36. This concubine in Christendom signifies nothing else but the stone churches,4 which are indeed God's concubine, wherein his Word and Testaments are handled, in which God generates his children, in which a man should work [together] with God, and turn his heart to God. But Reuben, viz. the Adamical man, forsakes God, and commits fornication and whoredom with the stone churches, and has embraced her in his arms of love, and goes in unto her, and plays the hypocrite with her; and thinks it is enough if he do but go thither and hear sermons preached, and make use of Absolution and the Sacraments, and believe that all is true which is there taught, and comforts himself with this: that he goes cheerfully, willingly, and constantly thither, and esteems that for right and good, and approves and assents to all that is there performed, thus covering himself with the purple mantle of Christ; and goes out of the Church just as he entered in, and goes twenty or thirty years together, and so to his very end; and commits whoredom with the churches, and thinks he does God good service when he appears there among others, sitting and hearing the preachers' sermons, and when he comes forth knows nothing of what has been done there.
1 Einbilden, make to themselves images of these.
2 God.
3 Or, is thus to be understood.
4 Or, temples built with materials.
37. Also in that auditory he had his heart at home, or about his trade and business, or casts his eyes upon the beauty of fair women and men, and upon their brave clothes and fine fashions of pride; and fills his heart with imaginations of lascivious lust, and broadly commits whoredom with these, or in these, concubines, the churches.
38. And that which is yet more: when the preacher often reproves sins and abominations, and often indeed out of passion sows thorns, that are caught up presently, he tickles himself the whole week, therewith, and contrives how to find fault with and censure others, and to backbite and blemish them, how they may scoff at people, and gall them with cutting and stinging words, pricking like thistles and thorns, and holds that for the best of what he has heard; and so sets this Lucifer in the place of God, and constantly commits fornication in the whoredom, viz. in the burning lust of these concubines.
39. And the greatest whoredom of all in this concubine is this: that men so quite take their hearts off from God, and set them upon the ministers of these concubines, and commit whoredom with them, and honour them with presents and gifts, so that they many times in their encomiums praise evil, malicious, proud, wicked, covetous people, who do but squeeze the miserable, and oppress them with power and authority. They make great epitaphs and eulogies, and give them high and stately titles, with high respect and reverence, ascribing to them great devotion, with the fear and love of God, and do highly advance their genealogy 1 and stock, and so set up the trade of juggling for money, as a common juggler, and so reproach the concubine of God, viz. the Church, with hypocrisy and lies. Of this it is rightly said, Reuben is climbed up to his father's concubine, and has committed whoredom with her. For they are they that dwell by this concubine, and are her curates and bishops or overseers. But they fill this concubine full of their false fleshly seed, and generate bastards in God's concubine, that so the false lust of the flesh may wholly bring their heart into her, and [they] think it avails before God and is very right. Their sins are thus covered by the venom and poison of money, and this hypocrisy fills their imagination, so that they think they are better than others, and live thus in such proud lofty thoughts continually, in such Church whoredom.
36. This concubine in Christendom signifies nothing else but the stone churches,4 which are indeed God's concubine, wherein his Word and Testaments are handled, in which God generates his children, in which a man should work [together] with God, and turn his heart to God. But Reuben, viz. the Adamical man, forsakes God, and commits fornication and whoredom with the stone churches, and has embraced her in his arms of love, and goes in unto her, and plays the hypocrite with her; and thinks it is enough if he do but go thither and hear sermons preached, and make use of Absolution and the Sacraments, and believe that all is true which is there taught, and comforts himself with this: that he goes cheerfully, willingly, and constantly thither, and esteems that for right and good, and approves and assents to all that is there performed, thus covering himself with the purple mantle of Christ; and goes out of the Church just as he entered in, and goes twenty or thirty years together, and so to his very end; and commits whoredom with the churches, and thinks he does God good service when he appears there among others, sitting and hearing the preachers' sermons, and when he comes forth knows nothing of what has been done there.
1 Einbilden, make to themselves images of these.
2 God.
3 Or, is thus to be understood.
4 Or, temples built with materials.
37. Also in that auditory he had his heart at home, or about his trade and business, or casts his eyes upon the beauty of fair women and men, and upon their brave clothes and fine fashions of pride; and fills his heart with imaginations of lascivious lust, and broadly commits whoredom with these, or in these, concubines, the churches.
38. And that which is yet more: when the preacher often reproves sins and abominations, and often indeed out of passion sows thorns, that are caught up presently, he tickles himself the whole week, therewith, and contrives how to find fault with and censure others, and to backbite and blemish them, how they may scoff at people, and gall them with cutting and stinging words, pricking like thistles and thorns, and holds that for the best of what he has heard; and so sets this Lucifer in the place of God, and constantly commits fornication in the whoredom, viz. in the burning lust of these concubines.
39. And the greatest whoredom of all in this concubine is this: that men so quite take their hearts off from God, and set them upon the ministers of these concubines, and commit whoredom with them, and honour them with presents and gifts, so that they many times in their encomiums praise evil, malicious, proud, wicked, covetous people, who do but squeeze the miserable, and oppress them with power and authority. They make great epitaphs and eulogies, and give them high and stately titles, with high respect and reverence, ascribing to them great devotion, with the fear and love of God, and do highly advance their genealogy 1 and stock, and so set up the trade of juggling for money, as a common juggler, and so reproach the concubine of God, viz. the Church, with hypocrisy and lies. Of this it is rightly said, Reuben is climbed up to his father's concubine, and has committed whoredom with her. For they are they that dwell by this concubine, and are her curates and bishops or overseers. But they fill this concubine full of their false fleshly seed, and generate bastards in God's concubine, that so the false lust of the flesh may wholly bring their heart into her, and [they] think it avails before God and is very right. Their sins are thus covered by the venom and poison of money, and this hypocrisy fills their imagination, so that they think they are better than others, and live thus in such proud lofty thoughts continually, in such Church whoredom.
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