Page:Chelčický, Molnar - The Net of Faith.djvu/64

 faith appears to them as a foul heresy. Battles and disputes, murders, arson, and many other evils – these are the sins that the people have brought upon themselves. And evil men became all the more hardened with a deep hatred against the true faith. For this reason they now recognize faith with difficulty, as it has been all befouled by heresies, animosities, and ignominies committed in her name.

It is necessary to maintain the sense of ancient wise men in such chaotic conditions in which heresy is honored as faith in order to be ready to believe that which God desires, and to disbelieve what God does not want…

Whoever harbors any doubt in this matter and says, “I do not know what He believed or disbelieved,” should use right reasoning; for, if it could not be known, nobody could ever have believed. There have been many, however, who have believed the way He desired it; many have been the followers of the faith once given to the saints by its author and perfecter, Jesus Christ.[264] His will is that one should believe His law which he left through His apostles and those parts of the older Scriptures which can reveal other truths in Christ. This, then, is faith divine and Christian, for faith is necessary for all things that have been commanded for observance. Nobody could be faithful to them unless he first believed in God and His words – they guide and teach man. Observing these things as Christ has commanded him in his law, man shall live by faith.[265] And all information about faith is preserved in the law of God; therein we find what we must believe and what we must not believe. And just as faith given by God can be insulted by one who is contemptuous of it or unwilling to submit to it with acts of obeisance, so it can also be outraged by him who pays obeisance to strange things contrary to the faith of God. And, since He has given to His saints only one faith which is sufficient, it is clear that any other faith of which He is not the author is contrary to His will. He does not want any believing contrary to His own faith. For Lord Jesus said, “Have faith in God.”[266]

(In consequence of the fact) that so many heterodox and foreign beliefs have long ago been disseminated and a multitude of peoples forced by threat of anathema to follow them, it is all the more necessary for conscientious people to study and examine their faith in God and His law, to rededicate their hearts to it, and to analyze the other faiths in order to see where these are leading their followers. For the Pope requires that his person, his letters, and his laws be given credence as the law of God. He writes, for instance, letters to countries and regions, sending them on (paper) sheets his forgiveness of all sins and remission of all suffering in exchange for money. And anyone who would disbelieve these letters and doubt their authority he would burn. And what is more, the Pope regards his letters and laws far superior to those of God; for he punishes the transgressions of his laws, not the transgressions of God’s laws. On the contrary, he burns those who obey God’s laws.

And there are not only heterodox beliefs but, in addition to them, all sorts of books which are clearly against the divine law, yet they are honored as if they were of the true faith. What a lot of fraudulent miracles there are in passion books of the saints and other annals, venerated by misguided people! And what uncertain conjectures and untruthful, vague reasonings are held by men as faith! And they have mixed up even true faith with these conjectures and reasonings to such an extent that this medley is put on a pedestal as real faith, while the living faith is thrown into darkness and violated. It is of necessity therefore that the apostle says: