fed. For none can be
obedient to Christ in one thing, without being obedient in all,
as St. James says [Jas. 2:10]. Now is that not a fine Church
under the Roman authority, where there are no sinners at all and
naught but saints! But what becomes of the poor indulgence, if
no one needs it any more in the Roman fellowship?[72] What
becomes of the father confessor? How shall the world be robbed,
if penance disappears? Nay, what becomes of the keys if they are
no longer needed? But if there are still sinners among them, they
must go unfed and be disobedient to Christ.

What do you say to this, my good Romanists? Come now and pipe
your lay. Do you not see that "feeding" must mean something else
than having authority, and "being fed" something else than being
externally subject to the Roman power, and how utterly senseless
it is to cite the saying of Christ, "Feed My sheep," in order to
strengthen Roman authority and its external unity or fellowship!

[Sidenote: Feeding and Loving]

Christ also says, "He that loveth Me, keepeth My word; he that
loveth Me not, keepeth not My words." Prick up your ears at this,
my dear Romanists. Ye boast that the word of Christ, "Feed My
sheep," [John 14:23] is a command and word of Christ. Let us ask,
then, where are they who keep it? You say, even the knaves and
rogues keep it. Christ says no one keepeth it, except he love and
be a righteous man. Now come to some agreement with Christ in
this matter, so that we may know if you or He is to be charged
with lying. Therefore, the pope who loves not, and is not
righteous, does not "feed the sheep," and does not keep Christ's
word: neither is he a pope, nor has he authority, nor anything at
all that is included in the term "feeding the sheep." For Christ
stands immovable, and says, "He that loveth Me not, keepeth not
My word"; nor does such a one perform any "feeding of sheep,"
i. e., he is no pope at all, as they explain it. Thus it comes
that the same passages which are cited in its favor are against
the papacy; a just retribution for those who treat the holy Word
of God in sheer madness, as though it were fool's talk, and who
would make out of it what they please.

Perhaps you might reply, that a subject can be obedient to
temporal authority even if that authority were not righteous; why
should one not be obedient to the pope's authority? Therefore to
"feed," or to "be fed," must not necessarily include the idea of
obedience. Answer: Th