Chapter 1. Of the True Church, With Which We Ought to Keep Unity, Because It Is the Mother of All the Godly

That by faith of the Gospel Christ has become ours, and we be made partakers of the salvation brought by him and of eternal blessedness, is already declared in the last book. But because our rudeness, and slothfulness, indeed and vanity of wit, do need outward helps whereby faith in us may both be engendered, and grow and increase in proceeding toward the mark to which it tends: God has also added them, thereby to provide for our weakness. And that the preaching of the Gospel might flourish, he has left this treasure with the Church. He has appointed Pastors and teachers, by whose mouth he might teach them that be his: he has furnished them with authority, finally he has left nothing undone that might avail to the holy consent of faith and right order. First of all he has ordained Sacraments, which we feel by experience to be more than profitable helps to nourish and confirm faith. For because being enclosed in the prison of our flesh, we do not yet attain to the degree of Angels, God applying himself to our capacity according to his wonderful Providence, has appointed a means whereby we being far distant from him might come to him. Therefore the order of teaching requires that now we treat of the Church, and of the government, orders, and power of it, and then of the Sacraments, and lastly also of civil order: and therewith that we call away the godly readers from those corruptions with which Satan in the Papacy has depraved all things that God had appointed for our salvation. I will begin at the Church, into whose bosom God will have his children to be gathered together, not only that they should by her help and ministry be nourished while they are infants and young children, but also be ruled by her motherly care till they grow to riper age, and at length come to the mark of faith. For it is not lawful that those things be severed which God has joined, that to whom he is a Father, the Church be also their mother: and that not only under the law, but also since the coming of Christ, as Paul witnesses, which teaches that we are the children of the new and heavenly Jerusalem.

In the Creed, where we profess that we believe the Church, that is not spoken only of the visible Church of which we now treat, but of all the elect of God, in whose number they are also comprehended that are departed by death. And therefore this word Believe is there set, because often there can no other difference be noted between the children of God and the ungodly, between his peculiar flock and savage beasts. For whereas many do interlace this word in, that is without probable reason. I grant indeed that it is the more commonly used, and also lacks not the consenting testimony of antiquity, forasmuch as even the Nicene Creed, as it is reported in the Ecclesiastical history, adds the preposition in. But therewith we may mark by the writings of the ancient Fathers, that it was in old time received without controversy to say, that they believed the Church and not in the Church. For Augustine, and that ancient writer whoever he was, whose work remains under the name of Cyprian concerning the exposition of the Creed, do not only so speak themselves, but also do expressly note that it should be an improper manner of speaking if the preposition were adjoined, and they confirm their opinion with no trifling reason. For we therefore testify that we believe in God because upon him as a true speaker our mind reposes itself, and in him our confidence rests which could not so conveniently be spoken to say in the Church, no more than it could be said, I believe in the forgiveness of sins, or in the resurrection of the flesh. Therefore although I would not strive about words, yet I had rather follow the propriety of speaking that should be fittest to express the matter, than curiously to seek for forms of speech whereby the matter may without cause be darkened. But the end is, that we should know that although the devil attempts all means to overthrow the grace of Christ, and though the enemies of God be carried with violent rage to the same end: yet it cannot be extinguished, nor the blood of Christ be made barren, but that it will bring forth some fruit. And so is both the secret election of God, and his inward calling to be considered: because he alone knows who be his, and holds them enclosed under a seal as Paul terms it: saying that they bear his tokens whereby they may be severally known from the reprobate. But because a small and contemptible number lies hid under a huge multitude, and a few grains of wheat are covered with a heap of chaff, to God only is to be left the knowledge of his Church, the foundation of which is his secret election. But it is not sufficient to conceive in thought and mind the multitude of the elect, unless we think upon such a unity of the Church into which we be truly persuaded that we ourselves be engrafted. For unless we be under our head Christ united together with all the rest of his members, there abides for us no hope of the inheritance to come. It is therefore called Catholic or Universal, because we cannot find two or three Churches but that Christ must be torn asunder, which cannot be done. But all the elect of God are so knit together in Christ, that as they hang upon one head, so they may grow together as it were into one body, cleaving together with such a compacting of joints as the members of one selfsame body: being truly made one, which with one hope, faith, charity, with one selfsame Spirit of God do live together, being called not only into one inheritance of eternal life, but also into one partaking of one God and Christ. Therefore although the sorrowful desolation that on each side presents itself in sight, cries out that there is nothing left of the Church, yet let us know that Christ's death is fruitful and that God marvelously as it were in secret corners preserves his Church. As it was said to Elijah, I have kept to myself seven thousand men that have not bowed their knee before Baal.

Although this article of the Creed does in some respect belong to the outward Church, that every one of us should hold himself in brotherly consent with all the children of God, should yield to the Church that authority which it deserves, finally should so behave himself as a sheep of the flock. And therefore is adjoined the communion of saints. Which parcel, although commonly the old writers do leave it out, yet is not to be neglected: because it very well expresses the quality of the Church: as if it had been said that the saints are gathered together into the fellowship of Christ with this condition, that whatever benefits God bestows upon them they should continually communicate them one to another. Whereby yet the diversity of graces is not taken away, as we know that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are diversely distributed: neither is the order of civil government disturbed, by which it is lawful for every man privately to enjoy his own possessions, as it is necessary, that for preservation of peace among men, they should have among themselves peculiar and divided properties of things. But there is a community affirmed, such as Luke describes, that of the multitude of the believers there was one heart and one soul: and Paul, when he exhorts the Ephesians to be one body, one Spirit, as they are called in one hope. For it is not possible, if they are truly persuaded that God is the common father, and Christ the common head to them all, but that being conjoined among themselves with brotherly love, they should continually communicate those things that they have. Now it much behoves us to know what profit thereupon returns to us. For we believe the Church to this end, that we may be certainly persuaded that we are the members of it. For by this means, our salvation rests upon sure and sound stays, that it, although the whole frame of the world be shaken, cannot come to ruin and fall down. First it stands with God's election, neither can it vary or fail but together with his eternal Providence. Then, it is after a certain manner joined with the steadfastness of Christ, who will no more suffer his faithful to be plucked from him, than his own members to be rent and torn in pieces. Beside that, we are assured that truth shall always abide with us, so long as we are held in the bosom of the Church. Last of all that we feel that these promises belong to us, there shall be salvation in Zion, God shall forever abide in Jerusalem, that it may not at any time be moved. So much can the partaking of the Church do, that it holds us in the fellowship of God. Also in the very word Communion is much comfort: because while it remains certain, that whatever the Lord gives to his and our members, belongs to us, our hope is by all their good things confirmed. But in such sort to embrace the unity of the Church, it is not needful (as we have already said) to see the Church itself with our eyes, or feel it with our hands: but rather by this that it consists in Faith, we are admonished that we ought no less to think it to be, when it passes our understanding, than if it openly appeared. Neither is our Faith therefore the worse, because it conceives it unknown: as much as we are not herein commanded to discern the reprobate from the elect (which is the office of God only, and not ours) but to determine assuredly in our minds, that all they that by the merciful kindness of God the Father through the effectual working of the Holy Spirit, are come into the partaking of Christ, are severed into the peculiar right and proper possession of Christ: and that, as much as we are in the number of those, we are partakers of so great a grace.

But since it is now our purpose to treat of the visible Church, let us learn even by this one title of Mother, how much the knowledge thereof is profitable, indeed necessary for us: for as much as there is no other entry into life, unless she conceive us in her womb, unless she bring us forth, unless she feed us with her breasts, finally unless she keep us under her custody and governance, until such time as being unclothed of mortal flesh we shall be like to angels. For our weakness suffers us not to be dismissed from school, until we have been scholars throughout the whole course of our life. Beside that out of her bosom there is no forgiveness of sins, and no salvation to be hoped for, as witnesses Isaiah and Joel, with whom agrees Ezekiel when he declares that they shall not be in the number of God's people whom he puts away from the heavenly life. As on the contrary side, they are said to write their names among the citizens of Jerusalem, that turn themselves to the following of true godliness. After which manner it is also said in another Psalm: Remember me, Lord, in the good will of your people: visit me in your salvation that I may see the benefits of your elect, that I may be merry in the mirth of your people, that I may rejoice with your inheritance. In which words the fatherly favor of God, and the peculiar testimony of the spiritual life is restrained to his flock, so that the departing from the Church is always damnable.

But let us proceed to prosecute that which properly belongs to this place. Paul writes that Christ, that he might fulfill all things, gave some Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, and some Pastors and teachers, to the restoring of the holy ones, into the work of ministry, to the edification of the body of Christ: until we all come into the unity of Faith, and of the acknowledging of the Son of God, to a perfect man, and to the measure of the full grown age of Christ. We see how God, which was able to make them that are his perfect in a moment, yet will not have them grow into manly age but by the bringing up of the Church. We see the means expressed, for that to the Pastors is enjoined the preaching of the heavenly doctrine. We see how all, not one excepted, are brought into one rule, that they should with mild Spirit and willing to learn yield themselves to the teachers appointed for that use. And by this mark Isaiah had long before set out the kingdom of Christ, where he says: My Spirit which is in you, and the words that I have put in your mouth shall never depart, neither out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed and your children's children. Whereupon follows that they are worthy to perish with famine and pining hunger, whoever they be that refuse the Spiritual food of the soul reached to them of God by the hands of the Church. God does breathe Faith into us, but by the instrument of his Gospel, as Paul says that Faith is by hearing. As also with God remains his power to save, but (as the same Paul witnesses) he utters and displays the same in the preaching of the Gospel. For this reason in old time he willed that there should be made holy assemblies to the sanctuary, that doctrine uttered by the mouth of the Priest should nourish the consent of Faith. And to no other end those glorious titles have respect, where the temple is called the rest of God, and the sanctuary his house, where he is said to sit between the Cherubins, but to bring esteem, love, reverence and dignity to the ministry of the heavenly doctrine, which otherwise the sight of a mortal and despised man would not a little diminish. Therefore that we should know, that out of earthen vessels is brought forth to us inestimable treasure, God himself comes forth, and inasmuch as he is author of this degree, so he will have himself to be acknowledged present in his institution. Therefore after that he has forbidden his to give themselves to judgment by flying of birds, to soothsayings, magical arts, necromancy and other superstitions, he immediately adds that he will give them that which ought to suffice in place of all, that is to say, that they shall never be destitute of Prophets. But just as he sent not the old people to Angels, but raised up teachers out of the earth, which might truly perform the office of Angels: so at this day also his will is to teach us by men. And as in the old time he was not content with the only law, but added Priests for expositors, at whose lips the people should inquire for the true meaning thereof: so at this day he not only wills us to be heedfully bent to reading, but also appoints masters over us, by whose travail we may be helped: whereof comes double profit. For on the one part by a very good trial it proves our obedience, where we hear his ministers speaking even as it were himself. On the other side it also provides for our weakness, while after the manner of men he had rather speak to us by interpreters to allure us to him, than with thundering drive us away from him. And truly how expedient this familiar manner of teaching is for us, all the godly do feel by the fear wherewith the majesty of God does worthily astonish them. But they that think that the authority of the doctrine is abased by the contempt of the men that are called to teach, do betray their unthankfulness: because among so many excellent gifts wherewith God has garnished mankind: this is a singular prerogative, that he vouchsafes to consecrate the mouths and tongues of men to himself, that his own voice should sound in them. Therefore on our behalf let us not be grieved obediently to embrace the doctrine of salvation set forth by his commandment and by his own mouth: because although the power of God is not bound to outward means, yet he has bound us to an ordinary manner of teaching: which while frantic men refuse to keep, they wrap themselves in many deadly snares. Either pride, or disdainfulness, or envy moves many to persuade themselves that they can sufficiently profit by their own private reading and study, and so to despise public assemblies, and to account preaching superfluous. But since they do as much as in them is lose or break asunder the holy bond of unity, no man escapes the due punishment of this divorce, but he bewitches himself with pestilent errors and most wicked dotages. Therefore, that the pure simplicity of Faith may flourish among us, let us not be grieved to use this exercise of godliness, which God by his institution has shown to be necessary for us and so earnestly commends. But there was never yet found any even of the most wanton dogs which would say that we ought to stop our ears against God: but in all ages the Prophets and godly teachers have had a hard strife against the wicked, whose stubbornness can never come under this yoke, to be taught by the mouth and ministry of men. Which is as much as to blot out the face of God which shines to us in doctrine. For, in old time the faithful were commanded to seek the face of God in the Sanctuary, and the same is so often repeated in the law, for no other cause but for that the doctrine of the law and the exhortations of the Prophets were to them a lively image of God: as Paul affirms that in his preaching shines the glory of God in the face of Christ. How much the more detestable are the Apostates, which greedily seek to divide Churches, as though they did drive sheep from their folds and cast them into the mouths of wolves. But we must hold that which we have alleged out of Paul, that the Church is no otherwise built but by outward preaching, and that the holy ones are held together with no other bond but when with learning and profiting with one consent they keep the order appointed by God to the Church. To this end principally, as I have said, the faithful in old time under the law were commanded to resort to the sanctuary. Because when Moses speaks of the dwelling place of God, he does therewithal call it the place of name, where God has set the memory of his name. Whereby he plainly teaches that without the doctrine of godliness there is no use thereof. And it is not doubtful but that for the same reason David with great bitterness of Spirit complains that he is by the tyrannous cruelty of his enemies kept from entering into the Tabernacle. It seems commonly to many a childish lamentation, because it should be but a very small loss, and also no great pleasure should be forgone thereby, to want the entry of the temple, so that there were enough of other delightful things. But he bewails that with this one grief, anguish, and sorrow, he is fretted and vexed and in a manner wasted. For nothing is of greater estimation with the faithful, than this help whereby God by degrees lifts up his own on high. For this is also to be noted, that God in the mirror of his doctrine always so showed himself to the holy Fathers, that the knowledge was spiritual. Therefore the temple is called not only his face, but also (to take away all superstition) his footstool. And this is that happy meeting into unity of Faith, while from the highest even to the lowest all do aspire to the head. All the temples that ever the Gentiles upon any other purpose built to God, were but a mere profaning of his worship: to which, though not with like grossness, yet somewhat the Jews fell. Whereof Stephen out of the mouth of Isaiah reproaches them, where he says, that God dwells not in temples made with hands. Because only God does by his word sanctify to himself temples to the lawful use. And if we rashly attempt anything without his commandment, by and by to an evil beginning do cleave new devices by which the evil is spread abroad without measure. Yet Xerxes, when by the counsel of the Magicians he burned up or pulled down all the temples of Greece, indiscreetly said, that the gods to whom all things ought to be freely open were enclosed within walls and tiles. As though it were not in the power of God, to the intent he might be near us, after a certain manner to descend to us, and yet neither to change place, nor to fasten us to earthly means: but rather by certain chariots to carry us up to his heavenly glory, which with the immeasurable greatness thereof fills all things, indeed and in height surmounts the heavens.

