VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

the voyce of his father that all is forgeuen.

¶The maner and ordre of oure election

Even so goeth it with gods electe. God choseth them first and they not god / as thou readest Ihon .xv. And then he sendeth forth and calleth them / and sheweth them his goodwyll which he beareth vn to them / and maketh them se / both their awne damnacion in the lawe and also the mercie that is layd vpp for them in christes bloude / and therto what he will haue them doo. And then when we se his mercie / we loue him agayne and chose him and submitte our selues vn to his lawes to walke in them. For when we erre not in witt / reason and iudgement of thinges / we can not erre in wil and choyse of thynges. The choyse of a mans will doeth naturally and of hir awne accorde folowe the iudgement of a mans reason / whether he iudge righte or wronge. So that in teachinge only resteth the pith of a mans liuynge. How be it there be swine that receaue no lerninge but to defile it. And there be dogges that rent all good lerninge with their teth. And there be pope holy whych folowynge a ryghtewesnes of their awne faynynge resiste the rightwesnesse of god in Christe. And there be that can not attend to herken vn to the trueth for rage of lustes / which when lustes abate / come and obeye well ynough.

82/31–33 the poore . . . them. Cf. Matt. 25.35–40.

83/6–7 we . . . heed. Cf. CWM 6/1.49/21–22. powringe . . . heed. Cf. Matt. 26.7, Mark 14.3.

83/12–13 S. Steuens tombe. After Stephen's tomb was discovered near Jerusalem in 415, his relics were widely distributed (Rotelle 3/9.125n). Cf. Augustine's Sermon 318 (AD 425) preached at the installation of some of these relics at Hippo, Par. 1 (PL 38.1437–38; Rotelle 3/9.147). The Golden Legend quotes The City of God 22.8 (AD 413–27) (CCL 48.821–24; 1NPNF 2.488–90), on miracles that occurred when sufferers came into contact with the relics of Stephen (GL 1.48–49).

83/13–18 the miracles . . . preachinge. Tyndale's emphasis on the saints as transmitters of doctrine is a creative variation on the Reformation argument over their role. In early works Luther associated Christ and the saints as helpers of all who by faith are in communion with them, The Blessed Sacrament and the Brotherhoods, 1519 (WA 2.744–45, 748; LW 35.52–54, 58). Luther could observe critically that feast days in honor of the saints have multiplied excessively and are not celebrated religiously, cf. Treatise on Good Works, 1520 (WA 6.229/32–230/6; LW 44.55). Later, Luther's paramount concern is the lack of any warrant from Scripture for prayer invoking the saints' aid, leaving it among the abusive human inventions of the church: Confession concerning Christ's Supper, 1528 (WA 26.508; LW 37.370); On Translating, An Open Letter, 1530 (WA 30/2.643–45; LW 35.198–200). The Augsburg Confession of 1530 affirms the commemoration of the saints as models of faith and good works in their calling, but holds that praying to them for help is ruled out by Jesus' sole mediatorship, Art. 21, cf. The Book of Concord 46f. Melanchthon's Apologia for the Confession fleshes out commemoration into thanksgiving for gifts given the saints, encouragement from their experiences of grace, and imitation . But there is no scriptural ground for invoking them, even if we believe they continue to pray for the church on earth (ibid., 229–36). Upper German reformers, such as Martin Bucer in Strassburg, took more radical action in eliminating both prayer to the saints and their commemoration. Catholic controversialists went to the defense of venerating and invoking the saints, as in Josse Clichtove's De veneratione sanctorum (Paris, 1523) and Jacob van Hoogstraten's Dialogus de veneratione et invocatione sanctorum contra perfidiam Lutheranam (Cologne, 1524). Johann Eck systematized the Catholic case in Ch. 15 of his Enchiridion, "Concerning the Veneration of the Saints" (Fraenkel 173–90; Battles 110–21), arguing from foreshadowings in Scripture , from reason, the Fathers, and longstanding custom in the church. Eck wards off Reformation arguments from the exclusive mediatorship of Christ as wrongly dissociating Christ from those who are, in him and with him, mediators of intercession. The imperial response to the Augsburg Confession digested Eck's arguments , while highlighting how the Lutherans, by denying invocation of the saints, associated themselves with a line of medieval heretics whom the church had already condemned. Cf. Die Confutatio der Confessio Augustana, ed. Herbert Immenkötter, CC 33 (Münster: Aschendorff, 1979) 124–31, esp. 125. Johann Dietenberger , writing in Augsburg in October 1530, argued that it is permissible to invoke the saints because the church defines for belief and practice only what is obscure and implicit in Scripture. Cf. Phimostomos scripturariorum, ed. Erwin Iserloh et al., CC 38 (Münster : Aschendorff, 1985) 114–56. The title, "A Muzzle for Those Gone Mad Over Scripture," polemically implies that the reformers are rabid dogs. Underlying the biblical and theological argument for praying to the saints were the fears and anxieties of believers , for whom the saints were "friends in high places" and influential protectors. Cf. Delumeau, Part II, "Nous ne sommes pas seuls," 177–289. (JW)

83/16–17 As . . . seke. Cf. Acts 19.12.

And therfore a Christen man must be pacient and sofre longe to wynne his brother to Christ / that he whych attendeth not to daye / maye receave grace and heare to morowe:

83/19–20 Eliseus . . . Iordayne. Cf. 2 Kings 5:10, 14.