Hieronymus, and others have written far otherwise of the same. But
I prefer the Text before them all, and it is far more to be esteemed
of than all their glosses; yet, notwithstanding, in Popedom the
glosses of the Fathers were of higher regard than the bright and
clear text of the Bible, through which great wrong oftentimes is
done to the Holy Scriptures; for the good Fathers, as Ambrose,
Basil, and Gregory, have ofttimes written very cold things touching
the Divine word.


That the Bible is the Head of all Arts.

Let us not lose the Bible, said Luther, but with all diligence and
in God's fear read and preach the same; for if that remaineth,
flourisheth, and be taught, then all is safe. She is the head and
empress of all faculties and arts. If Divinity falleth, then
whatsoever remaineth besides is nothing worth.


Of the Art of the School Divines in the Bible.

The art of the School Divines, said Luther, with their speculations
in the Holy Scriptures, are merely vain and human reasonings, spun
out of their own natural wit and understanding, of which I have read
much in Bonaventura, but he had almost made me deaf. I fain would
have learned and understood out of that book how God and my sinful
soul had been reconciled together; but of that there was nothing to
be found therein. They talk much of the union of the will and
understanding, but all is mere phantasy and folly. The right and
true speculation is this: "Believe in Christ; do what thou oughtest