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KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural
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contrary
vnto the mynde of paul / set vp ceremonies in the new
testamente / partely borowynge them of Moses and partely
imageninge like / as ye now se / and called them sacramentes:
that is to saye / sygnes (as
yt ys playne in the storyes) the sacrament of holy
water / of holy
fyre / holy bred / holy salt and so forth. And they
gaue them significacions.
As holy water signifyed the sprinclinge of
christes bloude for our redempcyon. Which sacrament or sygne
(though yt seme superfluous / in as moch as the sacrament of
christes body and bloud signifieth the same dayly) yet as longe
as the significacion
bode / it hurted not. And the kyssynge of the pax was
sett vpp to
signifie / that the peace of christ shuld be euer
amonge vs one to
loue an other after hys ensample as the word yt selfe
well declareth. For pax ys as moch to saye as peace.
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because . . .
Moses. Cf. CWM 8/1.194/17–19.
holy water . . .
holy salt. Background on the liturgical and devotional use of
such blessed objects is given in the respective entries,
"Wasser," "Feuer," "Brot. Religiose Volkskunde," "Brotschutzen," and
"Salz," in LThK. Delumeau treats them among the rites
rassurants (37–50). Authors dealing with this theme draw
heavily on Adolph Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen
im Mittelalter, 2 vol. (Freiburg: Herder, 1909). For other
references to sacramentals, cf. [commentary notes on A3, “holysalt . . . oyle”; B1, “baptim”; F5v, “salt”; I3, “Fire / salt / water / bred / oyle”].
kyssynge of the
pax. The ceremony may have been a substitute for the
Eucharist (Duffy 125) or for the kiss of peace (OED 3.). Agreeing with
the latter, Tyndale explains how kissing the pax symbolizes forgiveness
and love (Obedience O5v). Yet, trusting in ritual
can lead to the neglect of true Christian love (1
John F1v). For the use of the pax at the Field of the Cloth of
Gold, cf. [H8v, “trucebreakynge” and commentary note].
loue . . .
ensample. Cf. John 13.15.
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And as for confirmacion / it is no doute / but that
it came this wise
vp and that thys was the vse / which the word it
selfe well declareth. We reade in the stories / that they wich
were conuerted vnto the faith of the age of discrecion / were
ful taught in the law of god (as right is) and in the fayth of
oure sauiour Iesus / yer they were baptised /
and vppon the profession or promisinge to kepe that
law and fayth / were baptised. And then for the socure and helpe
of younge childern / baptised before the age of discrecion / to
know the law of
god and faith of christe / was confirmacion
institute that they shuld not be all waye ignoraunt and
faithlesse / but be taught the professyon of theyr baptim. And
thys / no doute / was the maner / as we maye wel gather by
probable coniectures and euident tokens. When the childern were
of
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confirmacion.
Confirmation had evolved as a distinct rite in the early medieval West
through the gradual dismemberment of the ancient church's complex rite
of baptismal initiation. Theologically , it is the imparting
of the Holy Spirit to strengthen a maturing Christian as he
or she advances to active membership in the church. Luther saw
Confirmation as an ecclesiastical rite of blessing, but that it was a
sacrament based on a sure promise of grace he denied in Babylonian Captivity, 1520 (WA 6.549–50; LW
36.91–92). Erasmus may have influenced Tyndale's view [F4, “Which maner . . . this daye”] of the
desirability of climaxing the catechizing of youth with a
rite of public profession of the signification
of one's baptism. Cf. Pio lectori, Preface to
Paraphrase of Matthew, 1522 (LB 7.**3v).
Tyndale's protest at the loss of the original didactic purpose of
Confirmation (Obedience O1—O3) anticipates his
criticisms in Answer. At the same
time, Martin Bucer spoke of the need of such a
rite, which he then introduced in the churches of Hesse and Strasbourg,
René Bornert, La réforme protestante du culte à
Strasbourg
(Leiden: Brill, 1981) 362–66. The best brief overview on
Confirmation is Georg Kretschmar's entry "Firmung" (TRE 11.192–204).
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