Now forasmuch as at this time there has been great strife about the effectualness of the ministry, while some excessively amplify the dignity thereof: and some other affirm that that which is properly belonging to the Holy Ghost is wrongfully given away to mortal man, if we think that ministers and teachers do pierce to the minds and hearts, to amend as well the blindness of the minds as the hardness of hearts: it is fitting that we give a right determination of this controversy. All that they contend on both parts shall easily be reconciled by expressly noting the places where God the author of preaching joining his Spirit with it promises fruit thereof: or again, when severing himself from outward helps he challenges to himself alone as well the beginnings of faith as the whole course thereof. It was the office of the second Elijah (as Malachi witnesses) to enlighten the minds, and to turn the hearts of fathers to the children, and unbelievers to the wisdom of the righteous. Christ pronounces that he sends the Apostles, that they should bring fruit of their labor. But what that fruit is Peter shortly defines, saying that we be regenerate with incorruptible seed. And therefore Paul glories that he by the Gospel begot the Corinthians, and that they were the seal of his apostleship: indeed that he was not a literal minister, such as did only beat the ears with sound of voice, but that there was given him an effectualness of Spirit, that his doctrine should not be unprofitable. In which meaning also in another place he says, that his Gospel was not in word only, but in power. He affirms also that the Galatians by hearing received the Spirit of faith. Finally in many places he makes himself not only a worker together with God, but also assigns himself the office of giving salvation. Truly he never brought forth all these things to this intent to give to himself anything, were it never so little separately from God: as in another place he shortly declares, saying: our labor was not unprofitable in the Lord, according to his power mightily working in me. Again in another place, he that was mighty in Peter toward the circumcision, was also mighty in me toward the Gentiles. But how he leaves nothing separately to the ministers, appears by other places, as: he that plants is nothing, and he that waters is nothing, but God that gives the increase. Again: I have labored more than all: not I, but the grace of God that was with me. And truly we must hold fast those sayings, where God ascribing to himself the enlightening of the mind, and the renewing of the heart, teaches that it is a robbery of God if man take upon himself any part of either of them. In the meantime if any man offer himself to the ministers whom God ordains, willing to learn, he shall know by the fruit, that this manner of teaching not in vain pleased God, and that this yoke of modesty was not in vain laid upon the faithful.

But as for the Church visible and which is within the compass of our knowledge, what judgment is fit to be given thereof, I think it already appears evidently by that which we have before said. For we have said, that the holy Scripture speaks of the Church after two sorts. Sometimes when it names the Church, it means that church which is indeed before God, into which none are received but they that are both by grace of adoption the children of God, and by sanctification of the Spirit the true members of Christ. And then truly it comprehends not only the holy ones that dwell in earth, but also all the elect that have been since the beginning of the world. But oftentimes under the name of the Church it signifies the universal multitude of men scattered abroad in the world, which profess that they worship one God and Christ, by Baptism enter into his faith, by partaking of the Supper testify their unity in true doctrine and charity, have an agreement in the word of the Lord, and for the preaching thereof do keep the ministry ordained by Christ. In this Church there be mingled many hypocrites which have nothing of Christ but the name and outward show: there be many ambitious, covetous, envious, evil speakers, some of unclean life: which be suffered for a time, either because they cannot by lawful order of judgment be convinced, or because there is not always in practice that severity of discipline that ought to be. Therefore as we must needs believe that the Church which is invisible to us, is to be seen with the eyes of God only: so are we commanded to regard this Church which is called a Church in respect of men, and to keep the communion of it.

Therefore so much as behooved us to know it, the Lord has set it out by certain marks and as it were signs to us. This is indeed the singular prerogative of God himself, to know who be his, as we have already alleged out of Paul. And truly that the rashness of men should not creep so far, it is provided, by the very success of things daily putting us in mind, how far his secret judgments do surmount our understanding. For even they that seemed most desperate, and accounted utterly past hope, are by his goodness called back into the way: and they that seemed to stand fast in comparison of other, do oftentimes fall. Therefore according to the secret predestination of God (as Augustine says, there be many sheep without, and many wolves within. For he knows them, and has them marked that know neither him nor themselves. But of those that openly bear his badge, his only eyes do see who be both holy without feigning, and who will continue even to the end, which is the very chief point of salvation. Yet on the other side, forasmuch as he foresaw it to be somewhat expedient, that we should know who were to be accounted his children, he has in this part applied himself to our capacity. And because the certainty of faith was not necessary, he has put in place thereof a certain judgment of charity: whereby we should acknowledge for members of the Church those that both with confession of faith, and with example of life, and with partaking of sacraments, do profess the same God and Christ with us. But as for the knowledge of the body thereof how much more that he knew it to be necessary for our salvation, with so much the more certain marks he has set it out.

Lo, hereupon grows and arises to us a face of the Church visible to our eyes. For wherever we see the word of God to be purely preached and heard, and the sacraments to be ministered according to the institution of Christ, there it is in no wise to be doubted that there is some Church of God: since his promise cannot deceive, "Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). But that we may evidently understand the sum of this matter, we must proceed by these as it were degrees: that is to say, that the universal church is a multitude gathered together out of all nations whatever they be, which being sundered and severally scattered by distances of places, yet does agree in one truth of godly doctrine, and is bound together with the bond of one self religion: and that so under this are comprehended all particular churches which are in all towns and streets according to the order of men's necessity, so that every one of them may rightfully have the name and authority of a Church: and that all particular men which by profession of godliness are reckoned among such churches, although they be in fact strangers from the Church, yet do after a certain manner belong to it, till by public judgment they be banished out of it. However, there is somewhat a diverse manner in judging of private men and of churches. For it may fall in experience, that such men as we shall think not to be altogether worthy of the company of the godly, yet we must use like brethren, and account them among the faithful, for the common consent of the Church, whereby they are suffered and borne withal in the body of Christ. We do not by our testimony allow such to be members of the Church: but we leave them the place that they have among the people of God, till it be by orderly right of law taken away from them. But of the very multitude we must otherwise think: which if it has and honors the ministry of the Word, and the administration of Sacraments, it deserves without doubt to be esteemed and judged a Church: because it is certain that those things are not without fruit. So we do also preserve to the universal Church her unity, which devilish spirits have always labored to cut apart: neither do we defraud of their authority those lawful assemblies which are disposed according to the fitness of places.

We have set for signs to discern the Church by, the preaching of the Word, and the observing of the Sacraments. For these can be nowhere but they must bring forth fruit, and be prospered with the blessing of God. I do not say, that wherever the word is preached, there immediately springs up fruit: but I say that nowhere it is received and has a fixed seat, but that it brings forth its effectiveness. Where the preaching of the gospel is reverently heard, and the Sacraments are not neglected, however it be, there for that time appears a not deceitful and not doubtful face of the Church, of which no man may unpunished either despise the authority, or refuse the admonitions, or resist the counsels, or mock at the corrections: much less to depart from it, and to break apart the unity of it. For the Lord so highly esteems the communion of his Church, that he counts him for a traitorous runaway and forsaker of religion, whoever shall stubbornly estrange himself from any Christian fellowship, provided it be such a one as has the true ministry of the Word and Sacraments. He so commends the Church's authority, that when it is violated, he judges his own diminished. Neither is it of small importance, that the Church is called the pillar and strong stay of truth and the house of God. By which words Paul signifies, that to the end the truth of God should not decay in the world, the Church is a faithful keeper of it: because God's will was to have the preaching of his word kept pure, and to show himself to us a Father of household by her ministry and labor, while she feeds us with spiritual [reconstructed: nourishments], and procures all things that make for our salvation. It is also no slender praise, that it is said that she is chosen and severed by Christ to be his spouse, that should be without wrinkle and spot, the body and fullness of him. From which it follows, that departing from the Church is a denying of God and of Christ. Therefore so much the more we must beware of so wicked disagreement. For while we go about, so much as in us lies, to procure the ruin of God's truth, we are worthy that he should send down his lightning with the whole violent force of his wrath to destroy us. Neither can there be imagined any fault more heinous, than with wicked breach of faith to defile the marriage that the only begotten son of God has deigned to contract with us.

Therefore let us diligently keep these marks imprinted in our minds, and let us esteem them according to the Lord's will. For there is nothing that Satan more endeavors than to take away and abolish the one of these, or both: sometimes that when these marks are razed and blotted out, he may take away the true and natural distinction of the Church: sometimes that when they are brought in contempt, he may with [reconstructed: open] falling away pluck us from the Church. By his craft it is brought about, that in certain ages past, the pure preaching of the word has vanished away: and now he does with as great persistence labor to overthrow the ministry, which yet Christ has so established in the Church, that when it is taken away, the edification of the Church perishes. But now, how dangerous, indeed how deadly a temptation is it when it does but come in our minds to depart from that congregation, wherein are seen the signs and tokens by which the Lord thought his Church sufficiently described? We see how great heed is to be taken on both sides. For, that we should not be deceived under the title of the Church, every congregation that pretends the name of the Church must be examined by that manner of trial, as by a touchstone. If it has in the word and Sacraments the order appointed by the Lord, it will not deceive us: let us boldly yield to it the honor due to churches. But on the contrary, if it boasts itself without the word and Sacraments, we must no less with fearful conscience beware of such deceits, than on the other side we must flee rashness and pride.

