aming of a Platonic commonwealth," says the Apologia, "for it has
external marks, the preaching of the pure Gospel and the administration
of the sacraments." And this Church is the "pillar and ground of the
truth," for she is built upon the true foundation, Christ, and upon this
foundation Christians are built up.

Subsequently, in his Loci, Melanchthon developed still further the idea
of the Church as an _institutum_. This may have been because of the
fanatics, or it may have been because of his entire disposition as a
teacher and pedagogue. Followed as he was in support of his views by the
dogmaticians, the Lutheran Church acquired that distinctive character
which has marked her history as an educating and training force. This
position is still further explained from the fact that the Lutherans,
unlike the Reformed, were placed in charge of nations and peoples, and
had to be responsible for their Christian guidance and training. As a
national church, her relations to the people were different from those
of the Reformed, who, on the continent, existed mainly in smaller
communities and congregations where it was comparatively easy to enforce
church discipline.

In this relation the Church is not only the product, but also the organ
of the Holy Ghost. It is her duty to nourish the life of its members
(_parturit et alit_), and to spread the blessings of the Church to
others. According to the Large Catechism, she is the spiritual mother
of the faithful. Her pedagogic duty is pointed out. (See Rohnert,
Dogmatik, pp. 508 and 487.)

This visible character of the Church is recognized in the New Testament
in the various commands and promises given to her: the power of the
keys, the duty to confess before men, to serve one another in love, of
united intercession, of contending against the kingdom of darkness. In
the Epistles the presence of sinful men is everywhere recognized,
nevertheless the members of the Church are termed "the called" of Jesus
Christ.

Lutheranism of the 16th century stood between two opposite errors, Rome
on the one hand with its exaggerated ideas of the Church as an
institution, and Reform on the other hand with its one-sided notions of
the invisible church. The Lutheran Church took the _via media_,
declaring that the Church, _proprie_, was spiritual, but that it was
also an institution. The question for us is whether we Lutherans of the
twentieth century have remained on the _via media_ or whether we