surely persuaded that
the truth of the thing signified is also present. For why does the Lord put the
symbol of his body into your hands, but just to assure you that you truly
partake of him? If this is true let us feel as much assured that the visible
sign is given us in seal of an invisible gift as that his body itself is given
to us.
11. I hold then (as has always been received in the Church, and
is still taught by those who feel aright), that the sacred mystery of the Supper
consists of two things-the corporeal signs, which, presented to the eye,
represent invisible things in a manner adapted to our weak capacity, and the
spiritual truth, which is at once figured and exhibited by the signs. When
attempting familiarly to explain its nature, I am accustomed to set down three
things-the thing meant, the matter which depends on it, and the virtue or
efficacy consequent upon both. The thing meant consists in the promises which
are in a manner included in the sign. By the matter, or substance, I mean
Christ, with his death and resurrection. By the effect, I understand redemption,
justification, sanctification, eternal life, and all other benefits which Christ
bestows upon us. Moreover, though all these things have respect to faith, I
leave no room for the cavil, that when I say Christ is conceived by faith, I
mean that he is only conceived by the intellect and imagination. He is offered
by the promises, not that we may stop short at the sight or mere knowledge of
him, but that we may enjoy true communion with him. And, indeed, I see not how
any one can expect to have redemption and righteousness in the cross of Christ,
and life in his death, without trusting first of all to true communion with
Christ himself. Those blessings could not reach us, did not Christ previously
make himself ours. I say then, that in the mystery of the Supper, by the symbols
of bread and wine, Christ, his body and his blood, are truly exhibited to us,
that in them he fulfilled all obedience, in order to procure righteousness for
us- first that we might become one body with him; and, secondly, that being made
partakers of his substance, we might feel the result of this fact in the
participation of all his blessings.
12. I now come to the hyperbolical
mixtures which superstition has introduced. Here Satan has employed all his
wiles, withdrawing the minds of men from heaven, and imbuing them with the
perverse error that Christ is annexed to the element of bread. And, first, we
are not to dream of such a presence of Christ in the sacrament as the artificers
of the Romish court have imagined, as if the body of Christ, locally present,
were to be taken into the hand, and chewed by the teeth, and swallowed by the
throat. This was the form of Palinode, which Pope Nicholas dictated to
Berengarius, in token of his repentance, a form expressed in terms so monstrous,
that the author of the Gloss exclaims, that there is danger, if the reader is
not particularly cautious, that he will be led by it into a worse heresy than
was that of Berengarius (Distinct. 2 c. Ego Berengarius). Peter Lombard, though
he labours much to excuse the absurdity, rathers inclines to a different
opinion. As we cannot at all doubt that it is bounded according to the
invariable rule in the human body, and is contained in heaven, where it was once
received, and will remain till it return to judgment, so we deem it altogether
unlawful to bring it back under these corruptible elements, or to imagine it
everywhere present. And, indeed, there is no need of this, in order to our
partaking of it, since the Lord by his Spirit bestows upon us the blessing of
being one with him in soul, body, and spirit. The bond of that connection,
therefore, is the Spirit of Christ, who unites us to him, and is a kind of
channel by which everything that Christ has and is, is derived to us. For if we
see that the sun, in sending forth its rays upon the earth, to generate,
cherish, and invigorate its offspring, in a manner transfuses its substance into
it, why should the radiance of the Spirit be less in conveying to us the
communion of his flesh and blood? Wherefore the Scripture, when it speaks of our
participation with Christ, refers its whole efficacy to the Spirit. Instead of
many, one passage will suffice. Paul, in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom.
8:9-11), shows that the only way in which Christ dwells in us is by his Spirit.
By this, however, he does not take away that communion of flesh and blood of
which we now speak, but shows that it is owing to the Spirit alone that we
possess Christ wholly, and have him abiding in us.
13. The Schoolmen,
horrified at this barbarous impiety, speak more modestly, though they do nothing
more than amuse themselves with more subtle delusions. They admit that Christ is
not contained in the sacrament circumscriptively, or in a bodily manner, but
they afterwards devise a method which they themselves do not understand, and
cannot explain to others. It, however, comes to this, that Christ may be sought
in what they call the species of bread. What? When they say that the substance
of bread is converted into Christ, do they not attach him to the white colour,
which is all they leave of it? But they say, that though contained in the
sacrament, he still remains in heaven, and has no other presence there than that
of abode. But, whatever be the terms in which they attempt to make a gloss, the
sum of all is, that that which was formerly bread, by consecration becomes
Christ: so that Christ thereafter lies hid under the colour of bread. This they
are not ashamed distinctly to express. For Lombard’s words are, “The
body of Christ, which is visible in itself, lurks and lies covered after the act
of consecration under the species of bread” (Lombard. Sent. Lib. 4 Dist.
12). Thus the figure of the bread is nothing but a mask which conceals the view
of the flesh from our eye. But there is no need of many conjectures to detect
the snare which they intended to lay by these words, since the thing itself
speaks clearly. It is easy to see how great is the superstition under which not
only the vulgar but the leaders also, have laboured for many ages, and still
labour, in Popish Churches. Little solicitous as to true faith (by which alone
we attain to the fellowship of Christ, and become one with him), provided they
have his carnal presence, which they have fabricated without authority from the
word, they think he is sufficiently present. Hence we see, that all which they
have gained by their ingenious subtlety is to make bread to be regarded as God.
14. Hence proceeded that fictitious transubstantiation
[1] for which they fight more fiercely
in the present day than for all the other articles of their faith. For the first
architects of local presence could not explain, how the body of Christ could be
mixed with the substance of bread, without forthwith meeting with many
absurdities. Hence it was necessary to have recourse to the fiction, that there
is a conversion of the bread into body, not that properly instead of bread it
becomes body, but that Christ, in order to conceal himself under the figure,
reduces the substance to nothing. It is strange that they have fallen into such
a degree of ignorance, nay, of stupor, as to produce this monstrous fiction not
only against Scripture, but also against the consent of the ancient Church. I
admit, indeed, that some of the ancients occasionally used the term
conversion, not that they meant to do away with the substance in the
external signs, but to teach that the bread devoted to the sacrament was widely
different from ordinary bread, and was now something else. All clearly and
uniformly teach that the sacred Supper consists of two parts, an earthly and a
heavenly. The earthly they without dispute interpret to be bread and wine.
Certainly, whatever they may pretend, it is plain that antiquity, which they
often dare to oppose to the clear word of God, gives no countenance to that
dogma. It is not so long since it was devised; indeed, it was unknown not only
to the better ages, in which a purer doctrine still flourished, but after that
purity was considerably impaired. There is no early Christian writer who does
not admit in distinct terms that the sacred symbols of the Supper are bread and
wine, although, as has been said, they sometimes distinguish them by various
epithets, in order to recommend the dignity of the mystery. For when they say
that a secret conversion takes place at consecration, so that it is now
something else than bread and wine, their meaning, as I already observed, is,
not that these are annihilated, but that they are to be considered in a
different light from common food, which is only intended to feed the body,
whereas in the former the spiritual food and drink of the mind are exhibited.
This we deny not. But, say our opponents, if there is conversion, one thing must
become another. If they mean that something becomes different from what it was
before, I assent. If they will wrest it in support of their fiction, let them
tell me of what kind of change they are sensible in baptism. For here, also, the
Fathers make out a wonderful conversion, when they say that out of the
corruptible element is made the spiritual laver of the soul, and yet no one
denies that it still remains water. But say they, there is no such expression in
Baptism as that in the Supper, This is my body; as if we were treating of
these words, which have a meaning sufficiently clear, and not rather of that
term conversion, which ought not to mean more in the Supper than in
Baptism. Have done, then, with those quibbles upon words, which betray nothing
but their silliness. The meaning would have no congruity, unless the truth which
is there figured had a living image in the external sign. Christ wished to
testify by an external symbol that his flesh was food. If he exhibited merely an
empty show of bread, and not true bread, where is the analogy or similitude to
conduct us from the visible thing to the invisible? For, in order to make all
things consistent, the meaning cannot extend to more than this, that we are fed
by the species of Christ’s flesh; just as, in the case of baptism, if the
figure of water deceived the eye, it would not be to us a sure pledge of our
ablution; nay, the fallacious spectacle would rather throw us into doubt. The
nature of the sacrament is therefore overthrown, if in the mode of signifying
the earthly sign corresponds not to the heavenly reality; and, accordingly, the
truth of the mystery is lost if true bread does not represent the true body of
Christ. I again repeat, since the Supper is nothing but a conspicuous
attestation to the promise which is contained in the sixth chapter of John-viz.
that Christ is the bread of life, who came down from heaven, that visible bread
must intervene, in order that that spiritual bread may be figured, unless we
would destroy all the benefits with which God here favours us for the purpose of
sustaining our infirmity. Then on what ground could Paul infer that we are all
one bread, and one body in partaking together of that one bread, if only the
semblance of bread, and not the natural reality, remained?
15. They
could not have been so shamefully deluded by the impostures of Satan had they
not been fascinated by the erroneous idea, that the body of Christ included
under the bread is transmitted by the bodily mouth into the belly. The cause of
this brutish imagination was, that consecration had the same effect with them as
magical incantation. They overlooked the principle, that bread is a sacrament to
none but those to whom the word is addressed, just as the water of baptism is
not changed in itself, but begins to be to us what it formerly was not, as soon
as the promise is annexed. This will better appear from the example of a similar
sacrament. The water gushing from the rock in the desert was to the Israelites a
badge and sign of the same thing that is figured to us in the Supper by wine.
For Paul declares that they drank the same spiritual drink (1 Cor. 10:4). But
the water was common to the herds and flocks of the people. Hence it is easy to
infer, that in the earthly elements, when employed for a spiritual use, no other
conversion takes place than in respect of men, inasmuch as they are to them
seals of promises. Moreover, since it is the purpose of God, as I have
repeatedly inculcated, to raise us up to himself by fit vehicles, those who
indeed call us to Christ, but to Christ lurking invisibly under bread,
impiously, by their perverseness, defeat this object. For it is impossible for
the mind of man to disentangle itself from the immensity of space, and ascend to
Christ even above the heavens. What nature denied them, they attempted to gain
by a noxious remedy. Remaining on the earth, they felt no need of a celestial
proximity to Christ. Such was the necessity which impelled them to transfigure
the body of Christ. In the age of Bernard, though a harsher mode of speech had
prevailed, transubstantiation was not yet recognised. And in all previous ages,
the similitude in the mouths of all was, that a spiritual reality was conjoined
with bread and wine in this sacrament. As to the terms, they think they answer
acutely, though they adduce nothing relevant to the case in hand. The rod of
Moses (they say), when turned into a serpent, though it acquires the name of a
serpent, still retains its former name, and is called a rod; and thus, according
to them, it is equally probable that though the bread passes into a new
substance, it is still called by catachresis, and not inaptly, what it still
appears to the eye to be. But what resemblance, real or apparent, do they find
between an illustrious miracle and their fictitious illusion, of which no eye on
the earth is witness? The magi by their impostures had persuaded the Egyptians,
that they had a divine power above the ordinary course of nature to change
created beings. Moses comes forth, and after exposing their fallacies, shows
that the invincible power of God is on his side, since his rod swallows up all
the other rods. But as that conversion was visible to the eye, we have already
observed, that it has no reference to the case in hand. Shortly after the rod
visibly resumed its form. It may be added, that we know not whether this was an
extemporary conversion of
substance.60[7] For we must attend
to the illusion to the rods of the magicians, which the prophet did not choose
to term serpents, lest he might seem to insinuate a conversion which had no
existence, because those impostors had done nothing more than blind the eyes of
the spectators. But what resemblance is there between that expression and the
following? “The bread which we break;”-”As often as ye eat
this bread;”-”They communicated in the breaking of bread;” and
so forth. It is certain that the eye only was deceived by the incantation of the
magicians. The matter is more doubtful with regard to Moses, by whose hand it
was not more difficult for God to make a serpent out of a rod, and again to make
a rod out of a serpent, than to clothe angels with corporeal bodies, and a
little after unclothe them. If the case of the sacrament were at all akin to
this, there might be some colour for their explanation. Let it, therefore,
remain fixed that there is no true and fit promise in the Supper, that the flesh
of Christ is truly meat, unless there is a correspondence in the true substance
of the external symbol. But as one error gives rise to another, a passage in
Jeremiah has been so absurdly wrested, to prove transubstantiation, that it is
painful to refer to it. The prophet complains that wood was placed in his bread,
intimating that by the cruelty of his enemies his bread was infected with
bitterness, as David by a similar figure complains, “They gave me also
gall for my meat: and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm
69:21). These men would allegorise the expression to mean, that the body of
Christ was nailed to the wood of the cross. But some of the Fathers thought so!
As if we ought not rather to pardon their ignorance and bury the disgrace, than
to add impudence, and bring them into hostile conflict with the genuine meaning
of the prophet.
16. Some, who see that the analogy between the sign and
the thing signified cannot be destroyed without destroying the truth of the
sacrament, admit that the bread of the Supper is truly the substance of an
earthly and corruptible element, and cannot suffer any change in itself, but
must have the body of Christ included under it. If they would explain this to
mean, that when the bread is held forth in the sacrament, an exhibition of the
body is annexed, because the truth is inseparable from its sign, I would not
greatly object. But because fixing the body itself in the bread, they attach to
it an ubiquity contrary to its nature, and by adding under the bread,
will have it that it lies hid under it,
[2] I must employ a short time in
exposing their craft, and dragging them forth from their concealments. Here,
however, it is not my intention professedly to discuss the whole case; I mean
only to lay the foundations of a discussion which will afterwards follow in its
own place. They insist, then, that the body of Christ is invisible and immense,
so that it may be hid under bread, because they think that there is no other way
by which they can communicate with him than by his descending into the bread,
though they do not comprehend the mode of descent by which he raises us up to
himself. They employ all the colours they possibly can, but after they have said
all, it is sufficiently apparent that they insist on the local presence of
Christ. How so? Because they cannot conceive any other participation of flesh
and blood than that which consists either in local conjunction and contact, or
in some gross method of enclosing.
17. Some, in order obstinately to
maintain the error which they have once rashly adopted, hesitate not to assert
that the dimensions of Christ’s flesh are not more circumscribed than
those of heaven and earth. His birth as an infant, his growth, his extension on
the cross, his confinement in the sepulchre, were effected, they say, by a kind
of dispensation, that he might perform the offices of being born, of dying, and
of other human acts: his being seen with his wonted bodily appearance after the
resurrection, his ascension into heaven, his appearance, after his ascension, to
Stephen and Paul, were the effect of the same dispensation, that it might be
made apparent to the eye of man that he was constituted King in heaven. What is
this but to call forth Marcion from his grave? For there cannot be a doubt that
the body of Christ, if so constituted, was a phantasm, or was phantastical. Some
employ a rather more subtle evasion, That the body which is given in the
sacrament is glorious and immortal, and that, therefore, there is no absurdity
in its being contained under the sacrament in various places, or in no place,
and in no form. But, I ask, what did Christ give to his disciples the day before
he suffered? Do not the words say that he gave the mortal body, which was to be
delivered shortly after? But, say they, he had previously manifested his glory
to the three disciples on the mount (Mt. 17:2). This is true; but his purpose
was to give them for the time a taste of immortality. Still they cannot find
there a twofold body, but only the one which he had assumed, arrayed in new
glory. When he distributed his body in the first Supper, the hour was at hand in
which he was “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isa. 53:4).
