Finally, a council should occupy itself only with matters of faith, and then only when faith is in jeopardy. For public evil works can be condemned and the good ones maintained at home by the temporal government and by pastors and parents. But the false good works also belong to matters of faith, since they vitiate the true faith. Therefore they too are part of the business of a council, if the pastors are too weak to deal with them. The councils (as was already said) did not pay any attention to them, with the exception of one or two small councils, such as that of Gangra mentioned above.[1] Ceremonies ought to be completely disregarded by the councils and should be left at home in the parishes, indeed, in the schools so that the schoolmaster, along with the pastor, would be “master of ceremonies.“[2] All others will learn these from the students, without any effort or difficulty. For instance, the common people will learn from the pupils what, when, and how to sing or pray in church; they will also learn what to sing by the bier or at the grave. When the pupils kneel and fold their hands as the schoolmaster beats time with his baton during the singing of “And was made man,“[3] the common people will imitate them. When they doff their little hats or bend their knees whenever the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned, or whatever other Christian discipline and gestures they may exercise, the common people will do afterward without instruction, moved by the living example. Even under the pope all the ceremonies originated in the schools and the parishes, except where the pope was bent on exercising his tyranny with measures regarding food, fasts, feasts, etc. However, here too moderation must be applied, so that there do not get to be too many ceremonies in the end. Above all, one must see to it that they will not be considered necessary for salvation, but only serve external discipline and order, which can be changed any time and which must not be commanded as eternal laws in the church (as the popish ass does) and embodied in books with tyrannical threats, for this is something entirely external, bodily, transitory, and changeable.[4]