Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/459



(:In this chapter Chelc̄icky̍ refutes the argument which says that the Church can maintain its strength only in connection and with the support of the state authority. And this is the way he proposes to handle the argument:)

What will be discussed here is not easy but difficult, complicated, and painful. Therefore (I propose) to conduct the arguments in the manner of a disputation between persons of opposing ideas. One will be from the following of Jesus, namely Paul who is a good speaker and well-trained in disputation, and the other will be from the servants of the Antichrist, namely the simoniacal priest who is the vicar of Judas.

(:The whole of this chapter is given to the argument of the simoniacal priest who maintains that the early Christians of pre-Constantinian times were living in a very un-enviable 125*