"Whoever would not go astray should therefore hold fast to this, that the church is a spiritual assembly of souls in one faith and that nobody is reckoned a Christian for his body's sake. Thus one will know that the true, real, right essential church is a spiritual thing and not anything external or outward, by whatever name it may be called. For a non-Christian may have all those other things but they will never make him a Christian without true faith, which alone makes Christians. It is on this account that we are called Christian believers, and on Pentecost we sing:
'Now let us pray to the Holy Ghost For the true faith of all things the most.'
It is in this way, and never in any other, that the Holy Scriptures speak of the holy church and of Christendom . . . . The name 'spiritual estate' is given primarily to the bishops, priests, and monks, not on account of their faith, which they perhaps do not have, but because they have been consecrated with an external anointing, wear crowns, use a distinctive garb, make special prayers and do special works, external matters of worship. But violence is done to the word 'spiritual' or to the word 'church' when it is used for such external affairs. These words are concerned only with the faith which, working in the soul, makes right and true spiritual person and Christians. Yet this manner of using these words has spread everywhere, to the great injury and perversion of many souls who think that such outward show is the spiritual and only true estate in Christendom or the church." - Martin Luther, The Papacy in Rome
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