A Study of Peter Chelčický's Life and a Translation from Czech of Part I of His Net of Faith (1947)/Part 2/Foreword
FOREWORD
PREFACED TO THE VILÉMOV EDITION OF A.D. 1521 BY CHVAL DUBA̍NEK
This book is very needful for these misguided and distraught times. It received the name or title of THE NET OF FAITH which was written (and) composed by a man, honest, noble and holy in the hope of God, richly endowed for this task by the bounty of our Lord and filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit; and his name is Peter of Chelčice. Which man was shining with the inward gifts of God in the days of Master Rokycana, well-known to the master since he often abode in his presence. The said Peter has written many divers and most useful and necessary books about the Law of our Lord, leaving them to the holy Church in order to aid her in her struggle against the Anti-Christ and his snares.
And so, whoever thou mayest be who shalt often read in these books and look into them, thou wilt have to admit that it pleased Almighty God our Lord not to forget our forefathers but on the contrary to pour out His Holy Spirit upon them so that, being able to understand the Scriptures of the Holy Law according to the spirit of Jesus Christ, they might share with others of future generations the remembrance of these gifts that were given into their trust.
If the books of this man Peter of Chelčice have not frequently seen light until recently, the cause is to be sought nowhere else but in the priesthood of the Pope of the Anti-Christ1; which priesthood – with many of its number living disreputably and ignobly – has not ceased and even today is not desisting from defaming before the general public the books of this excellent man by calling them schismatic and heretical, for no other reason except that (the reading of them) shrinks their benefice, reduces the offerings in their plates and scares them away from their rich soup. For he said about them that they wasted the substance of the Law of God with gluttonous living behind rich tables and that they drowned the light of exemplary living with costly and rare wines.
It is the se very priests who, flushed with anger against Peter, condemn him acrimoniously as a heretic. But good and honest priests do love him and make use of his books.
The Almighty Lord and most gracious God does not withhold His gifts from them that seek Him; it pleases Him to award them from the bountiful store of His inspiration, so that they might put aside all threats of the Antichrist and his harmless intimidations and, getting hold of the truth written down in these books inspired by the Spirit, love and study it as a gift of our Lord God Almighty for these latter times and days of the Antichrist.
Numerous men of almost all estates – the estate of Christ's priests, the estate of the Lords and the estate of the Knights, the estate of the Burghers as well as of many learned and common people – all of them cherish, accept and honor the truths of these books and other writings of Peter Chelcicky; and they do not slight him because he is a layman, not learned in the Latin tongue. For though he was not a master of the seven arts, he certainly was a practitioner of the eight beatitudes and of all the divine commandments, and was therefore a real Czech doctor, well versed in the Law of the Lord without aberration from the truth. In him was fulfilled the word of the prophet saying, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, and teachest of thy law, O Lord,2 and in another Psalm, O God, thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Yea, even to old age and gray hairs, do not forsake me, O God.3 And even our Lord Jesus says in the Gospel of Saint John, All men will be taught by God: Everyone that listens to the Father a and has learned from him, will come to me.4 O, how happy and blessed are the disciples who are taught in such a way by the Lord God in the school of the Holy Spirit, the best of teachers, who learn the law of the Lord and the sense and meaning of Christ! They and those like them are coming to the Lord and they are truly the disciples of the Lord, following their Lord Jesus in humility and meekness, as he himself has expressed it; Rejoicing in the Holy Spirit he said, "I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes; yea, I thank thee, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.5
This was fulfilled in the holy prophets, in the son of God the Highest, our Lord Jesus, in the holy Apostles chosen from among the whole world, that is, chosen not only from among those learned in human wisdom, in logic, and pagan art, but also from among the poor orders, from fishers' craft, from the common people. Thou mayest find proof to this in the Acts of the Apostles: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered.6 That is, they were surprised to find such a power in the teaching of the Lord and such miracles which the Lord God performed through them; for the knowledge of God is vast and far above the knowledge of man, just as the heavens are higher than the earth.7 And the knowledge of God makes man meek and humble, while the wisdom of man puffs up and gives itself air through pride.8 Therefore this excellent man Peter Chelc̄icky̍, the chosen vessel of the Lord, being endowed with many gifts through the grace of God and having learned in the highest school of the Holy Spirit, brings forth old and new things out of the treasures of the Lord,9 writing these most useful and necessary books for every one and all men of all estates.
And Peter writes about every one of the estates, revealing their corrupting evils; he begins with the highest estates:10 he looks at the estates of the emperors, kings, dukes, lords, knights, burghers, guilds, as well as those of the common people, not forgetting to rebuke even the peasants for their disorders; but he writes especially and above everything else against the so-called spiritual estates: the popes, the cardinals, the bishops, the archbishops, the abbots, the orders of monks and mendicant friars, as well as the deacons and pastors, the chaplains, and all this debauched, ignoble, haughty, avaricious, lascivious, parsimonious, beery, generation of clergy, stubbornly steeped in all mortal sins and heresies. He writes not, however, against honest, honorable and faithful priests. But he courageously attacks and speaks against papal inventions and uncertain human prevarications and all other insincerities, for all these above named people do not cease from continually tearing the apostolic net till almost nothing is left but rags and tatters and confused knots.
The first part of the book consists in disclosing the manner in which such a terrible confusion has come upon the holy Church. It also shows that whoever would like to dig down to the real ground and true foundation which is Jesus Christ, would have to remove and cart out to the edge of town a lot of de̍bris consisting of prevarications wriggled into the holy Church by men.
The second part of the book consists in revealing how the estates and castes11 and all the multiform teachings and un-Christian religions have originated. All these estates and divisions are a great obstacle in the way to the knowledge of faith in Jesus the Lord, for they have put on the garb of the spirit of pride and haughtiness, resisting as much as they can our humble and poor Lord Jesus.
1 The original is here ambiguous; the words od Antikrista papez̄e svedeny̍m could also be translated "the priesthood seduced by Pope the Antichrist."
3 Psalm 71:17–18 AT
10 i.e., "and goes all the way down the society."
11 Editor Duba̍nek is using here Chelc̄icky̍'s terminus technicus roty, literally meaning "hordes." By "hordes" Chelc̄icky̍ always means the estates, castes, and all other human divisions contrary to Christian ethics.