bolized by the flood, and saves
us. For, in it not only the filth of the flesh is washed away, but
conscience makes good answer toward God through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, who is enthroned at the right hand of God and has
destroyed death in order to make us heirs of eternal life; who,
moreover, is gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being
made subject unto him, 1 Pet 3, 21-22. This is, indeed, a theological
allegory, in accordance with faith, and full of solace.

76. Such is also the allegory of Christ in John 3, 14, concerning the
serpent lifted up in the wilderness and the healing of those bitten by
the serpent's tooth who gazed upon it. Again, there is that one by
Paul (1 Cor 10, 1), All our fathers did drink from the same spiritual
rock, etc. Such allegories as these not only agree with the matter
itself, but also instruct the heart in faith and are a help to the
conscience.

77. But take a look at the ordinary allegory of Jerome, Origen and
Augustine. These men, when they create an allegory, leave faith
altogether out of consideration, and merely air philosophical
opinions, foreign alike to the sphere of faith and to that of morals;
not to speak of the fact that they are quite silly and a mass of
absurdities.

78. In a former chapter (ch 3. paras 61, 298, 304), we heard of
Augustine's allegory concerning the creation of man and woman, by
which he illustrates the higher and the lower attributes of man, that
is, reason and the emotions. But, I ask you, what is the value of this
figment?

79. The pope, however, carries away the real honors for piety and
learning when he thunders from his high seat as follows: God made two
great lights, the sun and the moon; the sun represents the authority
of the pope, from which his imperial majesty borrows its light as the
moon does from the sun. Away with such rash impudence and vicious
ambition!

80. In a similar style the ark, of Noah's story, is compared to the
Roman Catholic Church, in which is found the pope with his cardinals,
bishops, and prelates, while the laymen are swimming in the sea. That
is, the laymen are altogether given to earthly business and would not
be saved did not those helmsmen of the ark, or Church, cast boards and
ropes to the swimmers, drawing them into the ark by these means.
Pictures of this nature were frequently painted by monks to represent
the Church.

81. Origen shows more sanity than the papists, in that his alleg