of
Good and Evil, And the Tree of Life in the Midst of the Paradise of
God: Taken out of a Book called The Letter and the Life, or The Flesh
and the Spirit. Translated by Dr. Everard." An interesting article on
Dr. Everard in _Notes and Queries_[10] concludes that this first "Book"
of Everard's is a free translation of the Second Part of Tentzel's
_Medicina diastica_. This guess, however, proves to be incorrect,
though there is a slight likeness between Tentzel's book and the
English MS. Everard's book is, in reality, a translation of Sebastian
Franck's _Von dem Baum des Wissens Gutes und Boeses_ ("Of the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil"). The translation is made from a Latin
edition of Franck's little book, which was published in 1561. The
entire message of this treatise, written by the wandering chronicler
and spiritual prophet of Germany, and here reproduced in English, is
the _inwardness_ of everything that concerns the religious life. The
Tree of Life was in Adam's heart, and in that same inner region of the
soul was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The story of
Paradise is a graphic parable of the soul's experience. "That Tree
which tested Adam was and is nothing else in truth but the Nature,
Will, Knowledge, and Life of Adam, and every man is as much forbidden
to eat of this Tree as Adam was." Franck's significant book contained
passages from Hans Denck's _Widerruf_ ("Confession"), and Everard
translated them as an appendix to his first manuscript book.[11] They
hold the very heart of Denck's message and deal, with Denck's usual
sincerity and boldness, with the fundamental nature of spiritual
religion. He here declares the primacy of the Word of God in the soul
over everything else that ministers to man's life: "I prefer the Holy
Scriptures before all Humane {243} Treasure; yet I do not so much
esteem them as I do the Word of God which is living, potent, and
eternal, and which is free from all elements of this world: For that is
God Himself, Spirit and no letter, written without pen or ink, so that
it can never be obliterated. True Salvation is in the Word of God; it
is not tied up to the Scriptures. They alone cannot make a bad heart
good, though they may supply it with information. But a heart
illumined with the Light of God is made better by everything." Franck
declares, in comment on Denck's words: "I myself know at least twenty
Christian Religions all of which claim to rest on th