their heads veiled, that they be silent in the church, and
concerning even secular matters, 1 Thess. 4:1, 2, 6;
concerning civil courts, 1 Cor. 6:1ff. And he says to the
Corinthians very clearly: "But to the rest speak I, not the
Lord." 1 Cor. 7.12, and again he says elsewhere: "Stand fast
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by
word or our epistle," 2 Thess. 2:15. Wherefore, the princes
and cities must be admonished to render obedience to
ecclesiastical statutes and constitutions, lest when they
withdraw obedience that is due God, obedience may be
withdrawn also from them by their subjects, as their subjects
attempted in the recent civil insurrection, not to allow
themselves to be seduced by false doctrines. Most false also
is their declaration that the righteousness of faith is
obscured by such ordinances; nay, he is rather mad and insane
who would observe them without faith. For they are given to
believers, and not to Turks or Ishmaelites. "For what have I
to do to judge them that are without?" 1 Cor. 5:12. Moreover,
in extolling here faith above all things they antagonize St.
Paul, as we have said above, and do violence to St. Paul,
whom they pervert to evangelical works when he speaks of
legal works, as all these errors have been above refuted.
False also is it that ecclesiastical ordinances obscure God's
commands, since they prepare man for these, as fasts
suppress the lust of the flesh and help him from falling into
luxury. False also is it that it is impossible to observe
ordinances, for the Church is not a cruel mother who makes no
exceptions in the celebration of festivals and in fasting and
the like. Furthermore, they falsely quote Augustine in reply
to the inquiries of Januarius, who is diametrically opposed