Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/43

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The   is the doctrine of Christ, wherewith man is to be raised from the gloomy depths of the social sea of iniquity. True faith is to believe the word of God; but we are living in a time when men call the true faith heresy; hence it is upon our own reason that we must rely to discover truth if we possess it not. Darkness has concealed it, from men, and they no longer recognize the true law of Christ.

The first president of Czechoslovakia, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, held a very high esteem for Chelčický, even though he did not agree with the radical implications of this philosopher's ethics:

Chelčický is a clear, absolutely consistent and intrepid thinker and pioneer, an enemy of violence; he is Hus and Žižka in one soul, a man thoroughly Czech Hus – Žižka – Chelčický – Comenius: what name can the Hapsburg Counter-Reformation muster against these names, sacred to the whole nation? Against a great idea it is able to muster only bare violence.

Ernest Denis, the French historian, writes in his history of the Hussite wars:

(Chelčický) était une âme tendre et pieuse, pleine de foi, d'enthousiasme et de charité. On ne pouvait le connaître sans l'aimer L'adoration de Dieu, cette charité qui ouvrent le ciel, on ne les impose pas, on ne commande pas l'amour; aussi Chelčický condamne-t-il de la manière la plus formelle toute violence et toute tyrannie.

Peu d'hommes ont donné lieu a autant de travaux et de controverses que Kheltchitsky. Épreuve redoutable que ces examens répétés et ces polemiques: il en est sorti plus grand. A mesure qu'on le connaît mieux, on se prend pour lui d'une sorte de vénération attendrie. Chez lui, tout parle au coeur, parce que tout vient du coeur, la doctrine comme l'éloquence.

, (in the series of "The Novels and Other Works or L.N. Tolstoi"), New York: Scribner's, 1900, pp. 19–22.

T.G.Masaryk,, Praha: Orbis, 1925, p.602.

Ernest Denis,, Paris: Leroux, 1930, p. 463.