Whereas we say that the pure ministry of the word and the pure usage in celebrating the sacraments, is a sufficient pledge and earnest, so that we may safely embrace as the church any fellowship wherein both these shall be: this extends so far that it is never to be cast off, so long as it shall continue in those, although it swarm full of many other faults. Indeed there may some faultiness creep into it, in the administration either of doctrine, or of the sacraments, which ought not to estrange us from the communion of it. For all the articles of true doctrine are not of one sort. Some are so necessary to be known, that they ought to be certain and undoubted to all men, as the proper principles of religion: of which sort are, that there is one God; that Christ is God, and the Son of God; that our salvation consists in the mercy of God; and such like. There are others that being in controversy between churches, yet do not break the unity of faith. For those churches that disagree about this one point, if without lust of contention, without stubbornness of affirming, the one thinks that souls when they depart from the bodies do fly up into heaven, and the other church dares determine nothing of the place, but yet certainly holds that they live to the Lord. The words of the Apostle are: Let all us that are perfect think all one thing: but if you think anything otherwise, this the Lord shall also reveal to you. Does he not sufficiently show that diversity of opinions about these matters, that are not so necessary, ought to be no ground of disagreement among Christians? It is indeed a principal point, that we agree in all things. But for as much as there is no man that is not wrapped with some little cloud of ignorance: either we must leave no church at all, or we must pardon a being deceived in such things as may be unknown without violating the sum of religion, and without loss of salvation. But I mean not here to defend any errors, be they never so little, so as I would think that they should be cherished with flattering and winking at them: but I say that we ought not rashly for every light dissension forsake the church, in which at least that doctrine is retained safe and uncorrupted, wherein stands the safety of godliness, and the use of sacraments is kept as it was instituted by the Lord. In the meantime if we endeavor to amend that which displeases us, we do therein according to our duty. And to this belongs that saying of Paul: If anything better be revealed to him that sits, let the first hold his peace. Whereby it is evident, that all the members of the church are every one charged with endeavor to public edification, according to the measure of his grace, so that it be done comely and according to order: that is, that we neither do forsake the communion of the church, nor abiding in it, do trouble the peace and well-ordered discipline thereof.

But in bearing with the imperfection of life, our gentle tenderness ought to go much further. For herein is a very slippery easiness to fall: and herein with no small devices does Satan lay wait for us. For there have been always some, which filled with false persuasion of perfect holiness as though they were already made certain airy spirits, despised the company of all men, in whom they saw remaining anything of the nature of man. Such in old time were the Cathari, and they that were as mad as they, the Donatists. Such at this day are some of the Anabaptists, which would seem to have profited above the rest. Some there are that offend more by an indiscrete zeal of righteousness, than by that mad pride. For when they see among them to whom the gospel is preached, the fruit of life not agreeably answering to the doctrine thereof, they by and by judge that there is no church. It is indeed a most just displeasure, and such a one to which in this most miserable age of the world, we give too much occasion. Neither may we excuse our accursed slothfulness, which the Lord will not suffer unpunished: as even already he begins with grievous scourges to chastise it. Woe therefore to us, which with so dissolute licentiousness of wicked doings, make that weak consciences be wounded by reason of us. But in this again they offend whom I have spoken of, because they cannot measure their being displeased. For where the Lord requires clemency, they leaving it, do give themselves wholly to immeasurable rigorousness. For, because they think that there is no church where there is not sound pureness and uprightness of life, for hatred of sins they depart from the lawful church, while they think that they swerve from a company of wicked men. They allege that the church of Christ is holy. But that they may also understand that it is mingled of good and evil men, let them hear this parable out of the mouth of Christ, wherein it is compared to a net, in which fishes of all kinds are gathered together: and are not chosen out until they are laid abroad upon the shore. Let them hear that it is like a corn field, which being sown with good grain, is by the enemy's fraud scattered with tares, of which it is not cleansed until the crop is brought into the barn floor. Finally let them hear that it is like a floor, wherein the wheat is so gathered together, that it lies hidden under the chaff, until being cleansed with fan and sieve it is at length laid up in the granary. If the Lord pronounces that the church shall even to the day of judgment be troubled with this evil, to be burdened with mingling of evil men: they do in vain seek for a church sprinkled with no spot.

But they cry out that it is an intolerable thing, that the pestilence of vices so ranges abroad. What if the saying of the Apostle does here also answer them? Among the Corinthians not only a few had gone out of the way, but the infection had in a manner possessed the whole body: There was not only one kind of sin, but many: neither were they light offenses, but certain horrible outrageous doings: it was not only corruption of manners, but also of doctrine. What in this case says the holy Apostle, that is to say, the instrument of the Holy Ghost, by whose testimony the Church stands and falls? Does he require a division from them? Does he banish them out of the kingdom of Christ? Does he strike them with the extremest thunderbolt of curse? He not only does none of all these things: but he both acknowledges and reports it a Church of Christ and fellowship of saints. If there remain a Church among the Corinthians, where contentions, sects, and envious partakings do broil: where quarrels and brawlings be in use, with a greediness of having: where that wicked doing is openly allowed, which were abominable among the very Gentiles: where Paul's name is unjustly railed at, whom they ought to have honored as their father: where some scorn at the resurrection of the dead, with ruin whereof the whole Gospel falls: where the gracious gifts of God serve to ambition, and not to charity: where many things are uncomely and unorderly done: and if therefore there still remain a Church, because the ministry of the word and of the Sacraments is there not refused, who dare take away the name of the Church from them that can not be charged with the tenth part of these faults? They that with so great preciseness deal so cruelly against the Churches of this present time: what (I pray you) would they have done to the Galatians, which were almost utter forsakers of the Gospel among whom yet the same Apostle found Churches:

They object also, how that Paul grievously rebukes the Corinthians for suffering in their company a man that was a heinous sinner, and then he sets a general sentence wherein he pronounces, that it is unlawful even to eat bread with a man of reproachful life. Here they cry out: If it be not lawful to eat common bread, how may it be lawful to eat with them the bread of the Lord. I confess indeed that it is a great dishonor, if hogs and dogs have place among the children of God: it is also a much more dishonor if the holy body of Christ be given forth to them. And truly if they be well ordered Churches, they will not suffer wicked men in their bosom, and will not without choice admit both worthy and unworthy together to that holy banquet. But forasmuch as the Pastors do not always so diligently watch, indeed and sometimes are more tender in bearing with men that they ought to be, or are hindered so that they can not use that severity that they would: it comes to pass that even they that are openly evil, are not always thrust out of the company of the holy ones. This I grant to be a fault: neither will I diminish it, since Paul does so sharply rebuke it in the Corinthians. But although the Church be slack in her duty, it shall not be therefore immediately in the power of every private man, to take upon himself the judgment to sever him. I do indeed not deny that it is the doing of a godly man to withdraw himself from all private company of evil men, to entangle himself in no willing familiarity with them. But it is one thing to flee the company of evil men, and another thing for hatred of them to forsake the Communion of the Church. But whereas they think it sacrilege to be partakers of the Lord's bread with them, they are therein much more rigorous than Paul is. For where he exhorts us to a holy and pure partaking, he requires not that one should examine another, or every man the whole Church, but that they should each one prove himself. If it were unlawful to communicate with an unworthy man, then truly Paul would bid us to look circumspectly whether there were any in the multitude, by whose uncleanness we might be defiled. Now when he requires only of every man the proof of themselves, he shows that it nothing hurts us if any unworthy do thrust themselves in among us. And nothing else is meant by this which he says afterward, He that eats unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself. He does not say, to other, but to himself. And rightfully. For it ought not to stand in the choice of every particular man, who be to be received, and who to be rejected. The knowledge hereof belongs to the whole Church, which knowledge can not be had without lawful order, as hereafter shall be said more at large. Therefore it should be unrighteous, that any private man should be defiled with the unworthiness of another, whom he neither can nor ought to keep back from coming to it.

But although by this indiscrete zeal of righteousness this temptation does sometime also enter into good men: yet this we shall find that too much preciseness grows rather of pride, disdainfulness, and false opinion of holiness, than of true holiness and true zeal thereof. Therefore they that are bolder than others, and as it were standard-bearers to make any departing from the Church, for the most part do it upon no other cause, but in despising of all men to boast themselves to be better than others. Therefore Augustine says well and wisely: When godly order and manner of ecclesiastical discipline ought principally to have regard to the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace: which the Apostle commanded to be kept by bearing one with another: and which being not kept, the medicine of revenge is proved to be not only superfluous, but also pernicious, and therefore now to be no medicine at all: those evil children, which not for hatred of others' iniquities, but for affection of their own contentions, do greedily labor either wholly to draw or at least to divide the weak common people entangled with the boasting of their name, swelling with pride, mad with stubbornness, treacherous with slanders, troublesome with seditions, lest they should seem to want the light of truth, do pretend a shadow of rigorous severity: and those things that are in the holy Scriptures commanded to be done with a gentler kind of healing, saving the sincerity of love, and keeping the unity of peace, to correct the faults of brethren, they abuse it to sacrilege of schism, and to occasion of cutting off. But to godly and quiet men he gives this counsel, that they mercifully correct that which they can, and that which they cannot, patiently bear, and groan and mourn with love, until God either amend and correct them, or at the harvest root up the tares, and fan out the chaff. Let the godly strive to fortify themselves with these weapons, lest while they seem to themselves strong and courageous avengers of righteousness, they depart from the kingdom of heaven, which is the only kingdom of righteousness. For since it is God's will to have the communion of his Church to be kept in this outward fellowship: he that for hatred of evil men does break the token of that [reconstructed: fellowship], enters into a way whereby is a slippery falling from the communion of saints. Let them think that in a great multitude there be many truly holy and innocent before the eyes of the Lord, whom they see not. Let them think that even of them that be diseased there be many that do not please or flatter themselves in their faults, but being now and then awakened with earnest fear of God do aspire to a greater uprightness. Let them think that judgment ought not to be given of a man by one deed: forasmuch as the holiest do sometime fall away with a most grievous fall. Let them think that to gather a Church there lies more weight both in the ministry of the word and in the partaking of the holy mysteries, than that all that force should vanish away by the fault of some wicked men. Last of all let them consider, that in judging the Church, the judgment of God is of greater value than the judgment of man.

Where also they pretend that the Church is not without cause called Holy, it is fitting to weigh with what holiness it excels: lest if we will admit no Church but such a one as is in all points perfect, we leave no Church at all. It is true indeed which Paul says, that Christ gave himself for the Church to sanctify it: that he cleansed it with the laver of water with the word of life, to make her to himself a glorious spouse having no spot or wrinkle, etc. Yet this is also nothing less true that the Lord daily works in smoothing her wrinkles and wiping away her spots. Whereupon it follows that her holiness is not yet fully finished. Therefore the Church is so holy, that it daily profits and is not yet perfect: daily proceeds, and is not yet come to the mark of holiness: as also in another place shall be more largely declared, whereas therefore the prophets prophesy that there shall be a holy Jerusalem, through which strangers shall not pass: and a holy temple into which unclean men shall not enter: let us not so take it, as if there were no spot in the members of the Church: but for that with their whole endeavor they aspire to holiness and sound pureness, by the goodness of God cleanness is ascribed to them, which they have not yet fully obtained. And although often there be but rare tokens of such sanctification among men: yet we must determine that there has been no time since the creation of the world wherein the Lord has not had his Church, and that there shall also be no time to the very end of the world, wherein he shall not have it. For although immediately from the beginning the whole kind of men is corrupt and defiled by the sin of Adam: yet out of this, as it were a polluted mass, God always sanctifies some vessels to honor, that there should be no age without feeling of his mercy. Which he has testified by certain promises: as these: I have ordained a testament to my elect: I have sworn to David my servant, I will forever continue your seed: I will build your seat in generation and generation. Again, the Lord has chosen Zion, he has chosen it for a dwelling to himself: This is my rest forever, etc. Again, these things says the Lord which gives the Sun for the light of the day, the moon and stars for the light of the night. If these laws shall fail before me, then the seed of Israel shall also fail.

Of this, Christ himself, the Apostles, and in a manner all the Prophets have given us example. Horrible are those descriptions in which Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Habakkuk, and the others lament the sicknesses of the Church of Jerusalem. In the common people, in the magistrate, in the priests all things were so corrupt, that Isaiah doubts not to match Jerusalem with Sodom and Gomorrah. Religion was partly despised, partly defiled: in their manners are commonly reported thefts, extortions, breaches of faith, murders, and like mischiefs. Yet therefore the Prophets did neither erect for themselves new Churches, nor build up new altars on which they might have separate sacrifices: but of whatever manner of men they were, yet because they considered that God had left his word with them, and ordained ceremonies by which he was there worshipped, in the midst of the assembly of the wicked they held up pure hands to him. Truly if they had thought that they did gather any infection thereby, they would rather have died a hundred times than have suffered themselves to be drawn thereto. Therefore nothing withheld them from departing, but desire for the keeping of unity. But if the Prophets thought it against conscience to estrange themselves from the Church, for many and great wicked doings, not of one or two men, but in a manner of the whole people: then we take too much upon us, if we dare straightway depart from the communion of the Church, where not all men's manners do satisfy either our judgment, yes, or the Christian profession.