So far was he from intending at that time to exhibit the glory of his
resurrection. And here what a door is opened to Marcion, if the body of Christ
was seen humble and mortal in one place, glorious and immortal in another! And
yet, if their opinion is well-founded, the same thing happens every day, because
they are forced to admit that the body of Christ, which is in itself visible,
lurks invisibly under the symbol of bread. And yet those who send forth such
monstrous dogmas, so far from being ashamed at the disgrace, assail us with
virulent invectives for not subscribing to them.
18. But assuming that
the body and blood of Christ are attached to the bread and wine, then the one
must necessarily be dissevered from the other. For as the bread is given
separately from the cup, so the body, united to the bread, must be separated
from the blood, included in the cup. For since they affirm that the body is in
the bread, and the blood is in the cup, while the bread and wine are, in regard
to space, at some distance from each other, they cannot, by any quibble, evade
the conclusion that the body must be separated from the blood. Their usual
pretence-viz. that the blood is in the body, and the body again in the blood, by
what they call concomitance, is more than frivolous, since the symbols in which
they are included are thus distinguished. But if we are carried to heaven with
our eyes and minds, that we may there behold Christ in the glory of his kingdom,
as the symbols invite us to him in his integrity, so, under the symbol of bread,
we must feed on his body, and, under the symbol of wine, drink separately of his
blood, and thereby have the full enjoyment of him. For though he withdrew his
flesh from us, and with his body ascended to heaven, he, however, sits at the
right hand of the Father; that is, he reigns in power and majesty, and the glory
of the Father. This kingdom is not limited by any intervals of space, nor
circumscribed by any dimensions. Christ can exert his energy wherever he
pleases, in earth and heaven, can manifest his presence by the exercise of his
power, can always be present with his people, breathing into them his own life,
can live in them, sustain, confirm, and invigorate them, and preserve them safe,
just as if he were with them in the body; in fine, can feed them with his own
body, communion with which he transfuses into them. After this manner, the body
and blood of Christ are exhibited to us in the sacrament.
19. The
presence of Christ in the Supper we must hold to be such as neither affixes him
to the element of bread, nor encloses him in bread, nor circumscribes him in any
way (this would obviously detract from his celestial glory); and it must,
moreover, be such as neither divests him of his just dimensions, nor dissevers
him by differences of place, nor assigns to him a body of boundless dimensions,
diffused through heaven and earth. All these things are clearly repugnant to his
true human nature. Let us never allow ourselves to lose sight of the two
restrictions. First, Let there be nothing derogatory to the heavenly glory of
Christ. This happens whenever he is brought under the corruptible elements of
this world, or is affixed to any earthly creatures. Secondly, Let no property be
assigned to his body inconsistent with his human nature. This is done when it is
either said to be infinite, or made to occupy a variety of places at the same
time. But when these absurdities are discarded, I willingly admit anything which
helps to express the true and substantial communication of the body and blood of
the Lord, as exhibited to believers under the sacred symbols of the Supper,
understanding that they are received not by the imagination or intellect merely,
but are enjoyed in reality as the food of eternal life. For the odium with which
this view is regarded by the world, and the unjust prejudice incurred by its
defence, there is no cause, unless it be in the fearful fascinations of Satan.
What we teach on the subject is in perfect accordance with Scripture, contains
nothing absurd, obscure, or ambiguous, is not unfavourable to true piety and
solid edification; in short, has nothing in it to offend, save that, for some
ages, while the ignorance and barbarism of sophists reigned in the Church, the
clear light and open truth were unbecomingly suppressed. And yet as Satan, by
means of turbulent spirits, is still, in the present day, exerting himself to
the utmost to bring dishonour on this doctrine by all kinds of calumny and
reproach, it is right to assert and defend it with the greatest care.
20. Before we proceed farther, we must consider the ordinance itself, as
instituted by Christ, because the most plausible objection of our opponents is,
that we abandon his words. To free ourselves from the obloquy with which they
thus load us, the fittest course wil1 be to begin with an interpretation of the
words. Three Evangelists and Paul relate that our Saviour took bread, and after
giving thanks, brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saving, Take, eat: this
is my body which is given or broken for you. Of the cup, Matthew and Mark say,
“This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins” (Mt. 26:26; Mark 14:22). Luke and Paul say, “This
cup is the new testament in my blood” (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25). The
advocates of transubstantiation insist, that by the pronoun, this, is
denoted the appearance of bread, because the whole complexion of our
Saviour’s address is an act of consecration, and there is no substance
which can be demonstrated. But if they adhere so religiously to the words,
inasmuch as that which our Saviour gave to his disciples he declared to be his
body, there is nothing more alien from the strict meaning of the words than the
fiction, that what was bread is now body. What Christ takes into his hands, and
gives to the apostles, he declares to be his body; but he had taken bread, and,
therefore, who sees not that what is given is still bread? Hence, nothing can be
more absurd than to transfer what is affirmed of bread to the species of bread.
Others, in interpreting the particle is, as equivalent to being
transubstantiated, have recourse to a gloss which is forced and violently
wrested. They have no ground, therefore, for pretending that they are moved by a
reverence for the words. The use of the term is, for being converted into
something else, is unknown to every tongue and nation. With regard to those who
leave the bread in the Supper, and affirm that it is the body of Christ, there
is great diversity among them. Those who speak more modestly, though they insist
upon the letter, This is my body, afterwards abandon this strictness, and
observe that it is equivalent to saying that the body of Christ is with the
bread, in the bread, and under the bread. To the reality which they affirm, we
have already adverted, and will by-and-by, at greater length. I am not only
considering the words by which they say they are prevented from admitting that
the bread is called body, because it is a sign of the body. But if they shun
everything like metaphor, why do they leap from the simple demonstration of
Christ to modes of expression which are widely different? For there is a great
difference between saying that the bread is the body, and that the body is with
the bread. But seeing it impossible to maintain the simple proposition that the
bread is the body, they endeavoured to evade the difficulty by concealing
themselves under those forms of expression. Others, who are bolder, hesitate not
to assert that, strictly speaking, the bread is body, and in this way prove that
they are truly of the letter. If it is objected that the bread, therefore, is
Christ, and, being Christ, is God,-they will deny it, because the words of
Christ do not expressly say so. But they gain nothing by their denial, since all
agree that the whole Christ is offered to us in the Supper. It is intolerable
blasphemy to affirm, without figure, of a fading and corruptible element, that
it is Christ. I now ask them, if they hold the two propositions to be identical,
Christ is the Son of God, and Bread is the body of Christ? If they concede that
they are different (and this, whether they will or not, they will be forced to
do), let them tell wherein is the difference. All which they can adduce is, I
presume, that the bread is called body in a sacramental manner. Hence it
follows, that the words of Christ are not subject to the common rule, and ought
not to be tested grammatically. I ask all these rigid and obstinate exactors of
the letter, whether, when Luke and Paul call the cup the testament in
blood, they do not express the same thing as in the previous clause, when
they call bread the body? There certainly was the same solemnity in the one part
of the mystery as in the other, and, as brevity is obscure, the longer sentence
better elucidates the meaning. As often, therefore, as they contend, from the
one expression, that the bread is body, I will adduce an apt interpretation from
the longer expression, That it is a testament in the body. What? Can we seek for
surer or more faithful expounders than Luke and Paul? I have no intention,
however, to detract, in any respect, from the communication of the body of
Christ, which I have acknowledged. I only meant to expose the foolish
perverseness with which they carry on a war of words. The bread I understand, on
the authority of Luke and Paul, to be the body of Christ, because it is a
covenant in the body. If they impugn this, their quarrel is not with me, but
with the Spirit of God. However often they may repeat, that reverence for the
words of Christ will not allow them to give a figurative interpretation to what
is spoken plainly, the pretext cannot justify them in thus rejecting all the
contrary arguments which we adduce. Meanwhile, as I have already observed, it is
proper to attend to the force of what is meant by a testament in the body and
blood of Christ. The covenant, ratified by the sacrifice of death, would not
avail us without the addition of that secret communication, by which we are made
one with Christ.
21. It remains, therefore, to hold, that on account of
the affinity which the things signified have with their signs, the name of the
thing itself is given to the sign figuratively, indeed, but very appropriately.
I say nothing of allegories and parables, lest it should be alleged that I am
seeking subterfuges, and slipping out of the present question. I say that the
expression which is uniformly used in Scripture, when the sacred mysteries are
treated of, is metonymical. For you cannot otherwise understand the expressions,
that circumcision is a “covenant”-that the lamb is the Lord’s
“passover”-that the sacrifices of the law are expiations-that the
rock from which the water flowed in the desert was Christ,-unless you interpret
them metonymically.”60[8]
Nor is the name merely transferred from the superior to the inferior, but, on
the contrary, the name of the visible sign is given to the thing signified, as
when God is said to have appeared to Moses in the bush; the ark of the covenant
is called God, and the face of God, and the dove is called the Holy
Spirit.60[9] For although the sign
differs essentially from the thing signified, the latter being spiritual and
heavenly, the former corporeal and visible,-yet, as it not only figures the
thing which it is employed to represent as a naked and empty badge, but also
truly exhibits it, why should not its name be justly applied to the thing? But
if symbols humanly devised, which are rather the images of absent than the marks
of present things, and of which they are very often most fallacious types, are
sometimes honoured with their names,-with much greater reason do the
institutions of God borrow the names of things, of which they always bear a
sure, and by no means fallacious signification, and have the reality annexed to
them. So great, then, is the similarity, and so close the connection between the
two, that it is easy to pass from the one to the other. Let our opponents,
therefore, cease to indulge their mirth in calling us Tropists, when we explain
the sacramental mode of expression according to the common use of Scripture.
For, while the sacraments agree in many things, there is also, in this metonymy,
a certain community in all respects between them. As, therefore, the apostle
says that the rock from which spiritual water flowed forth to the Israelites was
Christ (1 Cor. 10:4), and was thus a visible symbol under which, that spiritual
drink was truly perceived, though not by the eye, so the body of Christ is now
called bread, inasmuch as it is a symbol under which our Lord offers us the true
eating of his body. Lest any one should despise this as a novel invention, the
view which Augustine took and expressed was the same: “Had not the
sacraments a certain resemblance to the things of which they are sacraments,
they would not be sacraments at all. And from this resemblance, they generally
have the names of the things themselves. This, as the sacrament of the body of
Christ, is, after a certain manner, the body of Christ, and the sacrament of
Christ is the blood of Christ; so the sacrament of faith is faith”
(August. Ep. 23, ad Bonifac.). He has many similar passages, which it would be
superfluous to collect, as that one may suffice. I need only remind my readers,
that the same doctrine is taught by that holy man in his Epistle to Evodius.
Where Augustine teaches that nothing is more common than metonymy in mysteries,
it is a frivolous quibble to object that there is no mention of the Supper. Were
this objection sustained, it would follow, that we are not entitled to argue
from the genus to the species; e. g., Every animal is endued with motion;
and, therefore, the horse and the ox are endued with
motion.61[0] Indeed, longer
discussion is rendered unnecessary by the words of the Saint himself, where he
says, that when Christ gave the symbol of his body, he did not hesitate to call
it his body (August. Cont. Adimantum, cap. 12). He elsewhere says,
“Wonderful was the patience of Christ in admitting Judas to the feast, in
which he committed and delivered to the disciples the symbol of his body and
blood” (August. in. Ps. 3).
22. Should any morose person, shutting
his eyes to everything else, insist upon the expression, This is, as
distinguishing this mystery from all others, the answer is easy. They say that
the substantive verb is so emphatic, as to leave no room for interpretation.
Though I should admit this, I answer, that the substantive verb occurs in the
words of Paul (1 Cor. 10:16), where he calls the bread the communion of
the body of Christ. But communion is something different from the body itself.
Nay, when the sacraments are treated of, the same word occurs: “My
covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant” (Gen. 17:13).
“This is the ordinance of the passover” (Exod. 12:43). To say no
more, when Paul declares that the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4), why should the
substantive verb, in that passage, be deemed less emphatic than in the discourse
of Christ? When John says, “The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that
Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39), I should like to know what is
the force of the substantive verb? If the rule of our opponents is rigidly
observed, the eternal essence of the Spirit will be destroyed, as if he had only
begun to be after the ascension of Christ. Let them tell me, in fine, what is
meant by the declaration of Paul, that baptism is “the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit. 3:5); though it is
certain that to many it was of no use. But they cannot be more effectually
refuted than by the expression of Paul, that the Church is Christ. For, after
introducing the similitude of the human body, he adds, “So also is
Christ” (1 Cor. 7:12), when he means not the only-begotten Son of God in
himself, but in his members. I think I have now gained this much, that all men
of sense and integrity will be disgusted with the calumnies of our enemies, when
they give out that we discredit the words of Christ; though we embrace them not
less obediently than they do, and ponder them with greater reverence. Nay, their
supine security proves that they do not greatly care what Christ meant, provided
it furnishes them with a shield to defend their obstinacy, while our careful
investigation should be an evidence of the authority which we yield to Christ.
They invidiously pretend that human reason will not allow us to believe what
Christ uttered with his sacred mouth; but how naughtily they endeavour to fix
this odium upon us, I have already, in a great measure, shown, and will still
show more clearly. Nothing, therefore, prevents us from believing Christ
speaking, and from acquiescing in everything to which he intimates his assent.
The only question here is, whether it be unlawful to inquire into the genuine
meaning?
23. Those worthy masters, to show that they are of the letter,
forbid us to deviate, in the least, from the letter. On the contrary, when
Scripture calls God a man of war, as I see that the expression would be too
harsh if not interpreted, I have no doubt that the similitude is taken from man.
And, indeed, the only pretext which enabled the Anthropomorphites to annoy the
orthodox Fathers was by fastening on the expressions, “The eyes of God
see;” “It ascended to his ears;” “His hand is stretched
out;” “The earth is his footstool;” and exclaimed, that God
was deprived of the body which Scripture assigns to him. Were this rule
admitted, complete barbarism would bury the whole light of faith. What monstrous
absurdities shall fanatical men not be able to extract, if they are allowed to
urge every knotty point in support of their dogmas? Their objection, that it is
not probable that when Christ was providing special comfort for the apostles in
adversity, he spoke enigmatically or obscurely,-supports our view. For, had it
not occurred to the apostles that the bread was called the body figuratively, as
being a symbol of the body, the extraordinary nature of the thing would
doubtless have filled them with perplexity. For, at this very period, John
relates, that the slightest difficulties perplexed them (John 14:5, 8; 16:17).
