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KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural
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be men that loue them selves /
couetous / hye minded / proud / raylars /
disobedient to father &
mother / vnthankfull / vngodly / churlish /
promisebreakers / accusars or pickquareles / vnlouinge /
dispicers of the goode / traytours /
hedy / puffed vpp and that loue lustes moare then god /
hauynge an
apperaunce of godlynesse / but denienge the
power therof. And by power I vnderstonde the pure faith in
gods worde which is the power & pith of all godlynesse
& whence all that pleaseth god
springeth. And this texte pertayneth vn to them
that professe Christe. And in that he saith hauinge an
apperaunce of godlynesse & of that foloweth in the texte
/ of this sorte ar they that entre in to mens howses &
lead wemen captiue laden with synne / ever axynge &
neuer able to atteyne vn to the trueth (as our hearers of confessions
doo) it appereth that they be soch as wilbe
holier then other & teachers & leaders of the rest.
And loke whether there be here any sillable
that agreeth not vn to oure spiritualtie in the
hiest degre. Loue they
not them selues their awne decrees and
ordinaunces / their awne lies and dreames and despice all
lawes of god and man regarde noman but them only that be
disgysed as they be? And as for their
couetousenesse which all the world is not able
to satisfie / tell me what it is that they make not sarue
it? in so moch that if god punish
the world with an evell pocke / they immediatly
paynt a blocke &
call it Iob to heale the disease in stede of
warnynge the people to mend their lyuinge. And as for their
hye minde & pride / se whether
they be not aboue kynges & emproure &
al the names of god / and whether any man maye come to
beare rule in this world excepte he
be sworn to them and come vpp vnder them.
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in the later
dayes . . . therof. 2 Tim. 3.1–4. Tyndale follows Luther in
finding here a prophetic account already fulfilled by the
depravity of "oure spiritualtie" ([H8]). Luther's 1522 preface to 2
Timothy, freely translated in Tyndale's NT, summarized Ch. 3
and 4 of the epistle as an announcement of the dangers of the end-time,
in which outward splendor will cloak the corruptions of the higher
clergy (WA/DB 7.273; LW 35.389). However, Tyndale's itemized account of
the specific vices and practices is his own work.
of this sorte . . .
trueth. 2 Tim. 3.6–7.
paynt a blocke
& call it Iob. A popular cult of Saint Job flourished in
late medieval Europe, with Job serving as patron and helper of
syphilitics. Cf. Lawrence L. Bessermann, The Legend of
Job in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1979) 2, 64,
131.
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