Now, what manner of world was there in the time of Christ and the Apostles? And yet that desperate ungodliness of the Pharisees, and the dissolute licentiousness of living, which then everywhere reigned, could not hinder, but that they used the same ceremonies with the people, and assembled with the rest into one temple to the public exercises of religion. From where did that come, but because they knew that the fellowship of evil men did not defile them, who with a pure conscience did communicate at the same ceremonies? If any man is little moved with the Prophets and Apostles, let him yet obey the authority of Christ. Therefore Cyprian well says, though there be seen tares or unclean vessels in the Church, yet there is no cause why we should depart from the Church: we must only labor that we may be wheat: we must use diligence and endeavor as much as we may that we may be a golden or silver vessel. But to break the earthen vessels is the only work of the Lord, to whom also is given an iron rod. And let no man claim for himself that which is properly belonging to the Son only, to be able alone to fan the floor, and cleanse the chaff, and sever all the tares by man's judgment. This is a proud obstinacy, and a presumption full of sacrilege, which a perverse fury takes to itself. Therefore let both these things remain certainly fixed. First, that he has no excuse who of his own will forsakes the outward communion of the Church where the word of God is preached and the sacraments are ministered: then that the faults of a few or of many are no hindrance, but that we may therein rightly profess our faith by the ceremonies instituted by God: because a godly conscience is not hurt by the unworthiness of any other, either pastor or private man, and the mysteries are to a holy and upright man nevertheless pure and wholesome, because they are together handled by unclean men.

Their preciseness and disdainfulness proceeds yet further: because they acknowledge no Church but such a one as is pure from all spots, be they never so small: yes, they are angry with good teachers, for that in exhorting the faithful to go forward, they teach them all their life long to groan under the burden of vices, and to flee to pardon. For they prate that by this means men be led from perfection. I grant indeed that in earnest striving for perfection we ought not to labor slowly or coldly, much less to be idle: but to fill our minds with confidence thereof while we are yet in our course, I say, it is a devilish invention. Therefore in the Creed the forgiveness of sins is aptly joined next after the Church. For none do attain it, but only they that are citizens and of the household of the Church, as it is read in the Prophet. Therefore the building of the heavenly Jerusalem ought to go before, in which afterward this mercifulness of God may have place, that whoever comes to it, their iniquity may be taken away. I say that it ought first to be built, not for that there can be any Church without the forgiveness of sins, but because the Lord has not promised his mercy but in the Communion of Saints. Therefore the first entry for us into the Church and kingdom of God is the forgiveness of sins, without which we have no covenant or conjoining with God. For thus he says by the Prophet: In the day I will strike you a covenant with the beast of the field, with the fowl of the air, and with the vermin of the earth (Hosea 2:18). I will break the sword and war from out of the earth, and I will make men to sleep without fear. I will espouse you to me forever. I will espouse you (I say) in righteousness, in judgment, in mercy, and in compassions. We see how by his mercy the Lord reconciles us to himself. And so in another place, when he foretells that the people shall be gathered together again, whom he had scattered abroad in his wrath, he says, I will cleanse them from all wickedness with which they have sinned against me (Jeremiah 33:8). Therefore by the sign of washing we enter into the fellowship of the Church: by which we may be taught, that there is no entry open for us into the household of God, unless our filthiness be first wiped away with his goodness.

But by the forgiveness of sins the Lord does not only receive and adopt us once into the Church, but by the same he also preserves and maintains us still in it. For to what purpose would it be, to have such a pardon granted us, as should serve for no use? But every one of the godly is a witness to himself that the mercy of God should be vain and mocking, if it should be granted only but once: because there is none that is not in his own conscience privy throughout his whole life of many weaknesses, which need the mercy of God. And truly not in vain God promises this grace peculiarly to those of his own household: and not in vain he commands the same message of reconciliation to be daily offered to them. Therefore as throughout all our life we carry about us the remnants of sin, unless we be sustained with the continual grace of the Lord in forgiving our sins, we shall scarcely abide one moment in the Church. But the Lord has called his own to eternal salvation. Therefore they ought to think that there is pardon always ready for their sins. Therefore we ought to hold assuredly, that by the liberality of God by means of Christ's deserving through the Sanctification of the Spirit, sins have been and are daily pardoned to us who be called and grafted into the body of the Church.

To deal this benefit to us, the keys were given to the Church. For when Christ gave the Apostles commandment, and delivered them power to forgive sins, he meant not this only, that they should absolve them from sins that were from ungodliness converted to the faith of Christ: but rather that they should continually execute this office among the faithful. Which thing Paul teaches, when he writes that the embassy of reconciliation was left with the ministers of the Church, by which they should often times in Christ's name exhort the people to reconcile themselves to God. Therefore in the Communion of Saints, by the ministry of the Church itself, sins are continually forgiven us, when the Priests or Bishops, to whom the office is committed, do with the promises of the Gospel confirm godly consciences in hope of pardon and forgiveness: and that as well publicly as privately, according as necessity requires. For there be very many, which for their weakness do need a singular atonement. And Paul reports that not only in common preaching, but also in houses he had testified the Faith in Christ, and severally admonished every one of the doctrine of salvation. Therefore we have here three things to be noted: First, that with how great holiness soever the children of God do excel, yet they be always in this estate, so long as they dwell in a mortal body, that without forgiveness of sins they cannot stand before God. Secondly, that this benefit is so proper to the Church, that we cannot otherwise enjoy it, but if we abide in the Communion thereof. Thirdly, that it is distributed to us by the ministers and Pastors, either by preaching of the Gospel, or by ministering of the Sacraments: and that in this behalf principally appears the power of the keys, which the Lord has given to the fellowship of the faithful. Therefore let every one of us think this to be his duty, nowhere else to seek forgiveness of sins, than where the Lord has set it. Of public reconciliation which belongs to discipline we shall speak in a place fit for it.

But forasmuch as those frenzied spirits that I have spoken of, do go about to pluck away from the Church this only anchor of salvation, consciences are the more strongly to be confirmed against so pestilent an opinion. The Novatians in old time troubled the Church with this doctrine: but not much unlike to the Novatians our age also has many of the Anabaptists which fall to the same follies. For they feign that the people of God are in Baptism regenerate into a pure and angelic life, that is corrupted with no filthiness of the flesh. But if any man offend after Baptism, they leave to him nothing but the unappeasable judgment of God. Briefly they grant no hope of pardon to a sinner fallen after grace received: because they acknowledge no other forgiveness of sins but that by which we be first regenerate. But although there be no lie more clearly confuted by the Scripture: yet because these men find some whom they may deceive (as also in old time Novatus had many followers) let us shortly show how mad they be to their own and others' destruction. First, whereas by the commandment of the Lord, the holy ones do daily repeat this prayer: forgive us our debts: truly they do confess themselves debtors. Neither do they ask it in vain because the Lord has always appointed no other thing to be asked, than that which he himself would give. Indeed whereas he has testified that the whole prayer shall be heard of his Father, yet he has also sealed this [illegible] with a peculiar promise. What will we more? The Lord requires of the holy ones all their life long a confession of sins, indeed and that continual, and promises pardon. What boldness is it, either to exempt them from sin, or if they have stumbled, utterly to exclude them from grace? Now whom does he will us to forgive seventy times seven times? Not our brothers? To what end did he command it, but that we should follow his clemency. He forgives therefore, not once or twice: but as often as being stricken down with the acknowledging of sins they sigh to him.

But that (we may begin in a manner at the very swaddling clothes of the Church) the Patriarchs were circumcised, being allured into partaking of the covenant, having undoubtedly by their fathers' diligence been taught righteousness and innocence, when they conspired to murder their brother: this was a mischievous act, to be abhorred even of the most desperate thieves. At last being humbled by the warnings of Judah, they sold him: this was also an intolerable wickedness. Simeon and Levi, with wicked revenge, and such as was also condemned by their own father's judgment, used cruelty against the Shechemites. Reuben with most unclean lust defiled his father's bed. Judah when he would give himself to fornication against the law of nature, went into his son's wife. And yet so far are they from being wiped out of the chosen people, that they are rather raised up to be heads of it. But what did David? When he was a governor of justice, with how great wickedness did he by shedding of innocent blood open the way to his blind lust? He was already regenerate, and among the regenerate garnished with notable praises of the Lord: nevertheless he committed that heinous offense, which is horrible even among the gentiles: and yet he obtained pardon. And (that we may not dwell on single examples) how many promises there are in the law and the Prophets of God's mercy toward the Israelites, so often it is proved that the Lord shows himself appeasable to the offenses of his people. For what does Moses promise to come to pass, when the people being fallen into apostasy shall return to the Lord? He shall bring you back out of captivity, and shall have mercy on you, and shall gather you together out of the peoples to whom you have been dispersed. If you be scattered even to the borders of the heaven, I will from [illegible] again gather you together.

But I will not begin a [reconstructed: recital] that should never be ended, for the Prophets are full of such promises, which do yet [reconstructed: offer] mercy to the people covered with infinite wicked doings. What [illegible] is there more heinous than rebellion? For it is called a [illegible] between God and the Church. But this is overcome by the goodness of God. What man is there (says he by Jeremiah) that if his wife give [illegible] her body in common to adulterers, can abide to return into [illegible] with her? But with your fornications all the ways are polluted. O [illegible], the earth has been filled with your filthy loves. But return to me, and I will receive you. Return, you turn away, I will not turn away my face from you: because I am holy, and am not angry forever. And truly he can be no otherwise minded, who affirms that he wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live. Therefore when Solomon did dedicate the temple, he appointed it also to this use, that the prayers made for obtaining pardon of sins should be heard from there. If (said he) your sons shall sin (for there is no man that sins not) and you being angry shall deliver them to their enemies, and they shall repent in their heart, and being turned shall entreat you in their captivity, saying, we have sinned, we have done wickedly, and shall pray toward the land which you have given to their fathers, and toward this holy temple: you shall hear their prayers in heaven, and shall be made merciful to your people that has sinned against you, and to all their wickednesses with which they have offended you. And not vainly the Lord ordained in the law daily sacrifices for sins. For if the Lord had not foreseen that his people should be troubled with continual diseases of sins, he would never have appointed these remedies for them.

Was this benefit taken away from the faithful, by the coming of Christ, wherein the fullness of grace was shown forth, so that they dare not now pray for pardon of sins? That if they offend the Lord they may not obtain any mercy? What shall this be else, but to say that Christ came to the destruction of those that are his, and not to their salvation, if that mercifulness of God in pardoning sins which in the Old Testament was continually ready for the holy ones, be now said to be utterly taken away? But if we believe the Scriptures which expressly cry out, that in Christ only the grace and kindness of the Lord fully appeared, that the plentifulness of mercy was poured out, that the reconciliation of God and men was fulfilled: let us not doubt that there flows to us a more bountiful mercifulness of the heavenly father, than that it is cut off or shortened. And of this there are no shortage of examples. Peter who had heard that he should be denied before the angels of God that confessed not the name of Christ before men, denied him three times in one night, and that not without execration: yet he was not put away from pardon. Those that lived inordinately among the Thessalonians are so chastised, that yet they are gently called to repentance. Even Simon the Magician himself is not cast in desperation, but he is rather commanded to hope well, when Peter counsels him to flee to prayers.

Indeed most heinous sins have sometimes possessed whole Churches, out of which Paul rather gently unwrapped them, than pronounced them accursed. The falling away of the Galatians was no mean offense. The Corinthians were so much less excusable than they, as they abounded in more and those nothing lighter sins: yet neither of them are excluded from the mercy of God. Indeed even those that had sinned above the rest in uncleanness, fornication and unchastity, are namely called to repentance. For the covenant of the Lord remains and shall remain forever inviolable, which he solemnly made with Christ the true Solomon and his members, in these words: If his sons shall forsake my law, and shall not walk in my judgments, if they shall defile my righteousness, and not keep my commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes: but my mercy I will not take away from him. Finally by the very order of the Creed we are taught, that there remains in the Church of Christ continual pardon of sins: for that when the Church is as it were established, yet forgiveness of sins is added.

