Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/161

65 law and introduced by man, as well as the abrogation of all secular institutions, social and state orders inconsistent with Christ's law of love.

Chelc̄icky̍ antedates Kropotkin by several centuries when he writes that the state is based on violence, plunder, and proud individualism. But where Kropotkin speaks in terms of economics, Chelc̄icky̍ speaks with prophetic earnestness in terms of a theocentric history. As he sees it, Gideon the "faithful Jew" of the Old Testament, answered his followers with true divine sanction when he refused the crown they had come to offer to him:

I will not rule over you, nor shall my sons rule over you, since the Lord God rules over you! Both brought their genius to fruition by : Valla by leaving Rome and going to Pavia and Florence; Chelc̄icky̍ by leaving Prague and the Taborites and going to the hamlet of Chelc̄ice. In their retreat they disentangled themselves from the trammels of society in order to in due course with a new moral power, and a new practical policy for dealing with a new state of affairs to which the old order had no application. . Toynbee's chapter "Analysis of Growth,", vol. III, pp.217–377.

, I, chap.XXIII, p.122*, ;. Peter Kropotkin,, New York: Vanguard Press, 1927, p.17.

, I, chap. XXXV, p.157*, (Judges 8: 22–23).