THE PARABLE
WICKED MAMMON.
WILLIAM TYNDALE,
OTHERWISE CALLED HITCHINS,
TO THE READER
That faith, the mother of all good works, jnstifieth us, before we can bring forth any good work : as the husband marrieth his wife before he can have any lawful children by her. Furthermore, as the husband marrieth not his wife that she should continue unfaithful as before, and as she was in the state of virginity, (wherein it was impossible for her to bear fruit) but contrariwise to make her fruitful; even so faith justifieth us not, that is to say, marrieth us not to God, that we should continue unfruitful as before, but that he should put the seed of his Holy Spirit in us, (as St John in his first Epistle calleth it) and to make us fruitful. For, saith Paul, (Eph. ii.) '' By grace are ye made safe through faith, and that not of yourselves: for it is the gift of God, and cometh not of the works, lest any man should boast himself. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained that we should walk in them." Amen
GRACE aiid peace, with all manner [of] spiritual feeling and living, worthy of the kindness of Christ, be with the reader, and with all that trust the will of God. Amen.
The cause why I set my name before this little Treatise, and have not rather done it in the New Testament, is, that then I followed , the counsel of Christ, which exhorteth men (Matt vi.) to do their good deeds secretly, and to be content with the conscience of well-doing; and that God seeth us; and patiently to abide the reward of the last day, which Christ hath purchased for us: and now would I fain have done likewise, but am I compelled otherwise to do.
While I abode, a faithful companion, which now hath taken another voyage upon him, to preach Christ where, I suppose, he was never yet preached, (God, which put in his heart thither to go, send his Spirit with him, comfort him, and bring his purpose to good effect,) one William Roye, a man somewhat crafty, when he Cometh unto new acquaintance, and before he be thorough known, and namely, when all is Spent, came unto me and offered his help. As long as he had no money somewhat I could rule him; but as soon as he had gotten him money he became like himself again. Nevertheless, I suffered all things till that was ended, which I could not do alone without one, both to write, and to help me to compare the texts together. When that was ended, I took my leave and bade him farewell for our two lives; and as men say, a day longer. After we were departed he went and gat him new friends which thing to do he passeth all that ever I yet knew. And there, when he had stored him of money he gat him to Argentine, where he pro-fesseth wonderful faculties, and maketh boast of no small things. A year after that, and now twelve months before the printing of this work came one Jerome a brother of Greenwich also through Worms to Argentine, saying that he intended to be Christ's disciple another while, and to keep (as nigh as God would give him grace,) the profession of his baptism, and to get his living with his hands, and to live no longer idly, and of the sweat and labour of those captives, which they had taught not to believe in Christ, but in cut shoes, and russet coats. Which Jerome, with all diligence, I warned of Roye's boldness, and exhorted him to beware of him, and to walk quietly, and with all patience and long-suffering, according as we have Christ and his apostles for an ensample which thing he also promised me.
Nevertheless, when lie was come to Argentine, William Roye (whose tongue is able not only to make fools stark mad but also to deceive the wisest, that is at the first sight and acquaintance,) gat him to him and set him a work to make rhymes^while he himself translated a dialogue out of Latin into English, in whose Prologue he proraiseth more a great deal than I fear me he will ever pay. Paul saith (2 Tim. ii.) " The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be peaceable unto all men, and ready to teach, and one that can suffer the evil with meekness, and that can inform them that resist; if God at any time will give them repentance for to know the truth It becometh not then the Lord's servant to use railing rhymes, but God's word, which is the right weapon to slay sin, vice and all iniquity. The Scripture of God is good to teach and to improve. (2 Tim. iii, and 2 Thess. ii.) Paul speaking of Antichrist, saith “Whom the Lord shall destroy with the Spirit, or breath of his mouth;" that is, with the word of God, And (2 Cor. X-) 'The weapons of our war are not 2Cor.x. carnal things, (saith he) but mighty hi God to cast down strong holds," and so forth; that is, to destroy high buildings of false doctrine. The word of God is that day whereof Paul speaketh, (1 Cor. iii.) which shall declare all things, and that fire which shall try every man's work, and consume false doctrine: with that sword ought men sharply to fight, and not to rail with foolish rhymes. Let it not offend thee that some walk inordinately; let not the wickedness of Judas cause thee to despise the doctrine of his fellows. No man ought to think that Stephen was a false preacher because that Nicholas, which was chosen fellow with him (Acts vi.) to minister unto the widows, fell after into great heresies, as histories make mention. Good and evil go always tog-ether, one cannot be known without the other,
Mark this also above all things,—that Anti-Christ is not an outward thing, that is to say, a man that should suddenly appear with wonders as our fathers talked of him No, verily; for Antichrist is a spiritual thing. And is as much to say as against Christ; that is, one that preacheth false doctrine, contrary to Christ-Antichrist was in the Old Testament, and fought with the prophets ; he was also in the time of Christ and the apostles, as thou readest in the Epistles of John, and of Paul to the Corinthians and Galatians, and other Epistles. Antichrist is now, and shall, (I doubt not) endure till the world's end. But his nature is (when he is uttered and overcome with the word of God) to go out of the play for a season, and to disguise himself, and then to come in again with a new raiment As thou seest how Christ rebuked the Scribes and the Pharisees in the gospel (which were very Antichrists,) saying
Woe be to you, Pharisees, for ye rob widows' houses; ye pray long prayers under a colour; ye shut up the kingdom of heaven and suffer them not that would to enter in; ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye make men break God's commandments with your traditions; ye beguile the people with hypocrisy and such like; Whit'h things all our prelates do but have yet gotten them new names and other garments, and are otherwise disguised. There is difference in the names between a cardinal a bishop, and so forth, and to say a scribe a pharisee, a senior and so forth; but the thing is all one. Even so now, when we have uttered him, he will change himself once more, and turn hmself into angel of light, (2 Cor. Xi ) Read the place, I exhort thee, whatsoever thou art that readest this, and note it well. The Jews look for Christ, and he is some fifteen hundred years ago, and they not aware : we also have looked for Antichrist, and he hath reigned as long, and we not aware; and that because either of us looked carnally for him, and not in the places where we ought to have sought. The Jews had found Christ verily if they had sought him in the law and the prophets, whither Christ sendeth them to seek. (John v,) …............. |