Some that are somewhat wiser, when they see the doctrine of Novatus to be confuted with so great plainness of Scripture, make not every sin unpardonable, but willful transgressing of the law, into which a man wittingly and willingly falls. Now they that say so, vouchsafe to grant pardon to no sin, but where a man has erred by ignorance. But whereas the Lord in the law commands one sort of sacrifices to be offered for cleansing of the willful sins of the faithful, and other to redeem their ignorances: how great lewdness shall it be to grant no cleansing to willful sin? I say that there is nothing plainer, than that the only sacrifice of Christ avails to forgive the willful sins of the holy ones: forasmuch as the Lord has testified the same by carnal sacrifices as by signs. Again who can excuse David by ignorance, whom it is evident to have been so well instructed in the law? Did David not know, how great was the fault of adultery and manslaughter, which daily punished the same in other? Did brotherslaughter seem to the Patriarchs a lawful thing? Had the Corinthians so ill profited that they thought that wantonness, uncleanness, whoredom, hatreds and contentions pleased God? Did Peter being so diligently admonished not know how great a matter it was to forswear his master? Therefore let us not with our own enviousness stop up the way against the mercy of God that so gently utters itself.

Truly I am not ignorant that the old writers expounded those sins that are daily forgiven to the faithful, to be the light offenses that creep in by weakness of the flesh: and that they thought that the solemn repentance which was then required for heinous misdeeds might no more be repeated than Baptism. Which saying is not so to be taken, as though they would either throw them down headlong into desperation that after their first repentance had fallen again, or extenuate those other sins as though they were small in the sight of God. For they knew that the holy ones do oftentimes stagger by infidelity, that superfluous oaths do sometimes fall from them, that they now and then are chafed to anger, indeed that they break out even into manifest railings, and beside these be troubled with other evils which the Lord does not slightly abhor: but they so called them, to put a difference between them and public crimes that with great offense came to the knowledge of the Church. But whereas they did so hardly pardon them that had committed anything worthy of ecclesiastical correction, they did not this therefore because they thought that such should hardly have pardon with the Lord: but by this severity they meant to make others afraid that they should not rashly run into wicked doings, by the deserving of which they might be estranged from the Communion of the Church: however truly the word of the Lord, which herein ought to be the only rule to us, appoints a greater moderation. For it teaches that the rigor of discipline is so far to be extended, that he that ought chiefly to be provided for be not swallowed up with heaviness: as we have before declared more at large.

We have already shown in the preceding book that by faith in the Gospel, Christ has become ours, and we have been made partakers of the salvation He brings and of eternal blessedness. But because our weakness, laziness, and unreliable minds require outward aids — through which faith in us may be generated, and may grow and advance toward its goal — God has also provided them to help us in our frailty. To ensure that the preaching of the Gospel would flourish, He left this treasure with the church. He appointed pastors and teachers through whose voice He would teach His people, furnished them with authority, and left nothing undone that could contribute to the holy fellowship of faith and right order. Above all, He ordained the sacraments, which we find by experience to be more than useful helps for nourishing and confirming faith. Because we are enclosed in the prison of our flesh and have not yet attained the level of angels, God — in His wonderful providence — adapts Himself to our capacity and has appointed the means by which we, though far from Him, might come to Him. Therefore the order of our teaching now requires that we address the church, its government, orders, and authority — then the sacraments — and finally the civil order. Along the way, we will call godly readers away from the corruptions by which Satan in the papacy has distorted everything God appointed for our salvation. I will begin with the church, into whose bosom God wills His children to be gathered — not only so that they may be fed and nourished while they are infants and young children, but also so that they may be guided by her motherly care until they reach maturity and at last come to the goal of faith. For it is not right to separate what God has joined: those to whom God is a Father must also have the church as their mother. This holds not only under the Old Covenant but also since the coming of Christ, as Paul testifies when he teaches that we are children of the new and heavenly Jerusalem.

When we confess in the Creed that we believe the church, this refers not only to the visible church we are now discussing, but to all the elect of God — including those who have already died. The word 'believe' is used there because the children of God often cannot be visibly distinguished from the ungodly, nor His own flock from those outside. Many people insert the word 'in' — 'I believe in the church' — but without good reason. I grant that this usage is more common and is supported by some ancient testimony, since even the Nicene Creed, as recorded in church history, includes the preposition 'in.' But the writings of the ancient fathers show that in early times it was universally accepted to say 'I believe the church' rather than 'I believe in the church.' Augustine, and that ancient writer whose work has come down under the name of Cyprian on the exposition of the Creed, not only spoke this way themselves but expressly noted that adding the preposition would be improper speech — and they gave solid reasons for this view. We say 'I believe in God' because our mind rests on Him as one who is truthful, and our confidence is grounded in Him. That could not so fittingly be said of 'in the church,' any more than one would say 'I believe in the forgiveness of sins' or 'in the resurrection of the flesh.' Though I would not quarrel over words, I prefer to follow the manner of speaking that most clearly expresses the matter rather than seeking forms of speech that needlessly obscure it. The main point is this: we must know that although the devil tries every means to destroy the grace of Christ, and although God's enemies rush toward the same goal with fierce violence, this grace cannot be extinguished. The blood of Christ will not be made barren but will always bear fruit. Here both the secret election of God and His inward calling must be considered. He alone knows who are His, and He keeps them, as Paul says, sealed under His mark — by which they may be distinguished from the reprobate. But because a small and overlooked number is hidden within a vast multitude, and a few grains of wheat lie buried under a heap of chaff, the knowledge of His church must be left to God alone, for its foundation is His secret election. Yet it is not enough to think abstractly about the multitude of the elect — we must also think about such a unity of the church that we ourselves are genuinely persuaded we belong to it. Unless we are united under Christ our head together with all His other members, no hope of the inheritance to come remains for us. This is why the church is called catholic, or universal — because we cannot divide it into two or three churches without tearing Christ apart, which is impossible. All the elect of God are so united in Christ that, as they depend on one head, they grow together as into one body — joined with such a fitting of parts as the members of a single body — truly one, sharing one hope, one faith, one love, one Spirit of God, called not only to one inheritance of eternal life but also to one participation in one God and Christ. Therefore, even when visible desolation on every side seems to cry out that nothing is left of the church — let us know that Christ's death is fruitful, and that God marvelously preserves His church, as it were, in hidden corners. As He said to Elijah: 'I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal' (Romans 11:4).

Although this article of the Creed also applies in one sense to the outward church — in that each of us ought to hold ourselves in brotherly fellowship with all the children of God, give the church the honor it deserves, and behave as a sheep of the flock. For this reason the clause 'the communion of saints' is added. Though the ancient writers commonly omit this clause, it should not be neglected — for it expresses the character of the church very well. It is as if it said that the saints are gathered into fellowship with Christ on this condition: that whatever benefits God gives to any of them, they are to share freely with one another. This does not abolish the diversity of gifts, since we know the Holy Spirit distributes them differently to different people. Nor does it overthrow civil order, by which everyone is rightly permitted to enjoy their own private property — which is necessary for maintaining peace among people. Rather, it affirms a community of the kind Luke describes: that the whole company of believers was of one heart and one soul. And Paul urges the Ephesians to be one body, one Spirit, as they are called to one hope. For if they are truly persuaded that God is the common Father and Christ the common Head of them all, they cannot help but be bound to one another in brotherly love and continually share what they have. Now it greatly matters to us to understand what benefit we receive from this. We believe the church for this purpose: to be firmly persuaded that we are members of it. By this, our salvation rests on sure and solid foundations — so that even if the whole framework of the world were shaken, it could not collapse. First, it stands on God's election, which can neither waver nor fail without His eternal providence also failing. Second, it is in a certain way bound to the steadfastness of Christ, who will no more allow His faithful to be torn from Him than He would allow His own members to be ripped apart. Beyond that, we are assured that truth will always remain with us as long as we are held in the bosom of the church. Finally, we feel these promises belong to us: 'There shall be salvation in Zion; God will dwell forever in Jerusalem, so that it will not be shaken.' Such is the power of fellowship with the church: it keeps us in fellowship with God. There is also great comfort in the very word 'communion' — because as long as it is certain that whatever the Lord gives to His people and to our fellow members also belongs to us, our hope is confirmed by all their blessings. To embrace the unity of the church in this way, it is not necessary — as we have already said — to see it with our eyes or touch it with our hands. Rather, since the church is grounded in faith, we are reminded that we should believe in its existence no less when it exceeds our understanding than when it is plainly visible. Nor does our faith suffer for conceiving of what is not yet seen. We are not commanded here to distinguish the reprobate from the elect — that is God's work, not ours. We are simply to settle it firmly in our minds that all who by God the Father's merciful grace, through the effectual working of the Holy Spirit, have come into fellowship with Christ are set apart as Christ's own special possession — and that insofar as we are among that number, we share in so great a grace.

Since our purpose now is to treat of the visible church, let us learn from this one title — Mother — how necessary and profitable knowledge of it is for us. There is no other entry into life unless the church conceives us in her womb, brings us to birth, feeds us at her breast, and finally keeps us under her care and guidance until, stripped of mortal flesh, we become like angels. Our weakness does not allow us to be dismissed from school until we have been students throughout our entire lives. Beyond that, outside her bosom there is no forgiveness of sins and no hope of salvation — as Isaiah and Joel testify, and Ezekiel agrees when he declares that those He excludes from the heavenly life are no longer counted among God's people. In contrast, those who turn to follow true godliness are said to have their names written among the citizens of Jerusalem. In the same way, a psalm says: 'Remember me, Lord, in Your favor toward Your people; visit me with Your salvation, that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance' (Psalm 106:4-5). In these words, God's fatherly favor and the specific testimony of spiritual life are bound to His people — so that to depart from the church is always a damnable thing.

