from the communion; but the civil power is to intervene when
the ecclesiastical excommunication has been pronounced, and men must be
compelled to come in. For, according to the more accurate definition of
the Church which is given in the Confession of Schmalkald, and in the
Apology of the Confession of Augsburg, excommunication involves
damnation. There is no salvation to be hoped for out of the Church, and
the test of orthodoxy against the Pope, the devil, and all the world, is
the dogma of justification by faith.[211]

The defence of religion became, on this theory, not only the duty of the
civil power, but the object of its institution. Its business was solely
the coercion of those who were out of the Church. The faithful could not
be the objects of its action; they did of their own accord more than any
laws required. "A good tree," says Luther, "brings forth good fruit by
nature, without compulsion; is it not madness to prescribe laws to an
apple-tree that it shall bear apples and not thorns?"[212] This view
naturally proceeded from the axiom of the certainty of the salvation of
all who believe in the Confession of Augsburg.[213] It is the most
important element in Luther's political system, because, while it made
all Protestant governments despotic, it led to the rejection of the
authority of Catholic governments. This is the point where Protestant
and Catholic intolerance meet. If the State were instituted to promote
the faith, no obedience could be due to a State of a different faith.
Protestants could not conscientiously be faithful subjects of Catholic
Powers, and they could not therefore be tolerated. Misbelievers would
have no rights under an orthodox State, and a misbelieving prince would
have no authority over orthodox subjects. The more, therefore, Luther
expounded the guilt of resistance and the Divine sanction of authority,
the more subversive his influence became in Catholic countries. His
system was alike revolutionary, whether he defied the Catholic powers or
promoted a Protestant tyranny. He had no notion of political right. He
found no authority for such a claim in the New Testament, and he held
that righteousness does not need to exhibit itself in works.

It was the same helpless dependence on the letter of Scripture which led
the reformers to consequences more subversive of Christian morality than
their views on questions of polity. When Carlstadt cited the Mosaic law
in defence of polygamy, Luthe