Page:Balthasar Hübmaier.djvu/384

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Balthasar Hübmaier

As the judgment of God is good, and yet God has given a judgment that is not good, Rom. vii., 12.

As that the king should not have many wives, and yet Rehoboam had fourteen, Abijah as many, David also many, and Solomon 700, besides 300 concubines, Deut. xvii., 17; 2 Chron. xi., 21; xiii., 21; 1 Kings xi., 3.

As God will not keep his anger forever, and yet the condemned must go into everlasting fire, Ps. ciii., 9; Matt. xxv., 46.

As that there is no law given for the righteous, and yet Christ has given us a new commandment, 1 Tim. i., 9; John xiii., 34.

As God does not tempt, and yet God did tempt Abraham, James i., 13; Gen. xxii., 1.

As the Father and Christ are one, and yet the Father is more than Christ, John x., 18, 30; xiv., 6-12.

And many similar passages, which appear to be opposed to each other, as the wings of the Cherubim, and yet all alike come to a head in Christ. Therefore one should split the claws of Scripture and repeat it well, before he eats (that is believes), or he will eat death therefrom, and through half-truth and half-judgment will wander widely, widely from the whole truth, and go seriously astray. A comparison: Christ says, "This is my body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me." That is now a whole truth. Who now judges from this a half truth, says that the bread is the body of Christ and errs. But he who judges the whole truth, says that the bread is the body of Christ, which is given for us, but not bodily, in itself, or substantially, but retained in remembrance according to the command given by Christ at the last supper; and that is the whole truth and nothing else is. He who understands that can also