aces the true believers
in Christ are a unit. Among those who by faith have "put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him,
there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free; but Christ is all, and in all"
(Col. 3, 10. 11). This is the true Catholic, that is, universal, Church.
The visible society which has usurped this name never was, nor is
to-day, the universal Church. Before Protestantism arose, there was the
Eastern Church, which has maintained a separate organization. This holy
Christian Church is indestructible, because the Word of Christ, which is
its bond, shall never pass away, and Christ rules even in the midst of
His enemies. Visible church organizations are valuable only in as far as
they shelter, and are nurseries of, the invisible Church. Luther never
conceived the idea of founding a visible organization more powerful than
the Catholic; he did not mean to pit one ecclesiastical body of men
against another. His single aim was to restore the purity of teaching
and the right administration of the Sacraments in accordance with the
Scriptures. That his followers were named after him, we have shown not
to be Luther's fault: Luther did not form a Church, but reformed the
Church; he did not establish a new creed, but reestablished the old. The
visible society of Lutherans to-day does not regard itself as the
alone-saving Church, or as immune from error, or as infallible, but it
does claim to be the Church of the pure Word and Sacraments. It knows
that it is one in faith with all the children of God throughout the
world and in all ages.

20. Luther on the God-Given Supremacy of the Pope.

In the opinion of Catholics Luther's greatest offense is what he has
done to their Pope. This is Luther's unpardonable sin. Luther has done
two things to the Pope: he has denied that the Pope exists by divine
right, and he has in the most scurrilous manner spoken and written about
the Pope and made his vaunted dignity the butt of universal ridicule.
The indictment is true, but when the facts are stated, it will be seen
to recoil on the heads of those who have drawn it.

Luther denies that Matt. 16, 18. 19 establishes the papacy in the Church
of Christ. He denies that this text creates a one-man power in the
Church, that it vests one individual with a sovereign jurisdiction over
the spiritual affairs of all other men, making him the