the Word; which Word, you say, is an external sign and mark that
findeth the Spirit, which already and before possesseth the heart.
Insomuch, according to your falsities, that if the Word findeth not
the Spirit, but an ungodly person, then it is not God's Word;
whereby you define and hold the Word, not according to God who
speaketh it, but according as people do entertain and receive it.
You will only grant that such is God's Word which purifieth and
bringeth peace and life; but seeing it worketh not in the ungodly,
therefore it is not God's Word. You teach that the outward Word is
like an object or a picture, which signifieth and presenteth
something; you measure the use thereof only according to the matter,
like as a human creature speaketh for himself; you will not yield
that God's Word is an instrument through which the Holy Ghost
worketh and accomplisheth his work, and prepareth a beginning to
righteousness or justification. In these errors are you drowned, so
that you neither see nor understand yourselves.

"A man might vex himself to death against the devil, who, in the
Papists, is such an enemy to God's Word. The devil seeth and
feeleth that the external Word and preaching in the Church doth him
great prejudice, therefore he rageth and worketh these errors
against the same; but I hope God ere long will look into it, and
will strike down the devil with these seducers.

"A true Christian," said Luther, "must hold for certain, and must
say, That Word which is delivered and preached to the wicked, to the
dissemblers, and to the ungodly, is even as well God's Word as that
which is preached to the good and godly upright Christians. As
also, the true Christian Church is among sinners, where good and bad
are mingled together. And that Word, whether it produceth fruit or