They debate, among themselves, how Christ is to go to the Father, and not
understanding that the things which were said referred to the heavenly Father,
raise a question as to how he is to go out of the world until they shall see
him? How, then, could they have been so ready to believe what is repugnant to
all reason-viz. that Christ was seated at table under their eye, and yet was
contained invisible under the bread? As they attest their consent by eating this
bread without hesitation, it is plain that they understood the words of Christ
in the same sense as we do, considering what ought not to seem unusual when
mysteries are spoken of, that the name of the thing signified was transferred to
the sign. There was therefore to the disciples, as there is to us, clear and
sure consolation, not involved in any enigma; and the only reason why certain
persons reject our interpretation is, because they are blinded by a delusion of
the devil to introduce the darkness of enigma, instead of the obvious
interpretation of an appropriate figure. Besides, if we insist strictly on the
words, our Saviour will be made to affirm erroneously something of the bread
different from the cup. He calls the bread body, and the wine blood. There must
either be a confusion in terms, or there must be a division separating the body
from the blood. Nay, “This is my body,” may be as truly affirmed of
the cup as of the bread; and it may in turn be affirmed that the bread is the
blood.61[1] If they answer, that
we must look to the end or use for which symbols were instituted, I admit it:
but still they will not disencumber themselves of the absurdity which their
error drags along with it-viz. that the bread is blood, and the wine is body.
Then I know not what they mean when they concede that bread and body are
different things, and yet maintain that the one is predicated of the other,
properly and without figure, as if one were to say that a garment is different
from a man, and yet is properly called a man. Still, as if the victory depended
on obstinacy and invective, they say that Christ is charged with falsehood, when
it is attempted to interpret his words. It will now be easy for the reader to
understand the injustice which is done to us by those carpers at syllables, when
they possess the simple with the idea that we bring discredit on the words of
Christ; words which, as we have shown, are madly perverted and confounded by
them, but are faithfully and accurately expounded by us.
24. This
infamous falsehood cannot be completely wiped away without disposing of another
charge. They give out that we are so wedded to human reason, that we attribute
nothing more to the power of God than the order of nature admits, and common
sense dictates.61[2] From these
wicked calumnies, I appeal to the doctrine which I have delivered,-a doctrine
which makes it sufficiently clear that I by no means measure this mystery by the
capacity of human reason, or subject it to the laws of nature. I ask, whether it
is from physics we have learned that Christ feeds our souls from heaven with his
flesh, just as our bodies are nourished by bread and wine? How has flesh this
virtue of giving life to our souls? All will say, that it is not done naturally.
Not more agreeable is it to human reason to hold that the flesh of Christ
penetrates to us, so as to be our food. In short, every one who may have tasted
our doctrine, will be carried away with admiration of the secret power of God.
But these worthy zealots fabricate for themselves a miracle, and think that
without it God himself and his power vanish away. I would again admonish the
reader carefully to consider the nature of our doctrine, whether it depends on
common apprehension, or whether, after having surmounted the world on the wings
of faith, it rises to heaven. We say that Christ descends to us, as well by the
external symbol as by his Spirit, that he may truly quicken our souls by the
substance of his flesh and blood. He who feels not that in these few words are
many miracles, is more than stupid; since nothing is more contrary to nature
than to derive the spiritual and heavenly life of the soul from flesh, which
received its origin from the earth, and was subjected to death, nothing more
incredible than that things separated by the whole space between heaven and
earth should, notwithstanding of the long distance, not only be connected, but
united, so that souls receive aliment from the flesh of Christ. Let preposterous
men, then, cease to assail us with the vile calumny, that we malignantly
restrict the boundless power of God. They either foolishly err, or wickedly lie.
The question here is not, What could God do? but, What has he been pleased to
do? We affirm that he has done what pleased him, and it pleased him that Christ
should be in all respects like his brethren, “yet without sin” (Heb.
4:15). What is our flesh? Is it not that which consists of certain dimensions?
is confined within a certain place? is touched and seen? And why, say they, may
not God make the same flesh occupy several different places, so as not to be
confined to any particular place, and so as to have neither measure nor species?
Fool! why do you require the power of God to make a thing to be at the same time
flesh and not flesh? It is just as if you were to insist on his making light to
be at the same time light and darkness. He wills light to be light, darkness to
be darkness, flesh to be flesh. True, when he so chooses, he will convert
darkness into light, and light into darkness: but when you insist that there
shall be no difference between light and darkness, what do you but pervert the
order of the divine wisdom? Flesh must therefore be flesh, and spirit spirit;
each under the law and condition on which God has created them. Now, the
condition of flesh is, that it should have one certain place, its own
dimensions, its own form. On that condition, Christ assumed the flesh, to which,
as Augustine declares (Ep. ad Dardan.), he gave incorruption and glory, but
without destroying its nature and reality.
25. They object that they
have the word by which the will of God has been openly manifested; that is if we
permit them to banish from the Church the gift of interpretation, which should
throw light upon the word. I admit that they have the word, but just as the
Anthropomorphites of old had it, when they made God corporeal; just as Marcion
and the Manichees had it when they made the body of Christ celestial or
phantastical. They quoted the passages, “The first man is of the earth,
earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47): Christ
“made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). But these vain boasters
think that there is no power of God unless they fabricate a monster in their own
brains, by which the whole order of nature is subverted. This rather is to
circumscribe the power of God, to attempt to try, by our fictions, what he can
do. From this word, they have assumed that the body of Christ is visible in
heaven, and yet lurks invisible on the earth under innumerable bits of bread.
They will say that this is rendered necessary, in order that the body of Christ
may be given in the Supper. In other words, because they have been pleased to
extract a carnal eating from the words of Christ, carried away by their own
prejudice, they have found it necessary to coin this subtlety, which is wholly
repugnant to Scripture. That we detract, in any respect, from the power of God,
is so far from being true, that our doctrine is the loudest in extolling it. But
as they continue to charge us with robbing God of his honour, in rejecting what,
according to common apprehension, it is difficult to believe, though it had been
promised by the mouth of Christ; I answer, as I lately did, that in the
mysteries of faith we do not consult common apprehension, but, with the placid
docility and spirit of meekness which James recommends (James 1:21), receive the
doctrine which has come from heaven. Wherein they perniciously err, I am
confident that we follow a proper moderation. On hearing the words of Christ,
this is my body, they imagine a miracle most remote from his intention; and
when, from this fiction, the grossest absurdities arise, having already, by
their precipitate haste, entangled themselves with snares, they plunge
themselves into the abyss of the divine omnipotence, that, in this way, they may
extinguish the light of
truth.61[3] Hence the supercilious
moroseness. We have no wish to know how Christ is hid under the bread: we are
satisfied with his own words, “This is my body.” We again study,
with no less obedience than care, to obtain a sound understanding of this
passage, as of the whole of Scripture. We do not, with preposterous fervour,
rashly, and without choice, lay hold on whatever first presents itself to our
minds; but, after careful meditation, embrace the meaning which the Spirit of
God suggests. Trusting to him, we look down, as from a height, on whatever
opposition may be offered by earthly wisdom. Nay, we hold our minds captive, not
allowing one word of murmur, and humble them, that they may not presume to
gainsay. In this way, we have arrived at that exposition of the words of Christ,
which all who are moderately versant in Scripture know to be perpetually used
with regard to the sacraments. Still, in a matter of difficulty, we deem it not
unlawful to inquire, after the example of the blessed Virgin, “How shall
this be?” (Luke 1:34).
26. But as nothing will be more effectual
to confirm the faith of the pious than to show them that the doctrine which we
have laid down is taken from the pure word of God, and rests on its authority, I
will make this plain with as much brevity as I can. The body with which Christ
rose is declared, not by Aristotle, but by the Holy Spirit, to be finite, and to
be contained in heaven until the last day. I am not unaware how confidently our
opponents evade the passages which are quoted to this effect. Whenever Christ
says that he will leave the world and go away (John 14:2, 28), they reply, that
that departure was nothing more than a change of mortal state. Were this so,
Christ would not substitute the Holy Spirit, to supply, as they express it, the
defect of his absence, since he does not succeed in place of him, nor, on the
other hand, does Christ himself descend from the heavenly glory to assume the
condition of a mortal life. Certainly the advent of’ the Spirit and the
ascension of Christ are set against each other, and hence it necessarily follows
that Christ dwells with us according to the flesh, in the same way as that in
which he sends his Spirit. Moreover, he distinctly says that he would not always
be in the world with his disciples (Mt. 26:11). This saving, also, they think
they admirably dispose of, as if it were a denial by Christ that he would always
be poor and mean, or liable to the necessities of a fading life. But this is
plainly repugnant to the context, since reference is made not to poverty and
want, or the wretched condition of an earthly life, but to worship and honour.
The disciples were displeased with the anointing by Mary, because they thought
it a superfluous and useless expenditure, akin to luxury, and would therefore
have preferred that the price which they thought wasted should have been
expended on the poor. Christ answers, that he will not be always with them to
receive such honour. No different exposition is given by Augustine, whose words
are by no means ambiguous. When Christ says, “Me ye have not
always,” he spoke of his bodily presence. In regard to his majesty, in
regard to his providence, in regard to his ineffable and invisible grace, is
fulfilled what he said: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world” (Mt. 28:20); but in regard to the flesh which the Word assumed-in
regard to that which was born of the Virgin-in regard to that which was
apprehended by the Jews, nailed to the tree, suspended on the cross, wrapt in
linen clothes, laid in the tomb, and manifested in the resurrection,-”Me
ye have not always.” Why? Since he conversed with his disciples in bodily
presence for forty days, and, going out with them, ascended, while they saw but
followed not. He is not here, for he sits there, at the right hand of the
Father. And yet he is here: for the presence of his majesty is not withdrawn.
Otherwise, as regards the presence of his majesty, we have Christ always; while,
in regard to his bodily presence, it was rightly said, “Me ye have not
always.” In respect of bodily presence, the Church had him for a few days:
now she holds him by faith, but sees him not with the eye (August. Tract. in
Joann. 50). Here (that I may briefly note this) he makes him present with us in
three ways-in majesty, providence, and ineffable grace; under which I comprehend
that wondrous communion of his body and blood, provided we understand that it is
effected by the power of the Holy Spirit, and not by that fictitious enclosing
of his body under the element, since our Lord declared that he had flesh and
bones which could be handled and seen. Going away, and ascending,
intimate, not that he had the appearance of one going away and ascending, but
that he truly did what the words express. Some one will ask, Are we then to
assign a certain region of heaven to Christ? I answer with Augustine, that this
is a curious and superfluous question, provided we believe that he is in heaven.
27. What? Does not the very name of ascension, so often repeated,
intimate removal from one place to another? This they deny, because by height,
according to them, the majesty of empire only is denoted. But what was the very
mode of ascending? Was he not carried up while the disciples looked on? Do not
the Evangelists clearly relate that he was carried into heaven? These acute
Sophists reply, that a cloud intervened, and took him out of their sight, to
teach the disciples that he would not afterwards be visible in the world. As if
he ought not rather to have vanished in a moment, to make them believe in his
invisible presence, or the cloud to have gathered around him before he moved a
step. When he is carried aloft into the air, and the interposing cloud shows
that he is no more to be sought on earth, we safely infer that his dwelling now
is in the heavens, as Paul also asserts, bidding us look for him from thence
(Phil. 3:20). For this reason, the angels remind the disciples that it is vain
to keep gazing up into heaven, because Jesus, who was taken up, would come in
like manner as they had seen him ascend. Here the adversaries of sound doctrine
escape, as they think, by the ingenious quibble, that he will come in visible
form, though he never departed from the earth, but remained invisible among his
people. As if the angels had insinuated a two-fold presence, and not simply made
the disciples eye-witnesses of the ascent, that no doubt might remain. It was
just as if they had said, By ascending to heaven, while you looked on, he has
asserted his heavenly power: it remains for you to wait patiently until he again
arrive to judge the world. He has not entered into heaven to occupy it alone,
but to gather you and all the pious along with him.
28. Since the
advocates of this spurious dogma are not ashamed to honour it with the suffrages
of the ancients, and especially of Augustine, how perverse they are in the
attempt I will briefly explain. Pious and learned men have collected the
passages, and therefore I am unwilling to plead a concluded cause: any one who
wishes may consult their writings. I will not even collect from Augustine what
might be pertinent to the
matter,61[4] but will be contented
to show briefly, that without all controversy he is wholly ours. The pretence of
our opponents, when they would wrest him from us, that throughout his works the
flesh and blood of Christ are said to be dispensed in the Supper-namely, the
victim once offered on the cross, is frivolous, seeing he, at the same time,
calls it either the eucharist or sacrament of the body. But it is unnecessary to
go far to find the sense in which he uses the terms flesh and
blood, since he himself explains, saying (Ep. 23, ad Bonif.) that the
sacraments receive names from their similarity to the things which they
designate; and that, therefore, the sacrament of the body is after a certain
manner the body. With this agrees another well-know passage, “The Lord
hesitated not to say, This is my body, when he gave the sign” (Cont.
Adimant. Manich. cap. 12). They again object that Augustine says distinctly that
the body of Christ falls upon the earth, and enters the mouth. But this is in
the same sense in which he affirms that it is consumed, for he conjoins both at
the same time. There is nothing repugnant to this in his saying that the bread
is consumed after the mystery is performed: for he had said a little before,
“As these things are known to men, when they are done by men they may
receive honour as being religious, but not as being wonderful” (De Trinit.
Lib. 3 c. 10). His meaning is not different in the passage which our opponents
too rashly appropriate to themselves-viz. that Christ in a manner carried
himself in his own hands, when he held out the mystical bread to his disciples.
For by interposing the expression, in a manner, he declares that he was
not really or truly included under the bread. Nor is it strange, since he
elsewhere plainly contends, that bodies could not be without particular
localities, and being nowhere, would have no existence. It is a paltry cavil
that he is not there treating of the Supper, in which God exerts a special
power. The question had been raised as to the flesh of Christ, and the holy man
professedly replying, says, “Christ gave immortality to his flesh, but did
not destroy its nature. In regard to this form, we are not to suppose that it is
everywhere diffused: for we must beware not to rear up the divinity of the man,
so as to take away the reality of the body. It does not follow that that which
is in God is everywhere as God” (Ep. ad Dardan.). He immediately subjoins
the reason, “One person is God and man, and both one Christ, everywhere,
inasmuch as he is God, and in heaven, inasmuch as he is man.” How careless
would it have been not to except the mystery of the Supper, a matter so grave
and serious, if it was in any respect adverse to the doctrine which he was
handling? And yet, if any one will attentively read what follows shortly after,
he will find that under that general doctrine the Supper also is comprehended,
that Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, and also Son of man, is everywhere
wholly present as God, in the temple of God, that is, in the Church, as an
inhabiting God, and in some place in heaven, because of the dimensions of his
real body. We see how, in order to unite Christ with the Church, he does not
bring his body out of heaven. This he certainly would have done had the body of
Christ not been truly our food, unless when included under the bread. Elsewhere,
explaining how believers now possess Christ, he says, “You have him by the
sign of the cross, by the sacrament of baptism, by the meat and drink of the
altar” (Tract. in Joann. 50). How rightly he enumerates a superstitious
rite, among the symbols of Christ’s presence, I dispute not; but in
comparing the presence of the flesh to the sign of the cross, he sufficiently
shows that he has no idea of a twofold body of Christ, one lurking concealed
under the bread, and another sitting visible in heaven. If there is any need of
explanation, it is immediately added, “In respect of the presence of his
majesty, we have Christ always: in respect of the presence of his flesh, it is
rightly said, ëMe ye have not always.’” They object that he
also adds, “In respect of ineffable and invisible grace is fulfilled what
was said by him, ëI am with you always, even to the end of the
world.’” But this is nothing in their favour. For it is at length
restricted to his majesty, which is always opposed to body, while the flesh is
expressly distinguished from grace and virtue. The same antithesis elsewhere
occurs, when he says that “Christ left the disciples in bodily presence,
that he might be with them in spiritual presence.” Here it is clear that
the essence of the flesh is distinguished from the virtue of the Spirit, which
conjoins us with Christ, when, in respect of space, we are at a great distance
from him. He repeatedly uses the same mode of expression, as when he says,
“He is to come to the quick and the dead in bodily presence, according to
the rule of faith and sound doctrine: for in spiritual presence he was to come
to them, and to be with the whole Church in the world until its consummation.
