In one and the same work, shortly after his visit to Wittenberg from
the Wartburg, the destruction of the Papacy is depicted first as the
result of the action of the governments (who accordingly are bound
to provide a new, even if only temporary, organisation), then as
taking place through no human agency and without a single blow being
struck.[257] In writing thus, he was the plaything of those “states
of excitement” which constitute a marked feature of his “religious
psychology.”[258] Luther was then aware of the threatening movement at
Wittenberg and elsewhere, and attempted to stem it with the assurance
that the kingdom of Antichrist was already crumbling to pieces; he does
not, however, omit to point to the governments as the real agents of
which Christ was to make use to achieve the victory: “Hearken to the
government; so long as it does not interfere and give the command, keep
your hands, your mouth and your heart quiet and say and do nothing. But
if you are in a position to move the authorities to intervene and to
give the order, you may do so.”[259]
It would seem from all this as though he expected the help necessary
for the change of faith to come solely from those in authority, an
opinion which he had expressed in his pamphlet to the nobility, the
Princes and the gentry; the secular power after making its “submission”
to the Evangel was to do all that was required in the interests of the
Evangel; it was its duty to see that uniformity prevailed in the “true
worship” throughout its dominions, to watch over the public services
and exclude false worship. But whether the “Kingdom of God was to
be introduced by the Princes, or to rise up spontaneously from the
Christian Congregation, he does not clearly state.”[260] From 1522 to
1525 he frequently speaks as though it were to proceed solely from the
congregation, which by reason of the common priesthood of its members
was possessed of the necessary qualifications.
In any case, we may gather the following regarding Church organisation:
no outward government, no power or legislative authority exists in the
Church itself; on earth there is but one outward authority, viz. the
secular; the Church lives only by the Word of God and supports and
governs itself by this alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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