544 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1530.
Here is the principle of religious liberty which was proclaimed in principle by Christ, acted upon by the apostles, re-asserted by the ante-Nicene fathers against the tyranny of persecuting Rome, but so often violated by Christian Rome in her desire for a worldly empire, and also by Protestant churches and princes in their dealings with Romanists and Anabaptists. Luther does not spare the secular rulers, though this book is dedicated to the brother of the Elector.
‘*From the beginning of the world wise princes have been rare birds, and pious princes still rarer. Most of them are the greatest fools or the worst boobies on earth.! Therefore we must fear the worst from them, and expect little good, especially in divine things which affect the soul’s welfare. They are God’s hangmen, and his wrath uses them to punish evil-doers, and to keep external peace.”’
He refers to Isa. 3:4, “I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them;” and to Hos. 18:11, “T have given thee a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.” ‘The world is too bad,” he adds, “and not worthy to have many wise and pious princes.”
To the objection that the secular magistrate should afford an external protection, and hinder heretics from seducing the people, he replies : —
‘‘This is the business of bishops, and not of princes. For heresy can never be kept off by force; another grip is needed for that; this is another quarrel than that of the sword. God’s word must contend here. If this fails, the worldly power is of no avail, though it fill the world with blood. Heresy is a spiritual thing that cannot be hewn down by iron, nor burned by fire, nor drowned by water.?, But God’s word does it, as Paul says, ‘ Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty in God’ (2 Cor. 10:4, δ).
for nine years), but the anti-Donatist Augustin was intolerant. The former said, ‘‘ Credere non potest homo nisi volens ;”’ the latter misinterpreted the words: ‘‘ Compelle intrare ut impleatur domus mea’’ (Luke 14:25), as a justification of forcible coercion. Comp. above, § 11, p. 54 sq.
1 * Die grossten Narren oder die drgsten Buben auf Erden’’ (p. 89).
2 “ Ketzerei ist ein geistlich Ding, das kann man mit keinem Hisen hauen, mit keinem Feuer verbrennen, mit keinem Wasser ertrdnken.”’
8 87. RELATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 545
In his exposition of the First Epistle of St. Peter, from the same year (1523), he thus comments on the exhortation “to fear God and honor the king: ”!—
“Tf the civil magistrate interferes with spiritual matters of conscience in which God alone must rule, we ought not to obey at all, but rather lose our head. Civil government is confined to external and temporal affairs. . . . If an emperor or prince asks me about my faith, I would give answer, not because of his command, but because of my duty to confess my faith before everybody. But if he should go further, and command me to believe this or that, I would say, ‘ Dear sir, mind your secular business; you have no right to interfere with God’s reign, and therefore I shall not obey you at all.’ ”’
Similar views on the separation of church and state were held by Anabaptists, Mennonites, the English martyr-bishop Hooper, and Robert Browne the Independent; but they had no practical effect till a much later period.?
Luther himself changed his opinion on this subject, and was in some measure driven to a change by the disturbances and heresies which sprang up around him, and threatened disorder and anarchy. The victory over the peasants greatly increased the power of the princes. The Lutheran Reformers handed the work of re-organization largely over to them, and thus unwittingly introduced a czsaropapacy ; that is, such a union of church and state as makes the head of the state also the supreme ruler in the church. It is just the opposite of the hierarchical principle of the Roman Church, which tries to rule the state. Melanchthon justified this transfer chiefly by the neglect of the pope and bishops to do their duty. He says, if Christ and the apostles had waited till Annas and Caiaphas permitted the gospel, they would have waited in vain.®
The co-operation of the princes and magistrates in the cities secured the establishment of the Protestant Church,
1 Τῇ the ἘΠ]. ed., vol. LI. p. 419 sq. 2 See § 12, p. 76, note. 8 Judicium de jure reformandi (1525), in the ‘‘Corp. Reform.,” I. 763 544.