Therefore, this discourse is directed to believers, whom he had begun already to
save by corporeal presence, and whom he was to leave in coporeal absence, that
by spiritual presence he might preserve them with the Father.” By
corporeal to understand visible is mere trifling, since he both opposes his body
to his divine power, and by adding, that he might “preserve them with the
Father,” clearly expresses that he sends his grace to us from heaven by
means of the Spirit.
29. Since they put so much confidence in his
hiding-place of invisible presence, let us see how well they conceal themselves
in it. First, they cannot produce a syllable from Scripture to prove that Christ
is invisible; but they take for granted what no sound man will admit, that the
body of Christ cannot be given in the Supper, unless covered with the mask of
bread. This is the very point in dispute; so far is it from occupying the place
of the first principle. And while they thus prate, they are forced to give
Christ a twofold body, because, according to them, it is visible in itself in
heaven, but in the Supper is invisible, by a special mode of dispensation. The
beautiful consistency of this may easily be judged, both from other passages of
Scripture, and from the testimony of Peter. Peter says that the heavens must
receive, or contain Christ, till he come again (Acts 3:21). These men teach that
he is in every place, but without form. They say that it is unfair to subject a
glorious body to the ordinary laws of nature. But this answer draws along with
it the delirious dream of Servetus, which all pious minds justly abhor, that his
body was absorbed by his divinity. I do not say that this is their opinion; but
if it is considered one of the properties of a glorified body to fill all things
in an invisible manner, it is plain that the corporeal substance is abolished,
and no distinction is left between his Godhead and his human nature. Again, if
the body of Christ is so multiform and diversified, that it appears in one
place, and in another is invisible, where is there anything of the nature of
body with its proper dimensions, and where is its unity? Far more correct is
Tertullian, who contends that the body of Christ was natural and real, because
its figure is set before us in the mystery of the Supper, as a pledge and
assurance of spiritual life (Tertull. Cont. Marc. Lib.
4).61[5] And certainly Christ said
of his glorified body, “Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39). Here, by the lips of Christ
himself, the reality of his flesh is proved, by its admitting of being seen and
handled. Take these away, and it will cease to be flesh. They always betake
themselves to their lurking-place of dispensation, which they have fabricated.
But it is our duty so to embrace what Christ absolutely declares, as to give it
an unreserved assent. He proves that he is not a phantom, because he is visible
in his flesh. Take away what he claims as proper to the nature of his body, and
must not a new definition of body be devised? Then, however they may turn
themselves about, they will not find any place for their fictitious dispensation
in that passage, in which Paul says, that “our conversation is in heaven;
from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our
vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Phil.
3:20, 21). We are not to hope for conformity to Christ in these qualities which
they ascribe to him as a body, without bounds, and invisible. They will not find
any one so stupid as to be persuaded of this great absurdity. Let them not,
therefore, set it down as one of the properties of Christ’s glorious body,
that it is, at the same time, in many places, and in no place. In short, let
them either openly deny the resurrection of his flesh, or admit that Christ,
when invested with celestial glory, did not lay aside his flesh, but is to make
us, in our flesh, his associates, and partakers of the same glory, since we are
to have a common resurrection with him. For what does Scripture throughout
deliver more clearly than that, as Christ assumed our flesh when he was born of
the Virgin, and suffered in our true flesh when he made satisfaction for us, so
on rising again he resumed the same true flesh, and carried it with him to
heaven? The hope of our resurrection, and ascension to heaven, is, that Christ
rose again and ascended, and, as Tertullian says (De Resurrect. Carnis),
“Carried an earnest of our resurrection along with him into heaven.”
Morever, how weak and fragile would this hope be, had not this very flesh of
ours in Christ been truly raised up, and entered into the kingdom of heaven. But
the essential properties of a body are to be confined by space, to have
dimension and form. Have done, then, with that foolish fiction, which affixes
the minds of men, as well as Christ, to bread. For to what end this occult
presence under the bread, save that those who wish to have Christ conjoined with
them may stop short at the symbol? But our Lord himself wished us to withdraw
not only our eyes, but all our senses, from the earth, forbidding the woman to
touch him until he had ascended to the Father (John 20:17). When he sees Mary,
with pious reverential zeal, hastening to kiss his feet, there could be no
reason for his disapproving and forbidding her to touch him before he had
ascended to heaven, unless he wished to he sought nowhere else. The objection,
that he afterwards appeared to Stephen, is easily answered. It was not necessary
for our Saviour to change his place, as he could give the eyes of his servant a
power of vision which could penetrate to heaven. The same account is to be given
of the case of Paul. The objection, that Christ came forth from the closed
sepulchre, and came in to his disciples while the doors were shut (Mt. 28:6;
John 20:19), gives no better support to their error. For as the water, just as
if it had been a solid pavement, furnished a path to our Saviour when he walked
on it (Mt. 14.), so it is not strange that the hard stone yielded to his step;
although it is more probable that the stone was removed at his command, and
forthwith, after giving him a passage, returned to its place. To enter while the
doors were shut, was not so much to penetrate through solid matter, as to make a
passage for himself by divine power, and stand in the midst of his disciples in
a most miraculous manner. They gain nothing by quoting the passage from Luke, in
which it is said, that Christ suddenly vanished from the eyes of the disciples,
with whom he had journed to Emmaus (Luke 24:31). In withdrawing from their
sight, he did not become invisible: he only disappeared. Thus Luke declares
that, on the journeying with them, he did not assume a new form, but that
“ their eyes were holden.” But these men not only transform Christ
that he may live on the earth, but pretend that there is another elsewhere of a
different description. In short, by thus trifling, they, not in direct terms
indeed, but by a circumlocution, make a spirit of the flesh of Christ; and, not
contented with this, give him properties altogether opposite. Hence it
necessarily follows that he must be twofold.
30. Granting what they
absurdly talk of the invisible presence, it will still be necessary to prove the
immensity, without which it is vain to attempt to include Christ under the
bread. Unless the body of Christ can be everywhere without any boundaries of
space, it is impossible to believe that he is hid in the Supper under the bread.
Hence, they have been under the necessity of introducing the monstrous dogma of
ubiquity. But it has been demonstrated by strong and clear passages of
Scripture, first, that it is bounded by the dimensions of the human body; and,
secondly, that its ascension into heaven made it plain that it is not in all
places, but on passing to a new one, leaves the one formerly occupied. The
promise to which they appeal, “I am with you always, even to the end of
the world,” is not to be applied to the body. First, then, a perpetual
connection with Christ could not exist, unless he dwells in us corporeally,
independently of the use of the Supper; and, therefore, they have no good ground
for disputing so bitterly concerning the words of Christ, in order to include
him under the bread in the
Supper.61[6] Secondly, the context
proves that Christ is not speaking at all of his flesh, but promising the
disciples his invincible aid to guard and sustain them against all the assaults
of Satan and the world. For, in appointing them to a difficult office, he
confirms them by the assurance of his presence, that they might neither hesitate
to undertake it, nor be timorous in the discharge of it; as if he had said, that
his invincible protection would not fail them. Unless we would throw everything
into confusion, must it not be necessary to distinguish the mode of presence?
And, indeed, some, to their great disgrace, choose rather to betray their
ignorance than give up one iota of their error. I speak not of Papists, whose
doctrine is more tolerable, or at least more modest; but some are so hurried
away by contention as to say, that on account of the union of natures in Christ,
wherever his divinity is, there his flesh, which cannot be separated from it, is
also; as if that union formed a kind of medium of the two natures, making him to
be neither God nor man. So held Eutyches, and after him Servetus. But it is
clearly gathered from Scripture that the one person of Christ is composed of two
natures, but so that each has its peculiar properties unimpaired. That Eutyches
was justly condemned, they will not have the hardihood to deny. It is strange
that they attend not to the cause of condemnation-viz. that destroying the
distinction between the natures, and insisting only on the unity of person, he
converted God into man and man into
God.61[7] What madness, then, is
it to confound heaven with earth, sooner than not withdraw the body of Christ
from its heavenly sanctuary? In regard to the passages which they adduce,
“No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even
the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3:13); “The only-begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18),
they betray the same stupidity, scouting the communion of properties
(idiomatum, ??????????), which not without reason was formerly invented
by holy Fathers. Certainly when Paul says of the princes of this world that they
“crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8), he means not that he
suffered anything in his divinity, but that Christ, who was rejected and
despised, and suffered in the flesh, was likewise God and the Lord of glory. In
this way, both the Son of man was in heaven because he was also Christ; and he
who, according to the flesh, dwelt as the Son of man on earth, was also God in
heaven. For this reason, he is said to have descended from heaven in respect of
his divinity, not that his divinity quitted heaven to conceal itself in the
prison of the body, but because, although he filled all things, it yet resided
in the humanity of Christ coporeally, that is, naturally, and in an ineffable
manner. There is a trite distinction in the schools which I hesitate not to
quote. Although the whole Christ is everywhere, yet everything which is in him
is not everywhere. I wish the Schoolmen had duly weighed the force of this
sentence, as it would have obviated their absurd fiction of the corporeal
presence of Christ. Therefore, while our whole Mediator is everywhere, he is
always present with his people, and in the Supper exhibits his presence in a
special manner; yet so, that while he is wholly present, not everything which is
in him is present, because, as has been said, in his flesh he will remain in
heaven till he come to judgment.
31. They are greatly mistaken in
imagining that there is no presence of the flesh of Christ in the Supper, unless
it be placed in the bread. They thus leave nothing for the secret operation of
the Spirit, which unites Christ himself to us. Christ does not seem to them to
be present unless he descends to us, as if we did not equally gain his presence
when he raises us to himself. The only question, therefore, is as to the mode,
they placing Christ in the bread, while we deem it unlawful to draw him down
from heaven. Which of the two is more correct, let the reader judge. Only have
done with the calumny that Christ is withdrawn from his Supper if he lurk not
under the covering of bread. For seeing this mystery is heavenly, there is no
necessity to bring Christ on the earth that he may be connected with us.
32. Now, should any one ask me as to the mode, I will not be ashamed to
confess that it is too high a mystery either for my mind to comprehend or my
words to express; and to speak more plainly, I rather feel than understand it.
The truth of God, therefore, in which I can safely rest, I here embrace without
controversy. He declares that his flesh is the meat, his blood the drink, of my
soul; I give my soul to him to be fed with such food. In his sacred Supper he
bids me take, eat, and drink his body and blood under the symbols of bread and
wine. I have no doubt that he will truly give and I receive. Only, I reject the
absurdities which appear to be unworthy of the heavenly majesty of Christ, and
are inconsistent with the reality of his human nature. Since they must also be
repugnant to the word of God, which teaches both that Christ was received into
the glory of the heavenly kingdom, so as to be exalted above all the
circumstances of the world (Luke 24:26), and no less carefully ascribes to him
the properties belonging to a true human nature. This ought not to seem
incredible or contradictory to reason (Iren. Lib. 4 cap. 34); because, as the
whole kingdom of Christ is spiritual, so whatever he does in his Church is not
to be tested by the wisdom of this world; or, to use the words of Augustine,
“this mystery is performed by man like the others, but in a divine manner,
and on earth, but in a heavenly manner.” Such, I say, is the corporeal
presence which the nature of the sacrament requires, and which we say is here
displayed in such power and efficacy, that it not only gives our minds undoubted
assurance of eternal life, but also secures the immortality of our flesh, since
it is now quickened by his immortal flesh, and in a manner shines in his
immortality. Those who are carried beyond this with their hyperboles, do nothing
more by their extravagancies than obscure the plain and simple truth. If any one
is not yet satisfied, I would have him here to consider with himself that we are
speaking of the sacrament, every part of which ought to have reference to faith.
Now by participation of the body, as we have explained, we nourish faith not
less richly and abundantly than do those who drag Christ himself from heaven.
Still I am free to confess that that mixture or transfusion of the flesh of
Christ with our soul, which they teach, I repudiate, because it is enough for us
that Christ, out of the substance of his flesh, breathes life into our souls,
nay, diffuses his own life into us, though the real flesh of Christ does not
enter us.61[8] I may add, that
there can be no doubt that the analogy of faith by which Paul enjoins us to test
every interpretation of Scripture, is clearly with us in this matter. Let those
who oppose a truth so clear, consider to what standard of faith they conform
themselves: “Ever spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is not of God” ((1 John 4:3); 2 John ver. 7). These men, though
they disguise the fact, or perceive it not, rob him of his flesh.
33.
The same view must be taken of communion, which, according to them, has no
existence unless they swallow the flesh of Christ under the bread. But no slight
insult is offered to the Spirit if we refuse to believe that it is by his
incomprehensible agency that we communicate in the body and blood of Christ.
Nay, if the nature of the mystery, as delivered to us, and known to the ancient
Church for four hundred years, had been considered as it deserves, there was
more than enough to satisfy us; the door would have been shut against many
disgraceful errors. These have kindled up fearful dissensions, by which the
Church, both anciently and in our own times, has been miserably vexed; curious
men insisting on an extravagant mode of presence to which Scripture gives no
countenance. And for a matter thus foolishly and rashly devised they keep up a
turmoil, as if the including of Christ under the bread were, so to speak, the
beginning and end of piety. It was of primary importance to know how the body of
Christ once delivered to us becomes ours, and how we become partakers of his
shed blood, because this is to possess the whole of Christ crucified, so as to
enjoy all his blessings. But overlooking these points, in which there was so
much importance, nay, neglecting and almost suppressing them, they occupy
themselves only with this one perplexing question, How is the body of Christ
hidden under the bread, or under the appearance of bread? They falsely pretend
that all which we teach concerning spiritual eating is opposed to true and what
they call real eating, since we have respect only to the mode of eating. This,
according to them, is carnal, since they include Christ under the bread, but
according to us is spiritual, inasmuch as the sacred agency of the Spirit is the
bond of our union with Christ. Not better founded is the other objection, that
we attend only to the fruit or effect which believers receive from eating the
flesh of Christ. We formerly said, that Christ himself is the matter of the
Supper, and that the effect follows from this, that by the sacrifice of his
death our sins are expiated, by his blood we are washed, and by his resurrection
we are raised to the hope of life in heaven. But a foolish imagination, of which
Lombard was the author, perverts their minds, while they think that the
sacrament is the eating of the flesh of Christ. His words are, “The
sacrament and not the thing are the forms of bread and wine; the sacrament and
the thing are the flesh and blood of Christ; the thing and not the sacrament is
his mystical flesh” (Lombard, Lib. 4 Dist. 8). Again a little after,
“The thing signified and contained is the proper flesh of Christ; the
thing signified and not contained is his mystical body.” To his
distinction between the flesh of Christ and the power of nourishing which it
possesses, I assent; but his maintaining it to be a sacrament, and a sacrament
contained under the bread, is an error not to be tolerated. Hence has arisen
that false interpretation of sacramental eating, because it was imagined that
even the wicked and profane, however much alienated from Christ, eat his body.
