Therefore it is an open and blasphemous lie against the Holy Ghost to say that the external unity under Roman authority is the fulfillment of a divine commandment, since there are so many in that unity who neither regard nor fulfill any of the Divine commandments. Hence, to be in this place or that, does not make a heretic: but to be without true faith makes a man a heretic.
Again, it is clear that to be a member of the Roman communion does not mean to be in true faith, and to be outside of it does not mean to be in unbelief; otherwise those within it would all be believers and truly saved, for no one article of faith is believed without all the other articles.
Therefore all those who make the Christian communion a material and outward thing, like other communities, are in reality Jews (for the Jews likewise wait for their Messiah to establish an external kingdom at a certain definite place, namely, Jerusalem), and thus sacrifice the faith, which alone makes the kingdom of Christ a thing spiritual and of the heart.
- M. L., AN ANSWER TO THE CELEBRATED ROMANIST AT LEIPZIG
Again, it is clear that to be a member of the Roman communion does not mean to be in true faith, and to be outside of it does not mean to be in unbelief; otherwise those within it would all be believers and truly saved, for no one article of faith is believed without all the other articles.
Therefore all those who make the Christian communion a material and outward thing, like other communities, are in reality Jews (for the Jews likewise wait for their Messiah to establish an external kingdom at a certain definite place, namely, Jerusalem), and thus sacrifice the faith, which alone makes the kingdom of Christ a thing spiritual and of the heart.
- M. L., AN ANSWER TO THE CELEBRATED ROMANIST AT LEIPZIG