17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.



Ver. 17. He is a prophet] The more the Pharisees opposed the truth, the more it appeared. Veritas abscondi erubeseit, saith Tertullian. The Reformation was much furthered in Germany by the Papists’ opposition. Among many others two kings wrote against Luther, viz. Henry VIII of England and Ludovicus of Hungary. This kingly title being entered into the controversy, made men more curious. And as it happeneth in combats that the onlookers are ready to favour the weaker and to extol his actions, though they be but mean; so here it stirred up a general inclination toward Luther, saith the author of the Hist. of the Council of Trent. Luther also in an epistle to the Elector of Saxony, triumpheth and derideth the foolish wisdom of the Papists in causing him and the other Protestant princes to rehearse the confession of their faith in a public assembly of the States of Germany, and in sending copies thereof to all the courts of Christendom for advice; whereby the Gospel was more propagated, and the cause of Christ more advanced, than if many preachers had been sent out and licensed.