But the very flesh of Christ in the mystery of the Supper is no less a spiritual
matter than eternal salvation. Whence we infer, that all who are devoid of the
Spirit of Christ can no more eat the flesh of Christ than drink wine that has no
savour. Certainly Christ is shamefully lacerated, when his body, as lifeless and
without any vigour, is prostituted to unbelievers. This is clearly repugnant to
his words, “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in
me, and I in him” (John 6:56). They object that he is not there speaking
of sacramental eating; this I admit, provided they will not ever and anon
stumble on this stone, that his flesh itself is eaten without any benefit. I
should like to know how they confine it after they have eaten. Here, in my
opinion, they will find no outlet. But they object, that the ingratitude of man
cannot in any respect detract from, or interfere with, faith in the promises of
God. I admit and hold that the power of the sacrament remains entire, however
the wicked may labour with all their might to annihilate it. Still, it is one
thing to be offered, another to be received. Christ gives this spiritual food
and holds forth this spiritual drink to all. Some eat eagerly, others
superciliously reject it. Will their rejection cause the meat and drink to lose
their nature? They will say that this similitude supports their opinion-viz.
that the flesh of Christ, though it be without taste, is still flesh. But I deny
that it can be eaten without the taste of faith, or (if it is more agreeable to
speak with Augustine), I deny that men carry away more from the sacrament than
they collect in the vessel of faith. Thus nothing is detracted from the
sacrament, nay, its reality and efficacy remain unimpaired, although the wicked,
after externally partaking of it, go away empty. If, again, they object, that it
derogates from the expression, “This is my body,” if the wicked
receive corruptible bread and nothing besides, it is easy to answer, that God
wills not that his truth should be recognised in the mere reception, but in the
constancy of his goodness, while he is prepared to perform, nay, liberally
offers to the unworthy what they reject. The integrity of the sacrament, an
integrity which the whole world cannot violate, lies here, that the flesh and
blood of Christ are not less truly given to the unworthy than to the elect
believers of God; and yet it is true, that just as the rain falling on the hard
rock runs away because it cannot penetrate, so the wicked by their hardness
repel the grace of God, and prevent it from reaching them. We may add, that it
is no more possible to receive Christ without faith, than it is for seed to
germinate in the fire. They ask how Christ can have come for the condemnation of
some, unless they unworthily receive him; but this is absurd, since we nowhere
read that they bring death upon themselves by receiving Christ unworthily, but
by rejecting him. They are not aided by the parable in which Christ says, that
the seed which fell among thorns sprung up, but was afterwards choked (Mt.
13:7), because he is there speaking of the effect of a temporary faith, a faith
which those who place Judas in this respect on a footing with Peter, do not
think necessary to the eating of the flesh and the drinking of the blood of
Christ. Nay, their error is refuted by the same parable, when Christ says that
some seed fell upon the wayside, and some on stony ground, and yet neither took
root. Hence it follows that the hardness of believers is an obstacle which
prevents Christ from reaching them. All who would have our salvation to be
promoted by this sacrament, will find nothing more appropriate than to conduct
believers to the fountain, that they may draw life from the Son of God. The
dignity is amply enough commended when we hold, that it is a help by which we
may be ingrafted into the body of Christ, or, already ingrafted, may be more and
more united to him, until the union is completed in heaven. They object, that
Paul could not have made them guilty of the body and blood of the Lord if they
had not partaken of them (1 Cor. 11:7); I answer, that they were not condemned
for having eaten. but only for having profaned the ordinance by trampling under
foot the pledge, which they ought to have reverently received, the pledge of
sacred union with God.
34. Moreover, as among ancient writers, Augustine
especially maintaine [9] this head
of doctrine, that the grace figured by the sacraments is not impaired or made
void by the infidelity or malice of men, it will be useful to prove clearly from
his words, how ignorantly and erroneously those who cast forth the body of
Christ to be eaten by dogs, wrest them to their present purpose. Sacramental
eating, according to them, is that by which the wicked receive the body and
blood of Christ without the agency of the Spirit, or any gracious effect.
Augustine, on the contrary, prudently pondering the expression. “Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life “ (John 6:54),
says: “That is the virtue of the sacrament, and not merely the visible
sacrament: the sacrament of him who eats inwardly, not of him who eats
outwardly, or merely with the teeth” (Hom. in Joann. 26). Hence he at
length concludes, that the sacrament of this thing, that is, of the unity of the
body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, is set before some for
life, before others for destruction: while the matter itself, of which it is the
sacrament, is to all for life, to none for destruction, whoever may have been
the partaker. Lest any one should here cavil that by thing is not meant
body, but the grace of the Spirit, which may be separated from it, he dissipates
these mists by the antithetical epithets, Visible and Invisible. For the body of
Christ cannot be included under the former. Hence it follows, that unbelievers
communicate only in the visible symbol; and the better to remove all doubt,
after saying that this bread requires an appetite in the inner man, he adds
(Hom. in Joann. 59), “Moses, and Aaron, and Phinehas, and many others who
ate manna, pleased God. Why? Because the visible food they understood
spiritually, hungered for spiritually, tasted spiritually, and feasted on
spiritually. We, too, in the present day, have received visible food: but the
sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the sacrament is another.” A little
after, he says: “And hence, he who remains not in Christ, and in whom
Christ remains not, without doubt neither spiritually eats his flesh, nor drinks
his blood, though with his teeth he may carnally and visibly press the symbol of
his body and blood.” Again, we are told that the visible sign is opposed
to spiritual eating. This refutes the error that the invisible body of Christ is
sacramentally eaten in reality, although not spiritually. We are told, also,
that nothing is given to the impure and profane beyond the visible taking of the
sign. Hence his celebrated saying, that the other disciples ate bread which
was the Lord, whereas Judas ate the bread of the Lord (Hom. in Joann.
62). By this, he clearly excludes unbelievers from participation in his body and
blood. He has no other meaning when he says, “Why do you wonder that the
bread of Christ was given to Judas, though he consigned him to the devil, when
you see, on the contrary, that a messenger of the devil was given to Paul to
perfect him in Christ?” (August. de Bapt. Cont. Donat. Lib. 5). He indeed
says elsewhere, that the bread of the Supper was the body of Christ to those to
whom Paul said, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself; and that it does not follow that they received
nothing because they received unworthily.” But in what sense he says this,
he explains more fully in another passage (De Civit. Dei, Lib. 21 c. 25). For
undertaking professedly to explain how the wicked and profane, who, with the
mouth, profess the faith of Christ, but in act deny him, eat the body of Christ;
and, indeed, refuting the opinion of some who thought that they ate not only
sacramentally, but really, he says: “Neither can they be said to eat the
body of Christ, because they are not to be accounted among the members of
Christ. For, not to mention other reasons, they cannot be at the same time the
members of Christ and the members of a harlot. In fine, when Christ himself
says, ëHe that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and
I in him’ (John 6:56), he shows what it is to eat the body of Christ, not
sacramentally, but in reality. It is to abide in Christ, that Christ may abide
in him. For it is just as if he had said, Let not him who abides not in me, and
in whom I abide not, say or think that he eats my body or drinks my
blood.” Let the reader attend to the antithesis between eating
sacramentally and eating really, and there will be no doubt. The same thing he
confirms not less clearly in these words: “Prepare not the jaws, but the
heart; for which alone the Supper is appointed. We believe in Christ when we
receive him in faith: in receiving, we know what we think: we receive a small
portion, but our heart is filled: it is not therefore that which is seen, but
that which is believed, that feeds (August. Cont. Faust. Lib. 8 c. 16). Here,
also, he restricts what the wicked take to be the visible sign, and shows that
the only way of receiving Christ is by faith. So, also, in another passage,
declaring distinctly that the good and the bad communicate by signs, he excludes
the latter from the true eating of the flesh of Christ. For had they received
the reality, he would not have been altogether silent as to a matter which was
pertinent to the case. In another passage, speaking of eating, and the fruit of
it, he thus concludes: “Then will the body and blood of Christ be life to
each, if that which is visibly taken in the sacrament is in reality spiritually
eaten, spiritually drunk” (De Verb. Apost. Serm. 2) Let those, therefore,
who make unbelievers partakers of the flesh and blood of Christ, if they would
agree with Augustine, set before us the visible body of Christ, since, according
to him, the whole truth is spiritual. And certainly his words imply that
sacramental eating, when unbelief excludes the entrance of the reality, is only
equivalent to visible or external eating. But if the body of Christ may be truly
and yet not spiritually eaten, what could he mean when he elsewhere says:
“Ye are not to eat this body which you see, nor to drink the blood which
will be shed by those who are to crucify me? I have committed a certain
sacrament to you: it is the spiritual meaning which will give you life”
(August. in Ps. 98). He certainly meant not to deny that the body offered in the
Supper is the same as that which Christ offered in sacrifice; but he adverted to
the mode of eating-viz. that the body, though received into the celestial glory,
breathes life into us by the secret energy of the Spirit. I admit, indeed, that
he often uses the expression, “that the body of Christ is eaten by
unbelievers;” but he explains himself by adding, “in the
sacrament.” And he elsewhere speaks of a spiritual eating, in which our
teeth do not chew grace (Hom. in Joann. 27). And, lest my opponents should say
that I am trying to overwhelm them with the mass of my quotations, I would ask
how they get over this one sentence: “In the elect alone, the sacraments
effect what they figure.” Certainly they will not venture to deny, that by
the bread in the Supper, the body of Christ is figured. Hence it follows, that
the reprobate are not allowed to partake of it. That Cyril did not think
differently is clear from these words: “As one in pouring melted wax on
melted wax mixes the whole together, so it is necessary, when one receives the
body and blood of the Lord, to be conjoined with him, that Christ may be found
in him, and he in Christ.” From these words, I think it plain that there
is no true and real eating by those who only eat the body of Christ
sacramentally, seeing the body cannot be separated from its virtue, and that the
promises of God do not fail, though, while he ceases not to rain from heaven,
rocks and stones are not penetrated by the moisture.
35. This
consideration will easily dissuade us from that carnal adoration which some men
have, with perverse temerity, introduced into the sacrament, reasoning thus with
themselves: If it is body, then it is also soul and divinity which go along with
the body, and cannot be separated from it; and, therefore, Christ must there be
adored. First, if we deny their pretended concomitance, what will they do? For,
as they chiefly insist on the absurdity of separating the body of Christ from
his soul and divinity, what sane and sober man can persuade himself that the
body of Christ is Christ? They think that they completely establish this by
their syllogisms. But since Christ speaks separately of his body and blood,
without describing the mode of his presence, how can they in a doubtful matter
arrive at the certainty which they wish? What then? Should their consciences be
at any time exercised with some more grievous apprehension, will they forthwith
set them free, and dissolve the apprehensions by their syllogisms? In other
words, when they see that no certainty is to be obtained from the word of God,
in which alone our minds can rest, and without which they go astray the very
first moment when they begin to reason, when they see themselves opposed by the
doctrine and practice of the apostles, and that they are supported by no
authority but their own, how will they feel? To such feelings other sharp stings
will be added. What? Was it a matter of little moment to worship God under this
form without any express injunction? In a matter relating to the true worship of
God, were we thus lightly to act without one word of Scripture? Had all their
thoughts been kept in due subjection to the word of God, they certainly would
have listened to what he himself has said, “Take, eat, and drink,”
and obeyed the command by which he enjoins us to receive the sacrament, not
worship it. Those who receive, without adoration, as commanded by God, are
secure that they deviate not from the command. In commencing any work, nothing
is better than this security. They have the example of the apostles, of whom we
read not that they prostrated themselves and worshipped, but that they sat down,
took and ate. They have the practice of the apostolic Church, where, as Luke
relates, believers communicated not in adoration, but in the breaking of bread
(Acts 2:42). They have the doctrine of the apostles as taught to the Corinthian
Church by Paul, who declares that what he delivered he had received of the Lord
(1 Cor. 11:23).
36. The object of these remarks is to lead pious readers
to reflect how dangerous it is in matters of such difficulty to wander from the
simple word of God to the dreams of our own brain. What has been said above
should free us from all scruple in this matter. That the pious soul may duly
apprehend Christ in the sacrament, it must rise to heaven. But if the office of
the sacrament is to aid the infirmity of the human mind, assisting it in rising
upwards, so as to perceive the height of spiritual mysteries, those who stop
short at the external sign stray from the right path of seeking Christ. What
then? Can we deny that the worship is superstitious when men prostrate
themselves before bread that they may therein worship Christ? The Council of
Nice undoubtedly intended to meet this evil when it forbade us to give humble
heed to the visible signs. And for no other reason was it formerly the custom,
previous to consecration, to call aloud upon the people to raise their hearts,
sursum corda. Scripture itself, also, besides carefully narrating the
ascension of Christ, by which he withdrew his bodily presence from our eye and
company, that it might make us abandon all carnal thoughts of him, whenever it
makes mention of him, enjoins us to raise our minds upwards and seek him in
heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father (Col. 3:2). According to this
rule, we should rather have adored him spiritually in the heavenly glory, than
devised that perilous species of adoration replete with gross and carnal ideas
of God. Those, therefore, who devised the adoration of the sacrament, not only
dreamed it of themselves, without any authority from Scripture, where no mention
of it can be shown (it would not have been omitted, had it been agreeable to
God); but, disregarding Scripture, forsook the living God, and fabricated a god
for themselves, after the lust of their own hearts. For what is idolatry if it
is not to worship the gifts instead of the giver? Here the sin is twofold. The
honour robbed from God is transferred to the creature, and God, moreover, is
dishonoured by the pollution and profanation of his own goodness, while his holy
sacrament is converted into an execrable idol. Let us, on the contrary, that we
may not fall into the same pit, wholly confine our eyes, ears, hearts, minds,
and tongues, to the sacred doctrine of God. For this is the school of the Holy
Spirit, that best of masters, in which such progress is made, that while nothing
is to be acquired anywhere else, we must willingly be ignorant of whatever is
not there taught.
