A Study of Peter Chelčický's Life and a Translation from Czech of Part I of His Net of Faith (1947)/Part 2/Section 8
CHAPTER XXX
THE DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR
(:The real difficulty arises from the fact that present-day Christians do not know where to draw the dividing line between their faith and the state.Blood, Sweat
and Tears They enjoy the protection of the state and share in its advantages. Particularly the clergy and the learned doctors seem to have become allies of the state. In order to make their compromise more plausible they have divided all mankind into three estates:) namely:
1) the estate of the the ruling class which conducta defensive warfare, kills and burns and hangs;
2) the estate of priests who pray;
3) the estate of the common peasants who must slave and feed the two upper-class insatiable Baals.1
Behold the first Baal, fat and proliferated: the temporal lords. Behold the second Baal, also fat and proliferated: the spiritual lords! Both Baals suck the labor of the earth and the blood and the sweat of the third class which, drenched with sweat, fills the fleshpots of the two Baals.
(:But the religion of Jesus does not approve of this system. When the rule of Jesus was foretold by the angel,2 the House of Jacob meant the Church of the righteous, the sheep of Christ who hear his voices:)
Therefore he cannot rule over stinking goats (sic), that is, straying Christians, because they do not listen to his voice (:but rather obey the authority of the combined Church and state.:)
The world is unable to follow his (Christ's) rule for its excellent perfection; for nowhere can man be governed both in matters which pertain to God and in matters which pertain to men,Chelc̄icky̍ Versus
Wyclif and the
Learned Doctors with such benefit for his soul as well as body, as in the sovereignty of King Jesus. We can confess these things by the (assurance of) faith. The royal4 government has no similarity with the government of King Jesus. A good Christian lives by faith and follows Christ in works; but, as mentioned before, according to the doctors such a Christian should be king with a pagan exercise of power over his sheep; however, it is impossible to reconcile their utterances with the fact that they have ignored King Jesus and his fulness5 who is the head of the holy Church. The Church's authority and sufficiency is derived from this head and is (channelled) to all the members of the body). The doctors have forgotten these things if they are of the opinion that they can obtain a good Christian king with pagan (un-Christian) rule, and through his authority to gain benefits. . . for the holy Church. This (division) may suit the Roman Church which seeks the support of the royal6 power; its king may defend her and drive away her enemies, fight terribly with her foes. . . Indeed, the Church of Rome rather likes a wicked king, for this man if sufficiently intoxicated by her poisons – will fight for her better than a humble Christian. For a good Christian does not dare to get involved in pagan administration, either to work in the capacity of a king7 and to do administrative work or to defend (by virtue of his office) the Church of Christ against enemies; a good Christian knows (all too well) that King Jesus wants a different Church from the one which spills blood in his name. . . A true Christian can do no such thing.
First of all, he cannot do it because he has no reason for such behavior. Secondly, he cannot do it since he has no right to do anything for which he has no power.8 Thirdly, he cannot do it because his conscience will not allow him to commit anything which might bring about much evil or even do away with much that is good. Finally, he cannot do it for conscience's sake and for fear of offending God.
(:A true Christian cannot work or associate with any state office; to do so would mean to condone the violent system of authority which is repugnant to Christ. In addition, sovereignty leads to war:)
Humanly speaking . . . wars begin when one lord who rules over people wants to extend his authority over the people of another lord. (Of course) an even greater conflict arises when someone of the kings household tries to usurp the kingship for himself by conspiracy. Absalom was killed for such an action because, having won for himself the favor of the Jewish people9Origins
of Wars he desired to remove his father from his throne and rule in his stead. How much more, then, is a Christian bound by fealty to his Lord and King Christ Jesus! (:Not to be faithful to Christ, that is, to compromise with the state is tantamount to Absalom's infidelity to David. Absalom was punished by death, and Christians will also be punished if they get entangled with secular power:) This power, with all its offices and officialdom, is contrary to the rule of Christ. Therefore, no honest Christian can have any share in its administration. . . A faithful servant of Christ10 . . . who would want to admonish the followers of Christ in faith and to urge them not to accept any offices from the king would himself have to avoid being a ruler over the people of his Lord; for this would involve pagan rule, compulsion through power in accordance with the ways of the heathens, that is, the people would have laws contrary to the law of Christ the King Jesus.
4 i.e. secular authority.
6 i.e.temporal authority.
7 Chelc̄icky̍'s position represents an interesting echo of a similar interpretation attributed by Eusebius to Emperor Constantine. In chapter LXII of his Vita Constantini he records the appeal of the dying Emperor, requesting the Christian bishops to confer upon him the rite of baptism. We quote from it: "The time is arrived. . . in which I may receive the seal of salvation. . . B e it so, then, without delay: for should it be His will who is Lord of Life and Death. . . that I should be destined henceforth to associate with the people of God, and unite with them in prayer as a member of His Church, I will prescribe for myself from this time such a course of life as befits His service." (Italics mine). After he had thus spoken, the prelates performed the sacred ceremonies in the usual manner. . . Thus was Constantine the first of all sovereigns who was regenerated. . . Thus gifted with the Divine seal of baptism, he rejoiced in spirit. . . At the conclusion of the ceremony he arrayed himself in shining imperial vestments, brilliant as the light, and reclined on a couch of the purest white, refusing to clothe himself with the purple any more.' (Italics mine). Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd Series, vol. I: Eusebius. ("The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine by Eusebius Pamphilus"). Chapter LXII, p.556. (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1890).
8 sanction?
10 i.e. a priest.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE LAW OF MEN AND THE PERFECT LAW OF CHRIST
The Master Adversary speaks in great detail about the division of civil administration into a secular authority and the authority of the gospel of Christ Jesus.
First of all, the contrariness of civil authority to the law of King Jesus – which is his gospel – is revealed in that God had originally established it,Secular Authority
Is a Crutch for
Morally Sick Men but His firstborn Son has introduced (his) authority for his chosen people, rejecting all other authority. On the other hand, pagan administration bases its own authority on a fiction or imagination of blind sinners who invented laws in accordance with earthly wisdom. . . intending thus, by means of power, to subject many to these laws. God has therefore repudiated such a course as sick, deficient, and even unjust... But He has left that law of blind sinners for the pagans who might thus be somehow enabled to live a physical life, in the way of a sick person who, hardly able to toddle, has to lean on a crutch.
The law of God must be held therefore in great reverence. . . And every man ought to be satisfied with this law for his con duct in this world, having no need of mixing it with other laws. Neither God nor Christ require of man anything but to do right.1God Is the End –
Love Is the Means Therefore Christ who is both true God and true man, in whom is fulness and perfection2 requires nothing of man but love, and the means to attain to it. And the means are powerfully carried by the law of Christ who taught man in the most masterful fashion how to please God in everything he does. . . And speaking of the perfection of his instruction, man is not only taught fully what to do; Christ's law will enable him to know even those things which would deviate him from true goodness. For no sin can be committed except when we ask those things which Christ condemned, or when we run away from that which he took upon himself to bear. (And we can see this) because his whole life on earth as man is an example and a lesson for (our own) behavior. . . Clearly, he taught most powerfully and most fully . . . how to avoid injustice and do good.. . . No law can be more perfect than the law of Christ.
Therefore a faithful Christian who realizes the powerful strength and perfection of the law of God . . . cannot become a ruler with un-Christian authority which had been culled by blind sinners, in fear lest he defule the rule of God with the rule of blind sinners, a rule by which pagans live their life so laboriously.