increase in number; and their temporal regime lies as far beneath as the regime of the spiritual tyrants.  Faith is a matter concerning which each one is responsible for himself; for as little as one man can go to heaven or hell for me, so little can he believe or not believe for me; and as little as he can open or close heaven or hell for me, so little can he drive me to belief or unbelief.  We have the saying from St. Augustine:  ‘No one can or should be compelled to believe.’  The blind and miserable people do not see what a vain and impossible thing they undertake; for, however imperiously they command, and however hard they drive, they cannot force people any farther than they follow with their mouth and the hand.  They cannot compel the heart, though they should break it.  For true is the maxim:  Gedanken sind zollfrei. (No toll is levied on thought.) When weak consciences are driven by force to lie, deceive, and say otherwise than they believe in the heart, they burden themselves also with a heavy sin; for all the lies and false witness given by such weak consciences rest upon him who forces them.

“Christ Himself clearly recognized and concisely stated this truth when He said:  ’Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s’ (Matt. 22, 21).  Now, when imperial authority stretches itself over into God’s kingdom and authority and does not keep within its own separate jurisdiction, this discrimination between the two realms has not been made.  For the soul is not under authority of the emperor.  He can neither teach nor guide it, neither kill it nor give it life, neither bind nor loose, neither judge nor sentence, neither hold nor let alone; which necessarily would exist had he authority so to do, for they are under his jurisdiction and power.

“David long ago expressed it briefly:  ’The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth hath He given to the children of men’ (Ps. 115, 16).  That is to say, over what is on the earth and belongs to the temporal earthly kingdom, man has power from God; but what belongs to heaven and to the eternal kingdom is under the Lord of heaven alone.  But finally, this is the meaning of Peter:  ’We ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5, 29).  He here clearly marks a limit to temporal authority; for were men obliged to observe everything that civil authority wished, the command, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men,’ would have been given in vain.

“If, now, your princes or temporal lord command you to believe this or that, or to dispense with certain books, say:  ’I am under obligations to obey you with body and estate; command me within the compass of your authority on earth, and I will obey you.  Put if you command me as to belief, and order me to put away books, I will not obey, for then you become a tyrant and overreach yourself, and command where you have neither right nor power.’  If your goods are taken and your disobedience is punished, you are blessed, and you may thank God that you are worthy to suffer for God’s Word.  When a prince is in the wrong, his subjects are not under obligations to follow him, for no one is obliged to do anything against the right; but we must obey God, who desires to have the right rather than men.