37. Then, as superstition, when once it has passed the
proper bounds, has no end to its errors, men went much farther; for they devised
rites altogether alien from the institution of the Supper, and to such a degree
that they paid divine honours to the sign. They say that their veneration is
paid to Christ. First, if this were done in the Supper, I would say that that
adoration only is legitimate which stops not at the sign, but rises to Christ
sitting in heaven. Now, under what pretext do they say that they honour Christ
in that bread, when they have no promise of this nature? They consecrate the
host, as they call it, and carry it about in solemn show, and formally exhibit
it to be admired, reverenced, and invoked. I ask by what virtue they think it
duly consecrated? They will quote the words, “This is my body.” I,
on the contrary, will object, that it was at the same time said, “Take,
eat.” Nor will I count the other passage as nothing; for I hold that since
the promise is annexed to the command, the former is so included under the
latter, that it cannot possibly be separated from it. This will be made clearer
by an example. God gave a command when he said, “Call upon me,” and
added a promise, “I will deliver thee” (Psal. 50:15). Should any one
invoke Peter or Paul, and found on this promise, will not all exclaim that he
does it in error? And what else, pray, do those do who, disregarding the command
to eat, fasten on the mutilated promise, “This is my body,” that
they may pervert it to rites alien from the institution of Christ? Let us
remember, therefore, that this promise has been given to those who observe the
command connected with it, and that those who transfer the sacrament to another
end have no countenance from the word of God. We formerly showed how the mystery
of the sacred Supper contributes to our faith in God. But since the Lord not
only reminds us of this great gift of his goodness, as we formerly explained,
but passes it, as it were, from hand to hand, and urges us to recognise it, he,
at the same time, admonishes us not to be ungrateful for the kindness thus
bestowed, but rather to proclaim it with such praise as is meet, and celebrate
it with thanksgiving. Accordingly, when he delivered the institution of the
sacrament to the apostles, he taught them to do it in remembrance of him, which
Paul interprets, “to show forth his death” (1 Cor. 11:26). And this
is, that all should publicly and with one mouth confess that all our confidence
of life and salvation is placed in our Lord’s death, that we ourselves may
glorify him by our confession, and by our example excite others also to give him
glory. Here, again, we see what the aim of the sacrament is-namely, to keep us
in remembrance of Christ’s death. When we are ordered to show forth the
Lord’s death till he come again, all that is meant is, that we should,
with confession of the mouth, proclaim what our faith has recognised in the
sacrament-viz. that the death of Christ is our life. This is the second use of
the sacrament, and relates to outward confession.
38. Thirdly, The Lord
intended it to be a kind of exhortation, than which no other could urge or
animate us more strongly, both to purity and holiness of life, and also to
charity, peace, and concord. For the Lord there communicates his body so that he
may become altogether one with us, and we with him. Moreover, since he has only
one body of which he makes us all to be partakers, we must necessarily, by this
participation, all become one body. This unity is represented by the bread which
is exhibited in the sacrament. As it is composed of many grains, so mingled
together, that one cannot be distinguished from another; so ought our minds to
be so cordially united, as not to allow of any dissension or division. This I
prefer giving in the words of Paul: “The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it
not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many, are one bread and
one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Cor. 10:15, 16).
We shall have profited admirably in the sacrament, if the thought shall have
been impressed and engraven on our minds, that none of our brethren is hurt,
despised, rejected, injured, or in any way offended, without our, at the same
time, hurting, despising, and injuring Christ; that we cannot have dissension
with our brethren, without at the same time dissenting from Christ; that we
cannot love Christ without loving our brethren; that the same care we take of
our own body we ought to take of that of our brethren, who are members of our
body; that as no part of our body suffers pain without extending to the other
parts, so every evil which our brother suffers ought to excite our compassion.
Wherefore Augustine not inappropriately often terms this sacrament the bond
of charity. What stronger stimulus could be employed to excite mutual
charity, than when Christ, presenting himself to us, not only invites us by his
example to give and devote ourselves mutually to each other, but inasmuch as he
makes himself common to all, also makes us all to be one in him.
39.
This most admirably confirms what I elsewhere said-viz. that there cannot be a
right administration of the Supper without the word. Any utility which we derive
from the Supper requires the word. Whether we are to be confirmed in faith, or
exercised in confession, or aroused to duty, there is need of preaching.
Nothing, therefore, can be more preposterous than to convert the Supper into a
dumb action. This is done under the tyranny of the Pope, the whole effect of
consecration being made to depend on the intention of the priest, as if it in no
way concerned the people, to whom especially the mystery ought to have been
explained. This error has originated from not observing that those promises by
which consecration is effected are intended, not for the elements themselves,
but for those who receive them. Christ does not address the bread and tell it to
become his body, but bids his disciples eat, and promises them the communion of
his body and blood. And, according to the arrangement which Paul makes, the
promises are to be offered to believers along with the bread and the cup. Thus,
indeed, it is. We are not to imagine some magical incantation, and think it
sufficient to mutter the words, as if they were heard by the elements; but we
are to regard those words as a living sermon, which is to edify the hearers,
penetrate their minds, being impressed and seated in their hearts, and exert its
efficacy in the fulfilment of that which it promises. For these reasons, it is
clear that the setting apart of the sacrament, as some insist, that an
extraordinary distribution of it may be made to the sick, is useless. They will
either receive it without hearing the words of the institution read, or the
minister will conjoin the true explanation of the mystery with the sign. In the
silent dispensation, there is abuse and defect. If the promises are narrated,
and the mystery is expounded, that those who are to receive may receive with
advantage, it cannot be doubted that this is the true consecration. What then
becomes of that other consecration, the effect of which reaches even to the
sick? But those who do so have the example of the early Church. I confess it;
but in so important a matter, where error is so dangerous, nothing is safer than
to follow the truth.
40. Moreover, as we see that this sacred bread of
the Lord’s Supper is spiritual food, is sweet and savoury, not less than
salutary, to the pious worshippers of God, on tasting which they feel that
Christ is their life, are disposed to give thanks, and exhorted to mutual love;
so, on the other hand, it is converted into the most noxious poison to all whom
it does not nourish and confirm in the faith, nor urge to thanksgiving and
charity. For, just as corporeal food, when received into a stomach subject to
morbid humours, becomes itself vitiated and corrupted, and rather hurts than
nourishes, so this spiritual food also, if given to a soul polluted with malice
and wickedness, plunges it into greater ruin, not indeed by any defect in the
food, but because to the “defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure”
(Titus 1:15), however much it may be sanctified by the blessing of the Lord.
For, as Paul says, “Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of
the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord;”
“eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s
body” (1 Cor. 11:27, 29). For men of this description, who without any
spark of faith, without any zeal for charity, rush forward like swine to seize
the Lord’s Supper, do not at all discern the Lord’s body. For,
inasmuch as they do not believe that body to be their life, they put every
possible affront upon it, stripping it of all its dignity, and profane and
contaminate it by so receiving; inasmuch as while alienated and estranged from
their brethren, they dare to mingle the sacred symbol of Christ’s body
with their dissensions. No thanks to them if the body of Christ is not rent and
torn to pieces. Wherefore they are justly held guilty of the body and blood of
the Lord, which, with sacrilegious impiety, they so vilely pollute. By this
unworthy eating, they bring judgment on themselves. For while they have no faith
in Christ, yet, by receiving the sacrament, they profess to place their
salvation only in him, and abjure all other confidence. Wherefore they
themselves are their own accusers; they bear witness against themselves; they
seal their own condemnation. Next being divided and separated by hatred and
ill-will from their brethren, that is, from the members of Christ, they have no
part in Christ, and yet they declare that the only safety is to communicate with
Christ, and be united to him. For this reason Paul commands a man to examine
himself before he eats of that bread, and drinks of that cup (l Cor. 11:28). By
this, as I understand, he means that each individual should descend into
himself, and consider, first, whether, with inward confidence of heart, he leans
on the salvation obtained by Christ, and with confession of the mouth,
acknowledges it; and, secondly, whether with zeal for purity and holiness he
aspires to imitate Christ; whether, after his example, he is prepared to give
himself to his brethren, and to hold himself in common with those with whom he
has Christ in common; whether, as he himself is regarded by Christ, he in his
turn regards all his brethren as members of his body, or, like his members,
desires to cherish, defend, and assist them, not that the duties of faith and
charity can now be perfected in us, but because it behoves us to contend and
seek, with all our heart, daily to increase our faith.
41. In seeking to
prepare for eating worthily, men have often dreadfully harassed and tortured
miserable consciences, and yet have in no degree attained the end. They have
said that those eat worthily who are in a state of grace. Being in a
state of grace, they have interpreted to be pure and free from all sin. By
this definition, all the men that ever have been, and are upon the earth, were
debarred from the use of this sacrament. For if we are to seek our worthiness
from ourselves, it is all over with us; only despair and fatal ruin await us.
Though we struggle to the utmost, we will not only make no progress, but then be
most unworthy after we have laboured most to make ourselves worthy. To cure this
ulcer, they have devised a mode of procuring worthiness-viz. after having, as
far as we can, made an examination, and taken an account of all our actions, to
expiate our unworthiness by contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Of the
nature of this expiation we have spoken at the proper place (Book 3 chap. 4 sec.
2, 17, 27). As far as regards our present object, I say that such things give
poor and evanescent comfort to alarmed and downcast consciences, struck with
terror at their sins. For if the Lord, by his prohibition, admits none to
partake of his Supper but the righteous and innocent, every man would require to
be cautious before feeling secure of that righteousness of his own which he is
told that God requires. But how are we to be assured that those who have done
what in them lay have discharged their duty to God? Even were we assured of
this, who would venture to assure himself that he had done what in him lay? Thus
there being no certain security for our worthiness, access to the Supper would
always be excluded by the fearful interdict, “He that eateth and drinketh
unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.”
42. It is
now easy to judge what is the nature, and who is the author, of that doctrine
which prevails in the Papacy, and which, by its inhuman austerity, deprives and
robs wretched sinners, oppressed with sorrow and trembling, of the consolation
of this sacrament, a sacrament in which all that is delightful in the gospel was
set before them. Certainly the devil could have no shorter method of destroying
men than by thus infatuating them, and so excluding them from the taste and
savour of this food with which their most merciful Father in heaven had been
pleased to feed them. Therefore, lest we should rush over such a precipice, let
us remember that this sacred feast is medicine to the sick, comfort to the
sinner, and bounty to the poor; while to the healthy, the righteous, and the
rich, if any such could be found, it would be of no value. For while Christ is
therein given us for food, we perceive that without him we fail, pine, and waste
away, just as hunger destroys the vigour of the body. Next, as he is given for
life, we perceive that without him we are certainly dead. Wherefore, the best
and only worthiness which we can bring to God, is to offer him our own vileness,
and, if I may so speak, unworthiness, that his mercy may make us worthy; to
despond in ourselves, that we may be consoled in him; to humble ourselves, that
we may be elevated by him; to accuse ourselves, that we may be justified by him;
to aspire, moreover, to the unity which he recommends in the Supper; and, as he
makes us all one in himself, to desire to have all one soul, one heart, one
tongue. If we ponder and meditate on these things, we may be shaken, but will
never be overwhelmed by such considerations as these, how shall we, who are
devoid of all good, polluted by the defilements of sin, and half dead, worthily
eat the body of the Lord? We shall rather consider that we, who are poor, are
coming to a benevolent giver, sick to a physician, sinful to the author of
righteousness, in fine, dead to him who gives life; that worthiness which is
commanded by God, consists especially in faith, which places all things in
Christ, nothing in ourselves, and in charity, charity which, though imperfect,
it may be sufficient to offer to God, that he may increase it, since it cannot
be fully rendered. Some, concurring with us in holding that worthiness consists
in faith and charity, have widely erred in regard to the measure of worthiness,
demanding a perfection of faith to which nothing can be added, and a charity
equivalent to that which Christ manifested towards us. And in this way, just as
the other class, they debar all men from access to this sacred feast. For, were
their view well founded, every one who receives must receive unworthily, since
all, without exception, are guilty, and chargeable with imperfection. And
certainly it were too stupid, not to say idiotical, to require to the receiving
of the sacrament a perfection which would render the sacrament vain and
superfluous, because it was not instituted for the perfect, but for the infirm
and weak, to stir up, excite, stimulate, exercise the feeling of faith and
charity, and at the same time correct the deficiency of both.
43. In
regard to the external form of the ordinance, whether or not believers are to
take into their hands and divide among themselves, or each is to eat what is
given to him: whether they are to return the cup to the deacon or hand it to
their neighbour; whether the bread is to be leavened or unleavened, and the wine
to be red or white, is of no consequence. These things are indifferent, and left
free to the Church, though it is certain that it was the custom of the ancient
Church for all to receive into their hand. And Christ said, “Take this,
and divide it among yourselves” (Luke 22:17). History relates that
leavened and ordinary bread was used before the time of Alexander the Bishop of
Rome, who was the first that was delighted with unleavened bread: for what
reason I see not, unless it was to draw the wondering eyes of the populace by
the novelty of the spectacle, more than to train them in sound religion. I
appeal to all who have the least zeal for piety, whether they do not evidently
perceive both how much more brightly the glory of God is here displayed, and how
much more abundant spiritual consolation is felt by believers than in these
rigid and histrionic follies, which have no other use than to impose on the
gazing populace. They call it restraining the people by religion, when, stupid
and infatuated, they are drawn hither and thither by superstition. Should any
one choose to defend such inventions by antiquity, I am not unaware how ancient
is the use of chrism and exorcism in baptism, and how, not long after the age of
the apostles, the Supper was tainted with adulteration; such, indeed, is the
forwardness of human confidence, which cannot restrain itself, but is always
sporting and wantoning in the mysteries of God. But let us remember that God
sets so much value on obedience to his word, that, by it, he would have us to
judge his angels and the whole world. All this mass of ceremonies being
abandoned, the sacrament might be celebrated in the most becoming manner, if it
were dispensed to the Church very frequently, at least once a-week. The
commencement should be with public prayer; next, a sermon should be delivered:
then the minister, having placed bread and wine on the table, should read the
institution of the Supper. He should next explain the promises which are therein
given; and, at the same time, keep back from communion all those who are
debarred by the prohibition of the Lord. He should afterwards pray that the
Lord, with the kindness with which he has bestowed this sacred food upon us,
would also form and instruct us to receive it with faith and gratitude; and, as
we are of ourselves unworthy, would make us worthy of the feast by his mercy.
Here, either a psalm should be sung, or something read, while the faithful, in
order, communicate at the sacred feast, the minister breaking the bread, and
giving it to the people. The Supper being ended, an exhortation should be given
to sincere faith, and confession of faith, to charity, and lives becoming
Christians. Lastly, thanks should be offered, and the praises of God should be
sung. This being done, the Church should be dismissed in peace.
