rly offensive to Catholics to see Luther hailed as the champion
of political liberty. Let us try and make up our minds about Luther's
views of the secular government from Luther's own words. Dr. Waring, in
his _Political Theories of Luther,_ has made a very serviceable
collection of statements of Luther on this matter.

"In his tract on Secular Authority (10, 374 ff.) Luther maintains that
the State exists by God's will and institution; for the Apostle Paul
writes: 'Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is
no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever
therefore resisteth the power resiseth [tr. note: sic] the ordinance of
God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation' (Rom.
13, 1. 2). The Apostle Peter exhorts: 'Submit yourselves to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king, as
supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well' (1
Pet. 2, 13. 14). The right of the sword has existed since the beginning
of the world. When Cain killed his brother Abel, he was so fearful of
being put to death himself that God laid a special prohibition thereupon
that no one should kill him, which fear he would not have had, had he
not seen and heard from Adam that murderers should be put to death.
Further, after the Flood, God repeated and confirmed it in explicit
language, when He declared: 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed' (Gen. 9, 6). This law was ratified later by the law
of Moses: 'But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay
him with guile, thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die'
(Ex. 21, 14); and yet again: 'Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for
wound, stripe for stripe' (Ex. 21, 23-25). Christ confirmed it also when
He said to Peter in the garden: 'All they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword' (Matt. 26, 52). The words of Christ: 'But I say
unto you, That ye resist not evil' (Matt. 5, 38. 39), 'Love your
enemies, . . . do good to them that hate you' (Matt. 5, 44), and similar
passages, having great weight, might seem to indicate that Christians
under the Gospel should not have a worldly sword; but the human race is
to be divided into two classes, one belonging to the kingdom of God and
the other to the kingdom of the world.