Chapter 28 — Article XXVIII: Of Ecclesiastical Power
Section 1. There has been great controversy concerning the Power of Bishops, in which some have awkwardly confounded the power of the Church and the power of the sword. And from this confusion very great wars and tumults have resulted, while the Popes, emboldened by the power of the Keys, not only have instituted new services and burdened consciences with reservation of cases and ruthless excommunications, but have also undertaken to transfer the kingdoms of this world, and to take the Empire from the Emperor. These wrongs have long since been rebuked in the Church by learned and godly men. Therefore our teachers, for the comforting of men's consciences, were constrained to show the difference between the power of the Church and the power of the sword, and taught that both of them, because of God's commandment, are to be held in reverence and honor, as the chief blessings of God on earth. But this is their opinion: that the power of the Keys, or the power of the bishops, according to the Gospel, is a power or commandment of God, to preach the Gospel, to remit and retain sins, and to administer Sacraments. For with this commandment Christ sends forth His Apostles, John 20:21 sqq.: As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Mark 16:15: Go preach the Gospel to every creature. This power is exercised only by teaching or preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, according to their calling either to many or to individuals. For thereby are granted, not bodily, but eternal things, as eternal righteousness, the Holy Ghost, eternal life. These things cannot come but by the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments, as Paul says: Rom. 1:16: The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Therefore, since the power of the Church grants eternal things, and is exercised only through the ministry of the Word, it does not interfere with civil government; no more than the art of singing interferes with civil government. For civil government deals with other things than does the Gospel. The civil rulers defend not minds, but bodies and bodily things against manifest injuries, and restrain men with the sword and bodily punishments in order to preserve civil justice and peace. Therefore, the two authorities, the spiritual and the civil, are not to be mingled or confused, for the spiritual power has its commission to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments. Hence it follows that bishops as bishops (that is, as those who have charge of the ministry of the Word and Sacraments) have no command to introduce ways of worshiping God, to institute or abrogate feasts, or to make laws and canons concerning meats and beverages, vestments, and the like, except that such ordinances should be formed with the consent of the Church for the sake of good order and tranquillity. But for such ordinances there is this law, that they should not burden consciences. Now our adversaries charge us that our teachers have rent asunder the Church and have separated themselves from it. But the separation was not made by our teachers; for neither does the doctrine of our teachers require it, as is proved above, nor do our teachers desire it. Our teachers do not desire separation from the Church; they only ask that the abuses which have crept in be corrected. If this cannot be done, they are compelled to follow the Apostle, who says, Acts 5:29: We must obey God rather than men. Paul in Gal. 1:8 threatens with a curse those who teach otherwise than the Gospel. The bishops, therefore, who defend the wicked usages, sin against God and the Church, and shall have to give account to God. But if any bishop be found who is not willing to hear and to amend the abuses introduced into the church, the people may be instructed that they are not bound by human traditions which are against the Word of God. The bishops have no right to force upon men any tradition which is not founded in the Word of God, and which is contrary to the canons and the customs of the Church. As Paul says, 2 Cor. 10:8: For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed. Therefore we ask that the bishops be willing to abate the rigor which they are exercising in the matter of the administration of rites which are not necessary to salvation. If they will do this, they will show a pastoral care not only for their own people, but also for the whole Church.