44. What
we have hitherto said of the sacrament, abundantly shows that it was not
instituted to be received once a-year and that perfunctorily (as is now commonly
the custom); but that all Christians might have it in frequent use, and
frequently call to mind the sufferings of Christ, thereby sustaining and
confirming their faith: stirring themselves up to sing the praises of God, and
proclaim his goodness; cherishing and testifying towards each other that mutual
charity, the bond of which they see in the unity of the body of Christ. As often
as we communicate in the symbol of our Saviour’s body, as if a pledge were
given and received, we mutually bind ourselves to all the offices of love, that
none of us may do anything to offend his brother, or omit anything by which he
can assist him when necessity demands, and opportunity occurs. That such was the
practice of the Apostolic Church, we are informed by Luke in the Acts, when he
says, that “they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). Thus we
ought always to provide that no meeting of the Church is held without the word,
prayer, the dispensation of the Supper, and alms. We may gather from Paul that
this was the order observed by the Corinthians, and it is certain that this was
the practice many ages after. Hence, by the ancient canons, which are attributed
to Anacletus and Calixtus, after the consecration was made, all were to
communicate who did not wish to be without the pale of the Church. And in those
ancient canons, which bear the name of Apostolical, it is said that those who
continue not to the end, and partake not of the sacred communion, are to be
corrected, as causing disquiet to the Church. In the Council of Antioch it was
decreed, that those who enter the Church, hear the Scriptures, and abstain from
communion, are to be removed from the Church until they amend their fault. And
although, in the first Council of Tholouse, this was mitigated, or at least
stated in milder terms, yet there also it was decreed, that those who after
hearing the sermon, never communicated, were to be admonished, and if they still
abstained after admonition, were to be excluded.
45. By these
enactments, holy men wished to retain and ensure the use of frequent communion,
as handed down by the apostles themselves; and which, while it was most salutary
to believers, they saw gradually falling into desuetude by the negligence of the
people. Of his own age, Augustine testifies: “The sacrament of the unity
of our Lord’s body is, in some places, provided daily, and in others at
certain intervals, at the Lord’s table; and at that table some partake to
life, and others to destruction” (August. Tract. 26, in Joann. 6). And in
the first Epistle to Januarius he says: “Some communicate daily in the
body and blood of the Lord; others receive it on certain days: in some places,
not a day intervenes on which it is not offered: in others, it is offered only
on the Sabbath and the Lord’s day: in others, on the Lord’s day
only.” But since, as we have said, the people were sometimes remiss, holy
men urged them with severe rebukes, that they might not seem to connive at their
sluggishness. Of this we have an example in Chrysostom, on the Epistle to the
Ephesians (Hom. 26). “It was not said to him who dishonoured the feast,
Why have you not taken your seat? ëBut how camest thou in?’ (Mt.
22:12). Whoever partakes not of the sacred rites is wicked and impudent in being
present: should any one who was invited to a feast come in, wash his hands, take
his seat, and seem to prepare to eat, and thereafter taste nothing, would he
not, I ask, insult both the feast and the entertainer? So you, standing among
those who prepare themselves by prayer to take the sacred food, profess to be
one of the number by the mere fact of your not going away, and yet you do not
partake,-would it not have been better not to have made your appearance? I am
unworthy, you say. Then neither were you worthy of the communion of prayer,
which is the preparation for taking the sacred mystery.”
46. Most
assuredly, the custom which prescribes communion once a-year is an invention of
the devil, by what instrumentality soever it may have been introduced. They say
that Zephyrinus was the author of the decree, though it is not possible to
believe that it was the same as we now have it. It may be, that as times then
were, he did not, by his ordinance, consult ill for the Church. For there cannot
be a doubt that at that time the sacred Supper was dispensed to the faithful at
every meeting; nor can it be doubted that a great part of them communicated. But
as it scarcely ever happened that all could communicate at the same time, and it
was necessary that those who were mingled with the profane and idolaters, should
testify their faith by some external symbol, this holy man, with a view to order
and government, had appointed that day, that on it the whole of Christendom
might give a confession of their faith by partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
The ordinance of Zephyrinus, which was otherwise good, posterity perverted, when
they made a fixed law of one communion in the year. The consequence is, that
almost all, when they have once communicated, as if they were discharged as to
all the rest of the year, sleep on secure. It ought to have been far otherwise.
Each week, at least, the table of the Lord ought to have been spread for the
company of Christians, and the promises declared on which we might then
spiritually feed. No one, indeed, ought to be forced, but all ought to be
exhorted and stimulated; the torpor of the sluggish, also, ought to be rebuked,
that all, like persons famishing, should come to the feast. It was not without
cause, therefore, I complained, at the outset, that this practice had been
introduced by the wile of the devil; a practice which, in prescribing one day in
the year, makes the whole year one of sloth. We see, indeed, that this perverse
abuse had already crept in in the time of Chrysostom; but we, also, at the same
time, see how much it displeased him. For he complains in bitter terms, in the
passage which I lately quoted, that there is so great an inequality in this
matter, that they did not approach often, at other times of the year, even when
prepared, but only at Easter, though unprepared. Then he exclaims: “O
custom! O presumption! In vain, then, is the daily oblation made: in vain do we
stand at the altar. There is none who partakes along with us.” So far is
he from having approved the practice by interposing his authority to it.
47. From the same forge proceeded another constitution, which snatched
or robbed a half of the Supper from the greater part of the people of
God-namely, the symbol of blood, which, interdicted to laics and profane (such
are the titles which they give to God’s heritage), became the peculiar
possession of a few shaven and anointed individuals. The edict of the eternal
God is, that all are to drink. This an upstart dares to antiquate and abrogate
by a new and contrary law, proclaiming that all are not to drink. And that such
legislators may not seem to fight against their God without any ground, they
make a pretext of the dangers which might happen if the sacred cup were given
indiscriminately to all: as if these had not been observed and provided for by
the eternal wisdom of God. Then they reason acutely, forsooth, that the one is
sufficient for the two. For if the body is, as they say, the whole Christ, who
cannot be separated from his body, then the blood includes the body by
concomitance. Here we see how far our sense accords with God, when to any extent
whatever it begins to rage and wanton with loosened reins. The Lord, pointing to
the bread, says, “This is my body.” Then pointing to the cup, he
calls it his blood. The audacity of human reason objects and says, The bread is
the blood, the wine is the body, as if the Lord had without reason distinguished
his body from his blood, both by words and signs; and it had ever been heard
that the body of Christ or the blood is called God and man. Certainly, if he had
meant to designate himself wholly, he might have said, It is I, according to the
Scriptural mode of expression, and not, “This is my body,”
“This is my blood.” But wishing to succour the weakness of our
faith, he placed the cup apart from the bread, to show that he suffices not less
for drink than for food. Now, if one part be taken away, we can only find the
half of the elements in what remains. Therefore, though it were true, as they
pretend, that the blood is in the bread, and, on the other hand, the body in the
cup, by concomitance, yet they deprive the pious of that confirmation of faith
which Christ delivered as necessary. Bidding adieu, therefore, to their
subtleties, let us retain the advantage which, by the ordinance of Christ, is
obtained by a double pledge.
48. I am aware, indeed, how the ministers
of Satan, whose usual practice is to hold the Scriptures in derision, here
cavil.62[0] First, they allege
that from a simple fact we are not to draw a rule which is to be perpetually
obligatory on the Church. But they state an untruth when they call it a simple
fact. For Christ not only gave the cup, but appointed that the apostles should
do so in future. For his words contain the command, “Drink ye all of
it.” And Paul relates, that it was so done, and recommends it as a fixed
institution. Another subterfuge is, that the apostles alone were admitted by
Christ to partake of this sacred Supper, because he had already selected and
chosen them to the priesthood. I wish they would answer the five following
questions, which they cannot evade, and which easily refute them and their lies.
First, By what oracle was this solution so much at variance with the word of God
revealed to them? Scripture mentions twelve who sat down with Jesus, but it does
not so derogate from the dignity of Christ as to call them priests. Of this
appellation we shall afterwards speak in its own place. Although he then gave to
twelve, he commanded them to “do this;” in other words, to
distribute thus among themselves. Secondly, Why during that purer age, from the
days of the apostles downward for a thousand years, did all, without exception,
partake of both symbols? Did the primitive Church not know who the guests were
whom Christ would have admitted to his Supper? It were the most shameless
impudence to carp and quibble here. We have extant ecclesiastical histories, we
have the writings of the Fathers, which furnish clear proofs of this fact.
“The flesh,” says Tertullian, “feeds on the body and blood of
Christ, that the soul may be satiated by God” (Tertull. de Resurr.
Carnis.). “How,” says Ambrose to Theodosius, “will you receive
the sacred body of the Lord with such hands? how will you have the boldness to
put the cup of precious blood to your lips?” Jerome speaks of “the
priests who perform the Eucharist and distribute the Lord’s blood to the
people” (Hieron. in Malach. cap. 2). Chrysostom says, “Not as under
the ancient law the priest ate a part and the people a part, but one body and
one cup is set before all. All the things which belong to the Eucharist are
common to the priest and the people” (Chrysost. in Cor. cap. 8, Hom. 18).
The same thing is attested by Augustine in numerous passages.
49. But
why dispute about a fact which is perfectly notorious? Look at all Greek and
Latin writers. Passages of the same kind everywhere occur. Nor did this practice
fall into desuetude so long as there was one particle of integrity in the
Church. Gregory, whom you may with justice call the last Bishop of Rome, says
that it was observed in his age.
[3] “What the blood of the Lamb
is you have learned, not by hearing, but by drinking it. His blood is poured
into the mouths of the faithful.” Nay, four hundred years after his death,
when all things had degenerated, the practice still remained. Nor was it
regarded as the custom merely, but as an inviolable law. Reverence for the
divine institution was then maintained, and they had no doubt of its being
sacrilege to separate what the Lord had joined. For Gelasius thus speaks:
“We find that some taking only the portion of the sacred body, abstain
from the cup. Undoubtedly let those persons, as they seem entangled by some
strange superstition, either receive the whole sacrament, or be debarred from
the whole. For the division of this mystery is not made without great
sacrilege” (De Consec. Dist. 2). Reasons were given by Cyprian, which
surely ought to weigh with Christian minds. “How,” says he,
“do we teach or incite them to shed their blood in confessing Christ, if
we deny his blood to those who are to serve; or how do we make them fit for the
cup of martyrdom, if we do not previously admit them by right of communion in
the Church, to drink the cup of the Lord?” (Cyprian, Serm. 5, de Lapsis).
The attempt of the Canonists to restrict the decree of Gelasius to priests is a
cavil too puerile to deserve refutation.
50. Thirdly, Why did our
Saviour say of the bread simply, “Take, eat,” and of the cup,
“drink ye all of it;” as if he had purposely intended to provide
against the wile of Satan? Fourthly, If, as they will have it, the Lord honoured
priests only with his Supper, what man would ever have dared to call strangers,
whom the Lord had excluded, to partake of it, and to partake of a gift which he
had not in his power, without any command from him who alone could give it? Nay,
what presumption do they show in the present day in distributing the symbol of
Christ’s body to the common people, if they have no command or example
from the Lord? Fifthly, Did Paul lie when he said to the Corinthians, “I
have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you?” (1 Cor.
11:23). The thing delivered, he afterwards declares to be, that all should
communicate promiscuously in both symbols. But if Paul received of the Lord that
all were to be admitted without distinction, let those who drive away almost the
whole people of God see from whom they have received, since they cannot now
pretend to have their authority from God, with whom there is not “yea and
nay” (2 Cor. 1:19, 20). And yet these abominations they dare to cloak with
the name of the Church, and defend under this pretence, as if those Antichrists
were the Church who so licentiously trample under foot, waste, and abrogate the
doctrine and institutions of Christ, or as if the Apostolic Church, in which
religion flourished in full vigour, were not the Church.
CHAPTER
18.62[1]
OF
THE POPISH MASS. HOW IT NOT ONLY PROFANES, BUT ANNIHILATES THE LORD’S
SUPPER.
The principal heads of this chapter are,-I. The
abomination of the Mass, sec. 1. Its manifold impiety included under five heads,
sec. 2-7. Its origin described. sec. 8, 9. II. Of the name of sacrifice which
the ancients gave to the holy Supper, sec. 10-12. An apposite discussion on
sacrifice, refuting the arguments of the Papists for the sacrifice of the Mass,
sec. 13-18. III. A summary of the doctrine of the Christian Church respecting
sacraments, paving the way for the subsequent discussion of the five sacraments,
falsely so called, sec. 19, 20.
Sections.
1. The chief of
all the abominations set up in opposition to the Lord’s Supper is the
Papal Mass. A description of it.
2. Its impiety is five-fold. 1. Its
intolerable blasphemy in substituting priests to him the only Priest. Objections
of the Papists answered.
3. Impiety of the Mass continued. 2. It
overthrows the cross of Christ by setting up an altar. Objections answered.
4. Other objections answered.
5. Impiety of the Mass
continued. 3. It banishes the remembrance of Christ’s death. It crucifies
Christ afresh. Objections answered.
6. Impiety of the Mass continued.
4. It robs us of the benefit of Christ’s death.
7. Impiety of the
Mass continued. 5. It abolishes the Lord’s Supper. In the Supper the
Father offers Christ to us; in the Mass, priestlings offer Christ to the Father.
The Supper is a sacrament common to all Christians; the Mass confined to one
priest.
8. The origin of the Mass. Private masses an impious
profanation of the Supper.
9. This abomination unknown to the purer
Church. It has no foundation in the word of God.
10. Second part of the
chapter. Some of the ancients call the Supper a sacrifice, but not propitiatory,
as the Papists do the Mass. This proved by passages from Augustine.
11.
Some of the ancients seem to have declined too much to the shadows of the law.
12. Great distinction to be made between the Mosaic sacrifices and the
Lord’s Supper, which is called a eucharistic sacrifice. Same rule in this
discussion.
13. The terms sacrifice and priest. Different
kinds of sacrifices. 1. Propitiatory. 2. Eucharistic. None propitiatory but the
death of Christ.
14. The Lord’s Supper not properly called a
propitiatory sacrifice, still less can the Popish Mass be so called. Those who
mutter over the mass cannot be called priests.
15. Their vanity proved
even by Plato.
16. To the eucharistic class of sacrifice belong all
offices of piety and charity. This species of sacrifice has no connection with
the appeasing of God.
17. Prayer, thanksgiving, and other exercises of
piety, called sacrifices. In this sense the Lord’s Supper called the
eucharist. In the same sense all believers are priests.
18. Conclusion.
Names given to the Mass.
19. Last part of the chapter, recapitulating
the views which ought to be held concerning baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Why the Lord’s Supper is, and Baptism is not, repeated.
20.
Christians should be contented with these two sacraments. They are abolished by
the sacraments decreed by men.