Let us now continue with what properly belongs to this discussion. Paul writes that Christ, in order to fill all things, gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers — for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ — until we all reach the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature person, to the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13). We see here how God — who could make His people perfect in an instant — wills that they grow into maturity only through the nurture of the church. We see the means He has appointed: pastors are charged with the preaching of heavenly doctrine. We see that everyone without exception is brought under one rule — that with a gentle and teachable spirit they submit themselves to the teachers appointed for this purpose. By this mark Isaiah had long before described the kingdom of Christ, when he said: 'My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring' (Isaiah 59:21). From this it follows that those who reject the spiritual food of the soul offered to them by God through the hands of the church deserve to perish from famine and starvation. God breathes faith into us — but through the instrument of His Gospel, as Paul says that faith comes by hearing. With God remains the power to save, but — as the same Paul testifies — He displays and exercises that power through the preaching of the Gospel. For this reason, in ancient times He commanded holy assemblies to gather at the sanctuary, so that the doctrine spoken by the mouth of the priest would nourish and preserve the unity of faith. The glorious titles given to the temple — called God's resting place, His sanctuary, the place where He sits enthroned between the cherubim — all serve the same purpose: to bring honor, love, reverence, and dignity to the ministry of heavenly doctrine, which the sight of a mortal and ordinary person might otherwise diminish. Therefore, so that we might know that priceless treasure is brought to us in clay vessels, God Himself comes forward — and as He is the author of this arrangement, He wills to be acknowledged as present in His institution. So after forbidding His people to follow divination by birds, soothsaying, magic, necromancy, and other superstitions, He immediately adds that He will give them what should take the place of all these things — that they will never be without prophets. Just as He did not send the ancient people to angels but raised up teachers from the earth to carry out the office of angels in truth — so today also He wills to teach us through human beings. And just as in ancient times He was not content with the law alone but added priests as its interpreters, at whose lips the people were to seek the true meaning — so today He not only wants us to read attentively but also appoints teachers over us, through whose labor we are aided. This yields a double benefit. On one hand, it tests and proves our obedience when we hear His ministers speaking as though it were God Himself. On the other hand, it also accommodates our weakness — for in a way suited to our humanity, He prefers to speak to us through interpreters to draw us to Himself, rather than to thunder at us and drive us away. How necessary this kind, familiar way of teaching is for us — all the godly feel this in the awe that God's majesty rightly strikes into them. Those who think the authority of doctrine is diminished by their contempt for the men called to teach it betray their ingratitude. Among the many excellent gifts with which God has adorned humanity, this is a singular honor: that He condescends to consecrate the mouths and tongues of people for Himself, so that His own voice might sound through them. Let us therefore not be reluctant to embrace obediently the doctrine of salvation set forth by His command and through His own mouth. Although God's power is not bound to outward means, He has bound us to an ordinary way of teaching — and those who recklessly refuse to follow it wrap themselves in many deadly traps. Many are moved by pride, disdain, or envy to persuade themselves that they can grow sufficiently on their own through private reading and study — and so they despise public assemblies and treat preaching as unnecessary. But since they do as much as they can to cut or tear apart the holy bond of unity, no one escapes the just punishment of this separation without being deceived by poisonous errors and the most destructive foolishness. Therefore, so that the pure simplicity of faith may flourish among us, let us not be reluctant to use this practice of godliness, which God by His institution has shown to be necessary and so earnestly commends to us. No one has ever been found — not even among the most reckless scoffers — who would openly say we should stop our ears to God. Yet in every age the prophets and godly teachers have had hard battles against the wicked, whose stubbornness can never bend under this requirement to be taught through the mouth and ministry of human beings. To reject this is to blot out the face of God that shines upon us in doctrine. In ancient times the faithful were commanded to seek God's face in the sanctuary, and the law repeats this so often for one reason only: the doctrine of the law and the exhortations of the prophets were a living image of God for them — as Paul declares that in his preaching the glory of God shines in the face of Christ. How much more detestable, then, are those apostates who greedily set out to divide churches — as if driving sheep from their folds and throwing them into the mouths of wolves. We must hold to what we have drawn from Paul: the church is built by nothing other than outward preaching, and the saints are held together by no other bond than when, through learning and growing together, they maintain the order God has appointed for the church. To this end above all, as I have said, the faithful under the law in ancient times were commanded to go to the sanctuary. When Moses speaks of the dwelling place of God, he also calls it 'the place of the name' where God has established the memorial of His name. By this he plainly teaches that without the doctrine of godliness, the place serves no purpose. It is beyond doubt that David, for the same reason, complains with great anguish of spirit that his enemies' tyrannical cruelty keeps him from entering the tabernacle. To many it seems like childish grief — after all, to lack entry to the temple would seem a small loss, hardly worth mourning when so many other comforts remain. But David mourns that he is consumed and nearly destroyed by this one grief, this anguish and sorrow. Nothing is more precious to the faithful than this help, by which God lifts His own upward step by step. It should also be noted that in the mirror of His doctrine, God always showed Himself to the holy fathers in such a way that their knowledge was spiritual. Therefore the temple is called not only His face but also — to remove all superstition — His footstool. This is that blessed gathering into unity of faith, as from the greatest to the least, all press toward the Head. All the temples that the Gentiles ever built to God for any other purpose were nothing but a desecration of His worship — and the Jews, though not with equal crudeness, fell into something similar. For this Stephen, quoting Isaiah, reproaches them, saying that God does not dwell in temples made with human hands. For God alone sanctifies temples to Himself for their lawful use through His Word. And if we rashly attempt anything without His command, new inventions immediately attach themselves to the evil beginning, and the evil spreads without limit. Even Xerxes, when he burned or demolished all the temples of Greece on the advice of the Magi, spoke foolishly when he said that the gods, to whom all things should be freely open, were being enclosed within walls and tiles. As if it were not within God's power — in order to be near us — to condescend to us in a certain way, without changing place or tying us to earthly things, but rather to carry us upward by certain vehicles to His heavenly glory, which by its immeasurable greatness fills all things and in height surpasses even the heavens.

There has been great controversy in our time about the effectiveness of the ministry — some excessively magnifying its dignity, others insisting that what properly belongs to the Holy Spirit is wrongly attributed to mortal men if we think that ministers and teachers can penetrate minds and hearts to correct blindness and hardness. It is fitting that we settle this question properly. Everything both sides contend for can easily be reconciled by carefully noting two kinds of passages: those where God, as the author of preaching, joins His Spirit to it and promises fruit from it — and those where, setting aside outward means, He claims for Himself alone both the beginning of faith and its entire course. It was the office of the second Elijah — as Malachi testifies — to enlighten minds and to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and unbelievers to the wisdom of the righteous. Christ declares that He sends the apostles to bear lasting fruit from their labor. Peter briefly defines what that fruit is, saying that we have been born again of incorruptible seed. Therefore Paul boasts that he fathered the Corinthians through the Gospel, that they were the seal of his apostleship, and that he was not a merely outward minister — one who only beat on people's ears with sound — but that power of the Spirit was given to him so that his teaching would not be without effect. In the same sense he says elsewhere that his Gospel came not in word only but in power. He also says that the Galatians received the Spirit of faith through hearing. And in many places he makes himself not only a co-worker with God but also claims for himself a role in the giving of salvation. But he never brought all of this forward to claim anything at all for himself apart from God — as he plainly says elsewhere: 'Our labor was not in vain in the Lord, according to His power working mightily in me.' And again: 'He who was at work in Peter for the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles' (Galatians 2:8). But how he leaves nothing to ministers apart from God is clear from other passages: 'He who plants is nothing, and he who waters is nothing, but God who causes the growth' (1 Corinthians 3:7). And again: 'I labored more than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me' (1 Corinthians 15:10). We must hold firmly to those passages where God, attributing to Himself the enlightening of the mind and the renewing of the heart, declares that it would be robbery against God if any person claimed any part of either for himself. Meanwhile, if anyone comes to the ministers God has ordained and is willing to learn, he will know by the fruit that this manner of teaching was not in vain pleasing to God, and that the yoke of humility laid on the faithful was not without purpose.

As for the visible church — the one within our range of knowledge — I think what we have already said makes clear enough what judgment should be formed about it. For we have said that Scripture speaks of the church in two ways. Sometimes by 'the church' it means that church which exists truly before God, into which no one is received except those who are both the children of God by the grace of adoption and the true members of Christ by the sanctification of the Spirit. In this sense it includes not only the holy ones living on earth but all the elect throughout all ages from the beginning of the world. But more often by 'the church' it means the whole body of people scattered throughout the world who profess to worship one God and Christ, who enter His faith through baptism, who testify their unity in true doctrine and love through participation in the Supper, who agree with the Word of God, and who maintain the ministry Christ ordained for the preaching of it. In this church many hypocrites are mixed in, who have nothing of Christ except the name and outward appearance. Many are ambitious, greedy, envious, slanderous, or immoral in their lives. These are tolerated for a time — either because they cannot be convicted by the lawful process of discipline, or because the severity of discipline that ought to exist is not always consistently practiced. Therefore, just as we must believe that the church which is invisible to us is seen by God's eyes alone — so we are commanded to give respect to this church which is called a church in a human sense, and to maintain communion with it.

Therefore, as much as we need to know about it, the Lord has marked it out for us with certain signs. This is indeed the unique prerogative of God Himself — to know who are His, as we have already drawn from Paul. And to keep human presumption from going too far in this, the very course of events constantly reminds us how far His secret judgments surpass our understanding. For even those who seemed most hopeless and beyond all recovery are by His goodness called back to the right path. And those who seemed to stand firm compared with others often fall. Therefore, according to God's secret predestination — as Augustine says — there are many sheep without the fold and many wolves within. For He knows and has marked those who know neither Him nor themselves. But of those who openly bear His name, only His eyes can see who are genuinely holy without pretense, and who will endure to the end — which is the very heart of salvation. Yet on the other side, since He saw it was somewhat necessary that we should know who are to be counted His children, He has accommodated Himself to our capacity in this matter. And because certainty of the deepest kind was not necessary here, He has placed in its stead a judgment of love — by which we are to recognize as members of the church those who, through confession of faith, example of life, and participation in the sacraments, profess the same God and Christ as we do. As for knowing the full extent of the church's body — the more He knew this was necessary for our salvation, the more clearly He has marked it out for us.

Here, then, is the visible form of the church as it appears to our eyes. Wherever we see the word of God being purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ's institution, there it cannot be doubted that a church of God exists — since His promise cannot deceive: 'Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am among them' (Matthew 18:20). But to understand this clearly, we must proceed step by step. The universal church is a multitude gathered out of all nations — separated and scattered across great distances, yet united in one true doctrine of godliness and bound together by the bond of one religion. Under this universal church are contained all the particular churches established in towns and neighborhoods according to the practical needs of people. Each of these rightfully carries the name and authority of a church. And all individuals who by profession of godliness are counted members of such churches — even if in reality they are strangers to the church — belong to it in a certain sense until they are formally expelled by public judgment. Yet there is a somewhat different standard for judging individuals and for judging churches. It may happen that we encounter people we do not consider fully worthy of fellowship with the godly — yet because the church in its common judgment tolerates them and bears with them as part of Christ's body, we must treat them as brothers and count them among the faithful. We are not by this testifying that we approve them as true members of the church — we are simply leaving them in the place they hold among God's people until it is lawfully taken from them. But about the congregation as a whole we must think differently: if it has and honors the ministry of the Word and the administration of the sacraments, it without question deserves to be recognized and honored as a church, since it is certain those things are not without fruit. In this way we also preserve the unity of the universal church — which devilish spirits have always worked to tear apart — while not robbing legitimate congregations, properly ordered in their various places, of their rightful authority.

We have established the Word preached and the sacraments observed as the marks by which the church is to be recognized. These marks, wherever they exist, cannot fail to bear fruit and be blessed by God. I am not saying that fruit springs up immediately wherever the word is preached. But I am saying that wherever it is received and has a settled home, it will produce its effect. Where the preaching of the Gospel is reverently heard and the sacraments are not neglected — however things may look — there appears for that time a real and undeniable face of the church. No one may with impunity despise its authority, refuse its warnings, resist its counsel, or mock its corrections — much less depart from it and tear apart its unity. For the Lord so highly values the communion of His church that He counts as a traitor and deserter of religion anyone who stubbornly withdraws from any Christian fellowship that has the true ministry of Word and sacraments. He so honors the church's authority that when it is violated, He considers His own majesty diminished. Nor is it a small thing that the church is called the pillar and foundation of the truth and the household of God. By these words Paul declares that the church is the faithful guardian of God's truth, so that it will not perish from the world. For God willed that the preaching of His word be kept pure, and He shows Himself our Father through the church's ministry and labor — feeding us with spiritual nourishment and providing everything that serves our salvation. Nor is it a small honor that she has been chosen and set apart by Christ to be His bride — spotless and without wrinkle — the body and fullness of Him who fills all in all. It follows from this that departing from the church is a rejection of God and of Christ. All the more, then, must we guard against such wicked division. For when we set about, as far as in us lies, to bring about the ruin of God's truth, we deserve that He send down His lightning with the full force of His wrath to destroy us. No fault can be imagined more serious than defiling with wicked betrayal the marriage that the only begotten Son of God has condescended to contract with us.

Therefore let us diligently keep these marks impressed on our minds and value them as the Lord wills. For nothing does Satan strive harder to do than to take away or destroy one or both of these marks — sometimes erasing and blotting them out so that the true identity of the church is lost — other times driving them into contempt so that he can drag us away from the church through open apostasy. By his scheming it has come about that in certain past ages the pure preaching of the word has disappeared entirely. And now he works with equal persistence to overthrow the ministry, which Christ has so firmly established in the church that when it is removed, the building up of the church ceases. How dangerous — indeed how deadly — is the temptation when the thought enters our minds to separate from a congregation where the signs and marks by which the Lord has described His church are visibly present. We see, therefore, how much care is required on both sides. So that we are not deceived by a false title to the name of the church — every congregation that claims the name must be tested, as with a touchstone. If it has the Word and sacraments in the order appointed by the Lord, it will not deceive us. Let us then confidently grant it the honor due to churches. But on the other side, if it boasts itself without the Word and sacraments, we must be no less afraid of such deceptions than we must flee from rashness and pride on the other extreme.

