Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/677



The misled people dies to goodness because it stands under the civil rule and under the blindest hypocrites who poison it continually with their venom. The people can show nothing good about them, even though they trust in them.

The rulers have first of all established their authority through the Scripture which says that they do not bear the sword in vain and that they are the servants of God to execute His wrath on the wrong-doers. And after they had looked at their (role) more carefully thay realized that it would not be wise for them to serve God in punishing with the sword all mortal sins against God, because then the whole Bohemian countryside would become a barren land, and very few people would be left alive.

Therefore, examining the law again, after they had subjected the people to the authority ofntheir sword, they made the law over to suit their ends better: they eased up on the original justice, choosing a "servant of God" who, with the sword in his hand, would watch over the three sins which disturb the welfare of the community, namely robbery, murder, and adultery. Rom. 13:4.

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