VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

holy day in vertue prayer and hearinge the worde of god / in almosdede / in visitynge the sycke / the nedie and comfortelesse and so forth / but went vp & downe ydlye / yet what soeuer nede his neyghboure had / he wolde not haue holpe hym on the saboth daye / as thou mayst se by the ruler of the synagoge which rebuked christ for healinge the people on the holy daye luke .xiij.

almosdede] ed., almosede [1531], almosedede [1573]

How the Saboth day should be occupyed.[1573]

the ruler . . . holy daye. Cf. Luke 13.14.

Luke 13.14

Luke. 13. [1531]

And of like blyndnesse they went and fett out the brasen serpent (which Moses commaunded to be kepte in the arcke for a memorie) and offered before it: thinkynge (no doute) that god must be there present / for else how coude yt haue healed the people that came not nye yt / but stode afarre off and beheld yt only. And a thousand soch madnesses did they.

brasen serpent. Made by Moses, cf. Num. 21.9. Destroyed by Hezekiah after it became an object of idolatry, cf. 2 Kings 18.4.

Numbers 21.9

2 Kings 18.4

The brasen serpent [1531]O

madnesses] ed., madnessesse [1531], madnesse [1573]

And of the temple they thought that god herd them there better then any were else: ye and he hearde them nowhere saue there. And therfore they coude not praye but there / as oures can no where but at church and before an ymage. For what prayar can a man praye / when the woorde of god is not in the temple of hys herte: ye and when soch come to church / what is their prayer and what is their deuocyon / saue the blynde imageseruice of their hertes.

The temple [1531]

temple . . . there. Cf. Jer. 7.9–15.

Jeremiah 7.9–15

prayar. Prayer is the longing of the believer for the effects of God's promises (Mammon F2v, Obedience Q7, Introduction to Romans a4v). It consists of praise, thanksgiving, and petitions for defense against temptation (Matthew 14, n4v—n6v). It is not the empty pattering of longer hours in choir and more numerous Masses for the Dead (Obedience Q3v-R1). For Tyndale, the believing heart is a true temple because the word dwells there as source of prayer [F1, “they coulde not . . . hys herte”].

Prayer without fayth is no prayer.[1573]

But the prophetes euer rebuked them for soch faythlesse workes and for soch false fayth in theyr workes. In the .xlix. psalme saith the prophete / I wil receaue no calues of youre houses ner gottes out of youre foldes / thinke ye that I will eate the flesh of oxen or drynke the bloude of gottes? And Esaias saith in his first chaptre / what care I for the multitude of your sacryfyces sayth the lorde. I am full. I haue

Psal. 49. [1531] O

God despised the sacrifices of the unfaithfull Iewes.[1573]

.xlix. psalme . . . gottes. Ps. 50.9, 13. Answer gives the Vulgate number, cf. [E6v, “psalme .xlix. . . . glorifie me” and commentary note].

Psalms 50.9, 13