When we say that the pure ministry of the word and the proper administration of the sacraments are a sufficient pledge and guarantee — so that we may safely embrace as a church any fellowship where both are present — this extends so far that the church should never be abandoned as long as these two things remain, even if it is full of many other faults. Some faultiness may creep in — either in the teaching of doctrine or in the administration of the sacraments — but this should not separate us from communion with it. Not all points of true doctrine are equally essential. Some are so necessary that they must be certain and beyond question for everyone, as the fundamental principles of religion. Among these are: that there is one God; that Christ is God and the Son of God; that our salvation rests on God's mercy; and things of that kind. There are others that may be disputed between churches without breaking the unity of faith. For example, if two churches differ on one point — one holding that souls fly up to heaven immediately at death, while the other dares to determine nothing about the location but holds with certainty that they live to the Lord — this need not break their fellowship, provided there is no contentious arguing or stubborn insisting. The apostle's words are: 'Let all of us who are mature think the same way. But if you think differently about anything, God will also reveal that to you' (Philippians 3:15). Does he not clearly show that diversity of opinion on matters not essential to salvation should not be a cause of division among Christians? It is indeed the ideal that we agree on all things. But since no one is entirely free from some cloud of ignorance, we must either abandon all churches, or we must forgive error in matters that can be mistaken without destroying the heart of religion or losing salvation. I am not defending errors, however small, or suggesting they should be coddled with flattery and willful blindness. I am saying we should not rashly desert the church for every minor disagreement, as long as the doctrine on which salvation rests remains safe and sound, and the sacraments are maintained as the Lord instituted them. In the meantime, if we work to correct what troubles us, we are doing our duty. This is the point of Paul's instruction: 'If something better is revealed to one who is sitting, let the first one be silent' (1 Corinthians 14:30). This makes clear that every member of the church is charged, according to the measure of their grace, with contributing to public edification — but in a fitting and orderly way. That means neither abandoning the communion of the church nor, while remaining in it, disturbing its peace and ordered discipline.

In bearing with the weakness of people's lives, our patience must go much further. This is a very slippery place to fall, and here Satan lays traps for us with great cunning. There have always been some who, filled with a false confidence in their own perfect holiness — as if they had already become pure spiritual beings — despised the company of all other people in whom they saw any trace of human weakness. Such in ancient times were the Cathari, and the Donatists who were equally fanatical. Such today are some of the Anabaptists, who think they have advanced beyond all others. There are others who err not from mad pride but from an undiscriminating zeal for righteousness. When they see that the fruit of a changed life does not match the Gospel preaching among those who have heard it, they immediately conclude that no church exists there. This is indeed a most just grievance, and one we in this deeply troubled age give far too much cause for. Our disgraceful laziness is not excusable — and the Lord will not leave it unpunished, as He has already begun to discipline it with severe strokes. Woe to us, then, who by our dissolute and wicked behavior wound the consciences of the weak. But those I have been describing also err — because they cannot moderate their displeasure. Where the Lord requires gentleness, they abandon it and give themselves over to a boundless severity. Because they believe no church exists where there is not complete purity of life, their hatred of sin drives them to depart from the legitimate church, thinking they are escaping from a company of the wicked. They argue that the church of Christ is holy. But let them hear what Christ Himself says: the church is like a net in which fish of every kind are gathered together, and they are not sorted until they are laid out on shore. Let them hear that it is like a field sown with good grain which the enemy secretly sows with weeds — and it is not cleared until the harvest is brought to the threshing floor. Finally, let them hear that it is like a threshing floor, where the wheat lies hidden under the chaff until it is cleaned by the winnowing fork and stored in the barn. If the Lord declares that the church will be troubled until the day of judgment by this problem — the mixing in of evil people — then seeking a church completely free from every stain is a futile pursuit.

But they cry out that it is intolerable for the plague of vice to spread so widely. What if the apostle's own words answer them here? Among the Corinthians, not just a few had gone astray — the infection had in a sense taken over the whole body. There was not one kind of sin but many. These were not minor offenses but horrible and outrageous acts. And the corruption affected not just their behavior but also their doctrine. What does the holy apostle — the instrument of the Holy Spirit, by whose testimony the church stands or falls — say in this situation? Does he demand separation from them? Does he expel them from the kingdom of Christ? Does he strike them with the harshest curse imaginable? He does none of these things. He both acknowledges and calls it a church of Christ and a fellowship of the saints. If a church can remain among the Corinthians — where factions, divisions, and bitter rivalries were boiling over; where quarreling and greed were commonplace; where a sin was openly tolerated that was considered shameful even among pagans; where Paul's name was being slandered by those who should have honored him as their father; where some were denying the resurrection of the dead, the collapse of which would bring down the entire Gospel; where the gifts of God were being used to feed pride rather than love; where many things were done indecently and out of order — if even there a church remains because the ministry of Word and sacraments was not rejected, then who dares to strip the name of church from those who cannot even be charged with a tenth part of these faults? Those who deal so harshly and rigidly with the churches of today — what would they have done with the Galatians, who had nearly altogether abandoned the Gospel, yet among whom the same apostle still recognized churches?

They also object that Paul sharply rebukes the Corinthians for tolerating a flagrant sinner in their midst, and then pronounces a general verdict that it is not even lawful to eat a meal with someone living in open dishonor. They cry out: if it is not lawful to share a common meal, how can it be lawful to share the Lord's table with such people? I grant that it is a serious disgrace for pigs and dogs to have a place among the children of God, and a far greater disgrace for the holy body of Christ to be given to them. If churches are well ordered, they will not tolerate openly wicked people in their fellowship, and will not indiscriminately admit both the worthy and the unworthy to that holy feast. But pastors do not always watch as diligently as they should — sometimes they are more lenient than they ought to be, or are hindered in applying the discipline they would like to apply. As a result, even those who are openly wicked are not always removed from the company of the saints. I grant that this is a fault, and I will not minimize it, since Paul rebukes it so sharply in the Corinthians. But even when the church falls short in its duty, it does not immediately become the right of every private individual to take judgment into their own hands and make the separation themselves. I do not deny that it is proper for a godly person to withdraw from the personal company of evil individuals and not to entangle themselves in willful familiarity with them. But there is a difference between avoiding the company of evil people and abandoning the communion of the church out of hatred for them. And when they say it is sacrilege to share the Lord's bread with unworthy people, they are being far more rigorous than Paul himself is. For when Paul calls us to partake in a holy and pure manner, he does not require us to examine one another, or for each person to examine the whole church — only that each person examine himself. If it were unlawful to share communion with any unworthy person, Paul would surely have told us to look carefully around the assembly to check whether anyone's uncleanness might defile us. But since he only calls each person to examine himself, he shows that we are not harmed if some unworthy person thrusts themselves in among us. This is precisely the meaning of what Paul says next: 'He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself' (1 Corinthians 11:29). He says 'to himself' — not 'to others.' And rightly so. For it is not the decision of any individual to determine who is to be received and who rejected. That knowledge belongs to the whole church and cannot be exercised without proper order, as we will discuss more fully later. Therefore it would be wrong for any private person to be tainted by another's unworthiness, when he neither can nor should have kept that person from coming.

Although this temptation of undiscriminating zeal for righteousness sometimes enters into genuinely good people — we will find that, more often, excessive strictness grows from pride, contempt for others, and a false opinion of one's own holiness, rather than from true holiness and genuine zeal. Therefore those who lead the charge and become standard-bearers for separation from the church usually do so for no other reason than to boast of their own superiority by despising everyone else. Augustine speaks wisely and well on this point: 'Godly order and manner of church discipline ought above all else to have regard for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace — which the apostle commanded to be kept by bearing with one another. When this is not kept, the medicine of rebuke is proved not only unnecessary but also harmful, and therefore no medicine at all. These troublesome children — who are not moved by hatred of others' wickedness but by love of their own quarreling, who greedily work to draw away or at least divide the weak common people by boasting of their own name — are swollen with pride, mad with stubbornness, treacherous in slander, and troublesome with their rebellions. To avoid looking as though they lack the light of truth, they put on a show of harsh severity. And the things that Scripture commands to be done with a gentler kind of healing — preserving the sincerity of love and keeping the unity of peace, for the correction of a brother's faults — they twist into the sacrilege of schism and into occasions for cutting off.' But to the godly and peaceable he gives this counsel: mercifully correct what you can, patiently bear what you cannot, and groan and mourn with love until God either amends them or at the harvest uproots the tares and fans out the chaff. Let the godly arm themselves with these weapons — otherwise, while they imagine themselves to be bold and courageous avengers of righteousness, they may find themselves departing from the kingdom of heaven, which is the only kingdom of true righteousness. For since God wills the communion of His church to be maintained in this outward fellowship, whoever breaks the sign of that fellowship out of hatred for evil people sets their foot on a path that leads to a slippery fall from the communion of the saints. Let them consider that in any large gathering there are many truly holy and innocent people before the Lord's eyes that they themselves cannot see. Let them consider that even among those who are sick in their lives, many take no pleasure or comfort in their sins, but are periodically awakened by a genuine fear of God and press toward a greater uprightness. Let them consider that a person should not be judged by a single act, since even the holiest sometimes fall in the most grievous way. Let them consider that in forming a church, the ministry of the Word and participation in the holy sacraments carry more weight than can be undone by the fault of a few wicked people. Finally, let them consider that in judging the church, God's judgment carries more weight than human judgment.

When they also claim that the church is not wrongly called holy, it is fitting to weigh carefully what kind of holiness it possesses — otherwise, if we will accept no church except one that is perfect in every respect, we will be left with no church at all. It is true, as Paul says, that Christ gave Himself for the church to sanctify it, cleansing it with the washing of water through the word of life, so as to present it to Himself as a glorious bride without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:25-27). But it is equally true that the Lord is daily at work smoothing her wrinkles and wiping away her spots. It follows from this that her holiness is not yet complete. Therefore the church is holy in the sense that she is daily making progress, not yet perfect — daily moving forward, not yet arrived at the goal of holiness. This will be discussed more fully elsewhere. When the prophets prophesy of a holy Jerusalem through which no outsider will pass, and a holy temple into which no unclean person will enter — we should not take this to mean there is no spot in the members of the church. Rather, because with their whole effort they press toward holiness and pure integrity, God by His goodness credits them with the cleanness they have not yet fully attained. And although clear marks of such sanctification may often be rare among people, we must be certain of this: there has been no time since creation when the Lord has not had His church, and there will be no time until the very end of the world when He will not have it. For although from the very beginning the whole human race is corrupted and defiled by Adam's sin — out of this polluted mass God always sanctifies certain vessels for honor, so that no age is left without some experience of His mercy. This He has confirmed through certain promises: 'I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David My servant: I will establish your descendants forever' (Psalm 89:3-4). Again: 'The Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling. This is My resting place forever' (Psalm 132:13-14). Again: 'This is what the Lord says, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and stars for light by night. If this fixed order departs from before Me, then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever' (Jeremiah 31:35-36).

Christ Himself, the apostles, and nearly all the prophets have given us examples of this. The descriptions are devastating in which Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Habakkuk, and others lament the sickness of the church in Jerusalem. Among the common people, the rulers, and the priests, everything was so corrupt that Isaiah did not hesitate to compare Jerusalem with Sodom and Gomorrah. Religion was partly despised and partly corrupted. Their way of life was marked by theft, extortion, betrayal, murder, and similar evils. Yet even so, the prophets did not set up new churches for themselves or build new altars where they might offer separate sacrifices. Whatever the character of the people around them, the prophets recognized that God had left His word among them and had ordained the ceremonies by which He was worshipped there — and so in the midst of the assembly of the wicked they lifted up pure hands to Him. Truly, if they had thought they were contracting any defilement from this, they would sooner have died a hundred deaths than allowed themselves to be brought to it. Nothing, then, kept them from leaving except their desire to preserve unity. If the prophets thought it a violation of conscience to separate from the church on account of many great and widespread wickednesses — not of one or two individuals but of almost the entire people — then we are going far beyond our authority if we dare to immediately depart from the communion of the church merely because not everyone's conduct satisfies our judgment or even the standard of the Christian profession.

What kind of world existed in the time of Christ and the apostles? The desperate ungodliness of the Pharisees and the widespread moral licentiousness of that age could not prevent Christ and the apostles from sharing the same ceremonies with the people and gathering with the rest in the temple for public worship. Why? Because they knew that fellowship with evil people did not defile them when they participated in the same ceremonies with a pure conscience. If someone is little moved by the example of the prophets and apostles, let him at least obey the authority of Christ. Cyprian says it well: even when tares or unclean vessels are visible in the church, there is no reason to depart from it. We should instead labor to be wheat. We should strive as much as we can to be vessels of gold or silver. But smashing the earthen vessels belongs to the Lord alone, to whom the iron rod has been given. Let no one claim for himself what belongs properly only to the Son — to winnow the threshing floor alone, to separate the chaff, and to judge out all the tares by human decision. That is arrogant stubbornness and sacrilegious presumption, which a perverse spirit takes upon itself. Therefore let both of these stand firm. First: whoever willfully forsakes the outward communion of a church where the Word of God is preached and the sacraments administered has no excuse. Second: the faults of a few or even of many are not a sufficient reason to prevent us from rightly professing our faith in the ceremonies God has instituted. A godly conscience is not hurt by the unworthiness of any other person — whether pastor or layperson — and the sacraments remain pure and wholesome to a holy and upright person even when handled alongside unclean ones.

