ther Agust.
Vuittenberg." 50 leaves, quarto, last page blank.

[18] For titles of these editions see _Weimar Ed._, vi, 281.

[19] Luther in this tractate aims beyond the "undersized scribe
of the barefoot friars at Leipzig," at the "brave and great
flag-bearers who remain in hiding, and would win a notable
victory in another's name," namely Prierias, Cajetan, Eck, Emser
and the Universities of Cologne and Louvaine. Luther uses the
epithet quoted above in one of his letters to Spalatin.

[20] "I welcome the opportunity to explain something of the
nature of Christianity for the laity."

[21] "I must first of all explain what these things mean, the
Church, and the One Head of the Church."

[22] "On this point we must hear the word of Christ, Who, when
Pilate asked Him concerning His Kingdom answered, My Kingdom is
not of this world. This is indeed a clear passage in which the
Church is made separate from all temporal communities. Is not
this a cruel error, when one places the Christian Church,
separated by Christ Himself from temporal cities and places, and
transferred to spiritual realms, is made a part of material
communities?"

"No hope is left on earth except in the temporal."

[23] Among many things that Luther says on this point are the
following: "According to the Scriptures the Church is called the
assembly of all the believers in Christ upon the earth. This
community consists of all those who live in true faith, hope and
love, so that the essence, life and nature of the Church is not a
bodily assembly, but an assembly of the hearts in one faith.
Thus, though they be a thousand miles apart in body, they are yet
called an assembly in spirit, because each one preaches,
believes, hopes, loves, and lives like the other. So we sing of
the Holy Ghost: 'Thou, Who through diverse tongues gatherest
together the nations in the unity of the faith.' That means
spiritual unity. And this unity is of itself sufficient to make a
Church, and without it no unity, be it of place, of time, of
person, of work, or of whatever else, makes a Church."

"A man is not reckoned a member of the Church according to his
body, but according to his soul, nay, according to his faith...It
is plain that the Church can be classed with a temporal community
as little as spirits with bodies. Whosoever would not go astray
should therefore hold fast to this, that the Church is a
spiritual assembly of souls in one faith, that no one is reckoned