Page:Chelčický, Molnar - The Net of Faith.djvu/89



CHAPTER 18

THE POPE’S GUILT (CONCLUSION)

The fourth feature of the great priest with which he has defiled faith consists in the fact that he has greatly increased the number of laws contrary to the law of God and His faith; behind these laws the people have forgotten the true law of God, and they do not even suspect that there exists another faith but that which is presented by the laws of the great priest. All visible worship conducted by the ecclesiastical hordes is done in accordance with his rules. He prescribes the ways and manners of worship, and they are carried out in the sacraments, in religious services, in prayers, and in masses. The Caesarean priesthood is unable to pray or to serve mass otherwise than by mumbling out of the Books of Hours of which there have been written many at his behest. They regard it as prayers when one priest responds to another priest, when they chase one another with words and verses. They bless, fast, and go through rituals and bowings, and all this is done in accordance with the law that the great priest gave them. The people are therefore ignorant of the law of God and have strayed from it; and the Christians have known nothing about it for many centuries. In its ignorance the people take for granted as Christian faith the regulations of the Pope and the practices of worship carried on under the name of God… They have never heard anything else concerning religion excepting (the requirement) to take a glance at God in church and not to plough their field on Sundays; they do not know that there exists any other form…

Therefore, even though these laws are resplendent in a great institution, through religiosity reverence, and respect to God, they are only for form’s and feel’s sake. But the truth is that there is no middle way here: either deny God and be a dissenter, or cling to Him with your whole heart. Either step is hard to take by the people; for man is not as bad as to want to deny God and relinquish Him; on the other hand you will find very few who want to cling to God with their whole heart. It is this accursed middle way that offers a relaxation to both parties. Fallible and fortuitous are all the advantages hidden in the laws of the Pope who glitters with great orders, outward forms, and ceremonies of worship.

Papal laws are very welcome to those who have never experienced God; they are the means whereby they can cunningly stand in the fold of faith and confess God with their lips only, honor and worship Him only outwardly, and debase their bodies by mortification according to the decrees of the great priest. This brought about an ignorance of God and His laws to such an extent that not even the devil could have invented it. He would not be able to produce a trick whereby men, deprived of their true goodness (consisting of obedience to God’s laws), would be made to adhere to a false and fallacious goodness glorying in the laws of the great priest and adorned by divine Scriptures (in order to give the impression that they are being fulfilled – but this is only glorious lying underneath the veneer of letters).

It is obvious how much the laws of the Pope contradict those of God: they assume the coloring of the divine law, lacerating it worse than lion’s teeth. Yes, the Pope has greatly defiled the laws of God, by multiplying his own laws contrary to those of God, and even rescinding those of divine origin. He regulates faith for as much as he is its ruler. In Basel his servants have declared concerning the cup of God that the Holy Church can change and abolish the commandment of Christ which says that the common people should drink Christ’s blood from the cup; that the Holy Church can abolish what the law (of God) commands as well as pass amendments contrary to it. Being the rulers over faith and God’s law, (the churchmen) abolish what they do not like and add what they like, and others must accept what they decide. They keep silent about the fact that many members (of the church) are the worst enemies of the law of God, and men are tortured on that account.