Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/507



Now concerning the second difference between the rule law of Christ and the pagan rule, the Master Adversary says that the civil or state law of the pagans is (real) law by virtue of the sinfulness of men and for the purpose of obtaining justice through compulsion, while the law of the holy gospel exists for the (sole) purpose of obtaining spiritual gifts of grace (:Civil law administers justice through compulsion, while the law of Christ establishes justice through love:)

(:But while law checks – to a certain degree – within one's own country, it does nothing when iniquities are committed abroad:) The straying Christians like to depend on secular power; they even seek it and cherish it since it serves their inclinations Thus a material-minded people asks to have secular power (over them) be cause it enables them to rest in peace around fleshpots, under the protection of (state) authority; and if, peradventure, some hardship or threat to life or property should come about, these things will be of the Wyclif,, Chap. XVIII.

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