But their strictness and contempt go even further. They acknowledge no church unless it is entirely free from any spot or blemish, however small. They are even angry with good teachers for encouraging the faithful throughout their lives to press forward, to groan under the burden of their remaining sins, and to flee to God's pardon. They claim that this kind of teaching leads people away from perfection. I grant that we should not press slowly or coldly toward perfection, let alone be idle in the pursuit. But to fill our minds with the confidence of having already arrived while we are still running the race — that, I say, is a devilish invention. Therefore in the Creed the forgiveness of sins is fittingly placed right after the church. For only those who are citizens and members of God's household receive it, as the prophet declares. The building of the heavenly Jerusalem must therefore come first, so that God's mercy may operate within it — so that whoever comes to it may have their iniquity removed. I say it must come first not because the church can exist without forgiveness of sins, but because the Lord has promised His mercy only within the communion of the saints. The first entry for us into the church and kingdom of God is therefore the forgiveness of sins — without which we have no covenant or fellowship with God. For thus God says through the prophet: 'In that day I will also make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the sky, and the creeping things of the ground. I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and will let them lie down in safety. I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion' (Hosea 2:18-19). We see here how by His mercy the Lord reconciles us to Himself. And so in another place, when foretelling the gathering again of the people He had scattered in His wrath, He says: 'I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me' (Jeremiah 33:8). Therefore we enter the fellowship of the church through the sign of washing — which teaches us that there is no entry into the household of God for us unless our filthiness is first wiped away by His goodness.

But through the forgiveness of sins the Lord does not merely receive and adopt us into the church once — He also preserves and maintains us in it by the same means. What good would such a pardon be if it served no ongoing purpose? Every godly person knows in his own conscience that God's mercy would be empty and meaningless if granted only once — for there is no one who throughout his whole life is not privately aware of many weaknesses that need God's mercy. And it is not without reason that God promises this grace specifically to those of His own household, and not without reason that He commands the message of reconciliation to be offered to them daily. Therefore, as long as we carry the remnants of sin throughout our lives, unless we are sustained by the Lord's continual grace in forgiving our sins, we would scarcely remain in the church for a single moment. But the Lord has called His own to eternal salvation. They should therefore know that pardon is always ready for their sins. We must hold firmly that by God's generosity — through Christ's merit and the sanctification of the Spirit — sins have been and continue to be daily forgiven to us who have been called and grafted into the body of the church.

The keys were given to the church to distribute this benefit to us. For when Christ gave the apostles authority to forgive sins, He did not mean only that they should absolve those who converted from unbelief to faith in Christ — He meant that they should continually exercise this office among the faithful. Paul teaches this when he writes that the ministry of reconciliation was entrusted to the ministers of the church, so that they might frequently urge the people in Christ's name to be reconciled to God. Therefore in the communion of saints, sins are continually forgiven through the ministry of the church itself — when the pastors and bishops entrusted with this office confirm the consciences of the godly in hope of pardon through the promises of the Gospel. This takes place both publicly and privately, as the need arises. For there are many who in their weakness need a more personal form of assurance. Paul reports that he testified faith in Christ and individually instructed each person in the doctrine of salvation not only in public preaching but also in people's homes. Three things, then, are to be noted here. First: however great the holiness with which God's children may excel, as long as they dwell in a mortal body they are always in such a condition that without forgiveness of sins they cannot stand before God. Second: this benefit is so proper to the church that we cannot enjoy it apart from remaining in its communion. Third: it is distributed to us through ministers and pastors, either by preaching of the Gospel or by administering the sacraments. It is here above all that the power of the keys — which the Lord has given to the fellowship of the faithful — appears most clearly. Therefore let each of us understand it to be our duty to seek forgiveness of sins nowhere except where the Lord has placed it. We will speak of public reconciliation as it belongs to church discipline in the proper place.

But since those fanatical spirits I have spoken of are trying to tear away from the church this one anchor of salvation, consciences must be all the more strongly guarded against such a poisonous opinion. The Novatians troubled the church in ancient times with this teaching. And our own age has produced many among the Anabaptists who are not much different from the Novatians and fall into the same folly. They imagine that God's people are regenerated at baptism into a pure and angelic life, completely free from the corruption of the flesh. But if someone sins after baptism, they leave him nothing but the inescapable judgment of God. In short, they grant no hope of pardon to a sinner who falls after receiving grace — for they acknowledge no forgiveness of sins other than the one by which we are first regenerated. Although no error is more plainly refuted by Scripture, these people still find some whom they can deceive — just as Novatus in ancient times had many followers. Let us briefly show what madness this is, both for themselves and for those they deceive. First: by the Lord's command, the holy ones daily repeat this prayer: 'Forgive us our debts.' In doing so they are confessing themselves to be debtors. They do not ask in vain, because the Lord has always appointed to be asked only what He Himself is willing to give. And though He promised that the whole prayer would be heard by His Father, He has also confirmed this particular petition with a special promise. What more do we need? The Lord requires from His holy ones a continual confession of sins throughout their entire lives — and promises pardon. What arrogance, then, either to declare them free from sin or, if they have stumbled, to shut them out entirely from grace? Whom does He tell us to forgive seventy times seven times? Is it not our brothers? And why did He command this except that we should follow His own example of mercy? He forgives, therefore, not once or twice — but as often as, crushed under the weight of their sins, His people turn to Him and cry out.

But to begin, in a sense, from the very cradle of the church — the patriarchs were circumcised, drawn into the covenant, and without question instructed in righteousness and innocence by their fathers' diligence. Yet they conspired to murder their brother Joseph — a wickedness that even the most hardened criminals would abhor. They were eventually persuaded by Judah's arguments to sell him instead — but that too was a monstrous crime. Simeon and Levi took wicked vengeance on the Shechemites, an act condemned even by their own father's judgment. Reuben defiled his father's bed with the most shameful lust. Judah, when he sought to commit fornication — even against the law of nature — went in to his son's wife. Yet far from being cut off from the chosen people, these men were elevated to become its heads. And what of David? When he was a ruler who was supposed to uphold justice, with what terrible wickedness did he shed innocent blood to satisfy his blind desire? He was already regenerate, and among the regenerate he had been adorned with outstanding praises from the Lord. Yet he committed that terrible offense that is shocking even among unbelievers — and still he obtained pardon. And to avoid dwelling on individual examples — how many promises are there in the law and the prophets of God's mercy toward the Israelites, proving again and again that the Lord shows Himself willing to be appeased over the sins of His people. What does Moses promise will happen when the people, having fallen into apostasy, return to the Lord? 'The Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where He has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there He will gather you' (Deuteronomy 30:3-4).

But I will not begin a recounting that would never end, for the prophets are full of such promises that hold out mercy to people covered in endless wickedness. What sin is more shameful than faithless rebellion? It is described as a kind of divorce between God and the church. But even this is overcome by God's goodness. What man, God asks through Jeremiah, if his wife gave herself to adulterers, would take her back again? Yet you have played the harlot with many lovers. All the roads have been polluted with your fornications. The earth has been filled with your shameless loves. 'But return to Me and I will receive you. Return, you wayward one — I will not turn My face from you, for I am gracious and will not be angry forever' (Jeremiah 3:1,12). And He could not be otherwise minded, since He has declared that He takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner but desires that he turn and live. When Solomon dedicated the temple, he appointed it for precisely this use — that prayers for forgiveness of sins would be heard from there. 'If Your sons sin against You,' he prayed, 'for there is no man who does not sin — and You are angry with them and deliver them to their enemies, and they take it to heart in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and implore You in their captivity saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong — if they pray toward the land You gave to their fathers and toward this temple, then hear their prayer from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people who have sinned against You' (1 Kings 8:46-50). And it was not without purpose that the Lord in the law ordained daily sacrifices for sins. For if the Lord had not foreseen that His people would be continually troubled by the disease of sin, He would never have appointed these remedies for them.

Was this benefit taken away from the faithful by the coming of Christ — in whom the fullness of grace was displayed — so that they dare no longer pray for the forgiveness of sins? So that if they offend the Lord they can obtain no mercy? What would this be but to say that Christ came for the destruction of His own, not their salvation — if the mercy of God in pardoning sins, which throughout the Old Testament was continually available to the holy ones, is now said to have been completely taken away? But if we believe the Scriptures, which cry out plainly that in Christ alone the grace and kindness of the Lord has fully appeared — that an abundance of mercy has been poured out and the reconciliation of God and humanity has been accomplished — then we should not doubt that an even richer mercy flows to us from the heavenly Father, not cut off or diminished. And examples are not lacking. Peter had heard that whoever denied Christ before men would be denied before the angels of God — and yet he denied Him three times in a single night, with curses. Yet he was not cut off from pardon. Those who had been living disorderly among the Thessalonians are rebuked — but still gently called to repentance. Even Simon the Magician himself is not left in despair, but is rather urged to hope for better when Peter counsels him to turn to prayer.

Indeed, the most shameful sins have at times taken hold of entire churches — and Paul gently drew them out of these sins rather than pronouncing them cursed. The falling away of the Galatians was no small offense. The Corinthians were even less excusable, having committed more numerous and no lighter sins — yet neither was excluded from God's mercy. Even those who had sinned most openly in impurity, fornication, and unchastity are specifically called to repentance. For the covenant of the Lord remains, and will remain forever inviolable — the covenant He solemnly made with Christ the true Solomon and His members in these words: 'If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they violate My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not remove My lovingkindness from him' (Psalm 89:30-33). Finally, the very order of the Creed teaches us that in the church of Christ there remains continual forgiveness of sins — for after the church is established, forgiveness of sins is immediately added.

Some who are somewhat wiser, seeing how plainly Scripture refutes the teaching of Novatus, do not make every sin unforgivable — only deliberate transgressions of the law, those committed knowingly and willingly. Those who say this grant pardon only to sins committed in ignorance. But when the Lord in the law commanded one kind of sacrifice for cleansing the willful sins of the faithful and another kind for cleansing sins of ignorance — how great an outrage is it to grant no cleansing for willful sin? Nothing is more plain, I say, than that the one sacrifice of Christ avails to forgive the willful sins of the saints — for the Lord testified this through the carnal sacrifices as through signs. And besides — who can excuse David by ignorance, when it is obvious he was thoroughly instructed in the law? Did David not know how serious were the crimes of adultery and murder, when he was punishing those same offenses in others every day? Did the patriarchs think killing their brother was permissible? Had the Corinthians profited so little from their teaching that they thought lust, impurity, sexual immorality, hatred, and quarreling pleased God? After being warned so carefully, did Peter not know what a serious thing it was to deny his master? Therefore let us not, by our own harsh spirit, shut the door against the mercy of God that so generously offers itself to us.

I am aware that the ancient writers explained the sins that are daily forgiven to the faithful as the minor failings that creep in through the weakness of the flesh — and they held that the solemn repentance once required for serious crimes could no more be repeated than baptism could be. This should not be understood as if they were either pushing those who fell again after their first repentance into despair, or minimizing those other sins as though they were trivial before God. They knew full well that the saints sometimes stumble through unbelief, that careless oaths sometimes slip from them, that they are sometimes stirred to anger, that they even break out into open insults — and that besides these they are troubled by other evils that the Lord does not take lightly. But they used this distinction to differentiate these failings from the public crimes that came to the church's attention with great scandal. When they were so reluctant to grant restoration to those who had committed something worthy of church discipline, they did not do this because they thought such people could barely obtain pardon from the Lord. Rather, they used this severity to deter others from recklessly rushing into wicked conduct, for which they might be cut off from the communion of the church. However, the Word of God — which ought to be our only rule here — calls for a greater moderation than this. For it teaches that the rigor of discipline should never be stretched so far that the one it is meant above all to help is instead overwhelmed with grief — as we have already explained more fully elsewhere.