Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/114

 7 6 Readings in European History The first wall: the fiction of a priestly caste characters. Let us, in the first place, attack the first wall. It has been discovered that the pope, bishops, priests, and monks should be called the " spiritual estate," while princes, lords, artisans, and peasants form the " temporal estate," — a very fine hypocritical invention. But let no one be made afraid by it ; and that for this reason : All Christians are truly of the spiritual estate, and there is no difference among us, save of office alone. As St. Paul says (i Cor. xii), we are all one body, though each member has its own work to do, whereby it may serve the others. This is because we have one baptism, one gospel, one faith, and are all Christians alike ; for baptism, gospel, and faith, these alone make spiritual and Christian folk. . . . Therefore a priest should be nothing in Christendom but a functionary. So long as he holds his office he takes pre- cedence ; if he is deprived of it, he is but a peasant or a burgher, like the rest. Therefore a priest is verily no priest The indelible when he is deprived of his office. But now they have invented their " indelible characters," and pretend that a priest after deprivation is still something different from a simple layman. They even imagine that a priest can never be anything but a priest, — that is, that he can never become a layman again. But all this is nothing but mere talk and ordinance of human invention. • We see then that those we call churchmen, be they priests, bishops, or popes, are not set apart from or above other Christians, except in so far as they have to do with the word of God and the sacraments, for that is their calling and office. And moreover the temporal authorities wield the sword and the rod to chastise the wicked and protect the good. A cobbler, a smith, a peasant — every man has his own calling and office, just like the consecrated priests and bishops : and every one in his office or calling must help and serve the rest, so that all may work together for the common good, as the various members of the body all serve each other. See now what sort of a Christian doctrine is this, — that the temporal power is not above the spiritual, and may not punish it. That is like saying the hand shall do nothing to