1. BY these and similar inventions, Satan
has attempted to adulterate and envelop the sacred Supper of Christ as with
thick darkness, that its purity might not be preserved in the Church. But the
head of this horrid abomination was, when he raised a sign by which it was not
only obscured and perverted, but altogether obliterated and abolished, vanished
away and disappeared from the memory of man-namely, when, with most pestilential
error, he blinded almost the whole world into the belief that the Mass was a
sacrifice and oblation for obtaining the remission of sins. I say nothing as to
the way in which the sounder Schoolmen at first received this
dogma.62[2] I leave them with
their puzzling subtleties, which, however they may be defended by cavilling, are
to be repudiated by all good men, because, all they do is to envelop the
brightness of the Supper in great darkness. Bidding adieu to them, therefore,
let my readers understand that I am here combating that opinion with which the
Roman Antichrist and his prophets have imbued the whole world- viz. that the
mass is a work by which the priest who offers Christ, and the others who in the
oblation receive him, gain merit with God, or that it is an expiatory victim by
which they regain the favour of God. And this is not merely the common opinion
of the vulgar, but the very act has been so arranged as to be a kind of
propitiation, by which satisfaction is made to God for the living and the dead.
This is also expressed by the words employed, and the same thing may be inferred
from daily practice. I am aware how deeply this plague has struck its roots;
under what a semblance of good it conceals its true character, bearing the name
of Christ before it, and making many believe that under the single name of Mass
is comprehended the whole sum of faith. But when it shall have been most clearly
proved by the word of God, that this mass, however glossed and splendid, offers
the greatest insult to Christ, suppresses and buries his cross, consigns his
death to oblivion, takes away the benefit which it was designed to convey,
enervates and dissipates the sacrament, by which the remembrance of his death
was retained, will its roots be so deep that this most powerful axe, the word of
God, will not cut it down and destroy it? Will any semblance be so specious that
this light will not expose the lurking evil?
2. Let us show, therefore,
as was proposed in the first place, that in the mass intolerable blasphemy and
insult are offered to Christ. For he was not appointed Priest and Pontiff by the
Father62[3] for a time merely, as
priests were appointed under the Old Testament. Since their life was mortal,
their priesthood could not be immortal, and hence there was need of successors,
who might ever and anon be substituted in the room of the dead. But Christ being
immortal, had not the least occasion to have a vicar substituted for him.
Wherefore he was appointed by his Father a priest for ever, after the order of
Melchizedek, that he might eternally exercise a permanent priesthood. This
mystery had been typified long before in Melchizedek, whom Scripture, after once
introducing as the priest of the living God, never afterwards mentions, as if he
had had no end of life. In this way Christ is said to be a priest after his
order. But those who sacrifice daily must necessarily give the charge of their
oblations to priests, whom they surrogate as the vicars and successors of
Christ. By this surrogation they not only rob Christ of his honour, and take
from him the prerogative of an eternal priesthood, but attempt to remove him
from the right hand of his Father, where he cannot sit immortal without being an
eternal priest. Nor let them allege that their priestlings are not substituted
for Christ, as if he were dead, but are only substitutes in that eternal
priesthood, which therefore ceases not to exist. The words of the apostle are
too stringent to leave them any means of evasion-viz. “They truly were
many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but
this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood”
(Heb. 7:23, 24). Yet such is their dishonesty, that to defend their impiety they
arm themselves with the example of Melchizedek. As he is said to have
“brought forth (obtulisse) bread and wine” (Gen. 14:18), they
infer that it was a prelude to their mass, as if there was any resemblance
between him and Christ in the offering of bread and wine. This is too silly and
frivolous to need refutation. Melchizedek gave bread and wine to Abraham and his
companions, that he might refresh them when worn out with the march and the
battle. What has this to do with sacrifice? The humanity of the holy king is
praised by Moses: these men absurdly coin a mystery of which there is no
mention. They, however, put another gloss upon their error, because it is
immediately added, he was “priest of the most high God.” I answer,
that they erroneously wrest to bread and wine what the apostle refers to
blessing. “This Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God,
who met Abraham,” “and blessed him.” Hence the same apostle
(and a better interpreter cannot be desired) infers his excellence.
“Without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better.” But
if the oblation of Melchizedek was a figure of the sacrifice of the mass, I ask,
would the apostle, who goes into the minutest details, have forgotten a matter
so grave and serious? Now, however they quibble, it is in vain for them to
attempt to destroy the argument which is adduced by the apostle himself-viz.
that the right and honour of the priesthood has ceased among mortal men, because
Christ, who is immortal, is the one perpetual priest.
3. Another
iniquity chargeable on the mass is, that it sinks and buries the cross and
passion of Christ. This much, indeed, is most certain,-the cross of Christ is
overthrown the moment an altar is erected. For if, on the cross, he offered
himself in sacrifice that he might sanctify us for ever, and purchase eternal
redemption for us,62[4]
undoubtedly the power and efficacy of his sacrifice continues without end.
Otherwise, we should not think more honourably of Christ than of the oxen and
calves which were sacrificed under the law, the offering of which is proved to
have been weak and inefficacious because often repeated. Wherefore, it must be
admitted, either that the sacrifice which Christ offered on the cross wanted the
power of eternal cleansing, or that he performed this once for ever by his one
sacrifice. Accordingly, the apostle says, “Now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
Again: “By the which act we are sanctified through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Again: “For by one offering he
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” To this he subjoins the
celebrated passage: “Now, where remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin.” The same thing Christ intimated by his latest voice,
when, on giving up the ghost, he exclaimed, “It is finished.” We are
accustomed to observe the last words of the dying as oracular. Christ, when
dying, declares, that by his one sacrifice is perfected and fulfilled whatever
was necessary to our salvation. To such a sacrifice, whose perfection he so
clearly declared, shall we, as if it were imperfect, presume daily to append
innumerable sacrifices? Since the sacred word of God not only affirms, but
proclaims and protests, that this sacrifice was once accomplished, and remains
eternally in force, do not those who demand another, charge it with imperfection
and weakness? But to what tends the mass which has been established, that a
hundred thousand sacrifices may be performed every day, but just to bury and
suppress the passion of our Lord, in which he offered himself to his Father as
the only victim? Who but a blind man does not see that it was Satanic audacity
to oppose a truth so clear and transparent? I am not unaware of the impostures
by which the father of lies is wont to cloak his fraud-viz. that the sacrifices
are not different or various, but that the one sacrifice is repeated. Such smoke
is easily dispersed. The apostle, during his whole discourse, contends not only
that there are no other sacrifices, but that that one was once offered, and is
no more to be repeated. The more subtle try to make their escape by a still
narrower loophole-viz. that it is not repetition, but application. But there is
no more difficulty in confuting this sophism also. For Christ did not offer
himself once, in the view that his sacrifice should be daily ratified by new
oblations, but that by the preaching of the gospel and the dispensation of the
sacred Supper, the benefit of it should be communicated to us. Thus Paul says,
that “Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us,” and bids us
“keep the feast” (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). The method, I say, in which the
cross of Christ is duly applied to us is when the enjoyment is communicated to
us, and we receive it with true faith.
4. But it is worth while to hear
on what other foundation besides they rear up their sacrifice of the mass. To
this end they drag in the prophecy of Malachi, in which the Lord promises that
“in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure
offering” (Mal. 1:11). As if it were new or unusual for the prophets, when
they speak of the calling of the Gentiles, to designate the spiritual worship of
God to which they call them, by the external rites of the law, more familiarly
to intimate to the men of their age that they were to be called into the true
fellowship of religion, just as in general they are wont to describe the truth
which has been exhibited by the gospel by the types of their own age. Thus they
use going up to Jerusalem for conversion to the Lord, the bringing of all kinds
of gifts for the adoration of God-dreams and visions for the more ample
knowledge with which believers were to be endued in the kingdom of Christ. The
passage they quote from Malachi resembles one in Isaiah, in which the prophet
speaks of three altars to be erected in Assyria, Egypt, and Judea. First, I ask,
whether or not they grant that this prophecy is fulfilled in the kingdom of
Christ? Secondly, Where are those altars, or when were they ever erected?
Thirdly, Do they suppose that a single temple is destined for a single kingdom,
as was that of Jerusalem? If they ponder these things, they will confess, I
think, that the prophet, under types adapted to his age, prophesied concerning
the propagation of the spiritual worship of God over the whole world. This is
the answer which we give them; but, as obvious examples everywhere occur in the
Scripture, I am not anxious to give a longer enumeration; although they are
miserably deluded in this also, that they acknowledge no sacrifice but that of
the mass, whereas in truth believers now sacrifice to God and offer him a pure
offering, of which we shall speak by-and-by.
5. I now come to the third
part of the mass, in regard to which, we are to explain how it obliterates the
true and only death of Christ, and drives it from the memory of men. For as
among men, the confirmation of a testament depends upon the death of the
testator, so also the testament by which he has bequeathed to us remission of
sins and eternal righteousness, our Lord has confirmed by his death. Those who
dare to make any change or innovation on this testament deny his death, and hold
it as of no moment. Now, what is the mass but a new and altogether different
testament? What? Does not each mass promise a new forgiveness of sins, a new
purchase of righteousness, so that now there are as many testaments as there are
masses? Therefore, let Christ come again, and, by another death, make this new
testament; or rather, by innumerable deaths, ratify the innumerable testaments
of the mass. Said I not true, then, at the outset, that the only true death of
Christ is obliterated by the mass? For what is the direct aim of the mass but
just to put Christ again to death, if that were possible? For, as the apostle
says, “Where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of
the testator” (Heb. 9:16). The novelty of the mass bears, on the face of
it, to be a testament of Christ, and therefore demands his death. Besides, it is
necessary that the victim which is offered be slain and immolated. If Christ is
sacrificed at each mass, he must be cruelly slain every moment in a thousand
places. This is not my argument, but the apostle’s: “Nor yet that he
should offer himself often;” “for then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world” (Heb. 9:25, 26). I admit that they are
ready with an answer, by which they even charge us with calumny; for they say
that we object to them what they never thought, and could not even think. We
know that the life and death of Christ are not at all in their hand. Whether
they mean to slay him, we regard not: our intention is only to show the
absurdity consequent on their impious and accursed dogma. This I demonstrate
from the mouth of the apostle. Though they insist a hundred times that this
sacrifice is bloodless (????????????), I will reply, that it depends not on the
will of man to change the nature of sacrifice, for in this way the sacred and
inviolable institution of God would fall. Hence it follows, that the principle
of the apostle stands firm, “without shedding of blood is no
remission” (Heb. 9:22).
6. The fourth property of the mass which
we are to consider is, that it robs us of the benefit which redounded to us from
the death of Christ, while it prevents us from recognising it and thinking of
it. For who can think that he has been redeemed by the death of Christ when he
sees a new redemption in the mass? Who can feel confident that his sins have
been remitted when he sees a new remission? It will not do to say that the only
ground on which we obtain forgiveness of sins in the mass is, because it has
been already purchased by the death of Christ. For this is just equivalent to
saying that we are redeemed by Christ on the condition that we redeem ourselves.
For the doctrine which is disseminated by the ministers of Satan, and which, in
the present day, they defend by clamour, fire, and sword, is, that when we offer
Christ to the Father in the mass, we, by this work of oblation, obtain remission
of sins, and become partakers of the sufferings of Christ. What is now left for
the sufferings of Christ, but to be an example of redemption, that we may
thereby learn to be our own redeemers? Christ himself, when he seals our
assurance of pardon in the Supper, does not bid his disciples stop short at that
act, but sends them to the sacrifice of his death; intimating, that the Supper
is the memento, or, as it is commonly expressed, the memorial from which they
may learn that the expiatory victim by which God was to be appeased was to be
offered only once. For it is not sufficient to hold that Christ is the only
victim, without adding that his is the only immolation, in order that our faith
may be fixed to his cross.
7. I come now to the crowning point-viz. that
the sacred Supper, on which the Lord left the memorial of his passion formed and
engraved, was taken away, hidden, and destroyed, when the mass was erected.
While the supper itself is a gift of God, which was to be received with
thanksgiving, the sacrifice of the mass pretends to give a price to God to be
received as satisfaction. As widely as giving differs from receiving, does
sacrifice differ from the sacrament of the Supper. But herein does the wretched
ingratitude of man appear,- that when the liberality of the divine goodness
ought to have been recognised, and thanks returned, he makes God to be his
debtor. The sacrament promised, that by the death of Christ we were not only
restored to life once, but constantly quickened, because all the parts of our
salvation were then completed. The sacrifice of the mass uses a very different
language-viz. that Christ must be sacrificed daily, in order that he may lend
something to us. The Supper was to be dispensed at the public meeting of the
Church, to remind us of the communion by which we are all united in Christ
Jesus. This communion the sacrifice of the mass dissolves, and tears asunder.
For after the heresy prevailed, that there behoved to be priests to sacrifice
for the people, as if the Supper had been handed over to them, it ceased to be
communicated to the assembly of the faithful according to the command of the
Lord. Entrance has been given to private masses, which more resemble a kind of
excommunication than that communion ordained by the Lord, when the priestling,
about to devour his victim apart, separates himself from the whole body of the
faithful. That there may be no mistake, I call it a private mass whenever there
is no partaking of the Lord’s Supper among believers, though, at the same
time, a great multitude of persons may be present.
8. The origin of the
name of Mass I have never been able certainly to ascertain. It seems probable
that it was derived from the offerings which were collected. Hence the ancients
usually speak of it in the plural number. But without raising any controversy as
to the name, I hold that private masses are diametrically opposed to the
institution of Christ, and are, therefore, an impious profanation of the sacred
Supper. For what did the Lord enjoin? Was it not to take and divide amongst
ourselves? What does Paul teach as to the observance of this command? Is it not
that the breaking of bread is the communion of body and blood? (1 Cor. 10:16).
Therefore, when one person takes without distributing, where is the resemblance?
But that one acts in the name of the whole Church. By what command? Is it not
openly to mock God when one privately seizes for himself what ought to have been
distributed among a number? But as the words, both of our Saviour and of Paul,
are sufficiently clear, we must briefly conclude, that wherever there is no
breaking of bread for the communion of the faithful, there is no Supper of the
Lord, but a false and preposterous imitation of the Supper. But false imitation
is adulteration. Moreover, the adulteration of this high ordinance is not
without impiety. In private masses, therefore, there is an impious abuse: and as
in religion, one fault ever and anon begets another, after that custom of
offering without communion once crept in, they began gradually to make
innumerable masses in all the separate corners of the churches, and to draw the
people hither and thither, when they ought to have formed one meeting, and thus
recognised the mystery of their unity. Let them now go and deny their idolatry
when they exhibit the bread in their masses, that it may be adored for Christ.
In vain do they talk of those promises of the presence of Christ, which, however
they may be understood, were certainly not given that impure and profane men
might form the body of Christ as often as they please, and for whatever abuse
they please; but that believers, while, with religious observance, they follow
the command of Christ in celebrating the Supper, might enjoy the true
participation of it.
9. We may add, that this perverse course was
unknown to the purer Church. For however the more impudent among our opponents
may attempt to gloss the matter, it is absolutely certain that all antiquity is
opposed to them, as has been above demonstrated in other instances, and may be
more surely known by the diligent reading of the
Fathers.62[5] But before I
conclude, I ask our missal doctors, seeing they know that obedience is better
than sacrifice, and God commands us to listen to his voice rather than to offer
sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22),-how they can believe this method of sacrificing to be
pleasing to God, since it is certain that he does not command it, and they
cannot support it by one syllable of Scripture? Besides,