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conscious of its dependency upon the Cross; and only in relationship to that cross are its significance and value perfected. Nevertheless the divinely ordained relationship between the two powers permits no confusion of the spheres and no encroachment on the one by the other. In natural law and earthly history the state has priority; but in the history of salvation, and inside the order of grace which is the sub- stratum of redemption, the Church has the primacy. May the sword remain the sword and the pastoral staff the pastoral staff. Peter hint- self arises and passes judgment on a worldly Papacy, enmeshed in politics. His blood and the blood of many of his followers did not flow for the sake of a rich church. His keys are no battle flags, no seals placed on letters conferring freedom at a price. Christianity must not be sundered into clergy and laity; the Bible must not be forgotten while one reads the decretals until the margins are worn, Dante's sketch was born out of the dire need of the Christian element in history, and yet history gave him as little attention as it has paid to every political philosopher who has argued for a peaceful division of the authority bestowed upon the two powers.
Joachim of Fiore, his followers, and a spiritualistic Franciscanism had found a voice in Dante's Monarchia and Commedia. A short three years after the poet's death the Defensor Pacis, written (1324) by Marcilius of Padua and John of Jandun, doctors of the University of Paris, drew a picture of a secular prince who is God's viceroy and sits as sovereign ruler over Pope and Church. This revolutionary book was directed against the Papacy as a disturber of the peace. It de- clared that the teaching concerning the fullness of power had proved the ruin of the Church, which as a community of the faithful is of godlike character. Her sovereign is Christ alone; she should be with- out possessions, serving the spirit only. The bearer of ecclesiastical authority is not the Pope but the Christian community, and the high- est instance of the Church is the general Council summoned only to decide matters of faith. In the Council intelligent laymen who know the Bible are also to have a seat and a voice. Thus in the Church also all legislation finally rests with the people. Priests open the way to God by preaching and administering the Sacraments. All have the same power, and none of them, the Pope included, is authorized to interfere in secular matters. His primacy rests only upon legal
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