Part 3 (2/2)
For all these and other adversities, whether deserved or undeserved, we should fear, suffer and endure, and in all things conduct ourselves as though we but received our deserts, as the Lord teaches: ”O hiain” [Luke 6:30] Why are you not also afraid, dear tyrant, when you suffer injustice, when your incohts denied, and why do you not think that you should endure these things in fear, whether they be right or wrong? Do you think that others are co, and that you are free fro in fear? You will learn that you also are human and under the sa yourself up in your folly
12 What perversity! The spiritual powers co with their ban and say it should be eared and endured, whether right or wrong But if they are subjected to violence and injustice they will not endure it to the extent of a single heller, but without any fear at all, cast up the accounts in their favor and demand what is theirs Thus they withdraw the which they, most of all, should be an example to others For if it is true that pope, bishop and the whole spiritual estate may without fear resist injustice, injury and contempt in their own interest, then it is also true that the ban orously as they seek their interest There is no distinction in God's commandment, it concerns every one alike But may God forbid that! We are to bear both the ban and whatever tribulation may befall us in fear, as the Gospel teaches Therefore, if any one wrong you or take your incohten hi not his improvement, but your own benefit or self-will, take heed, you are already worse than he For you intend to draw yourself out of fear and to draw hiht to do, and compel him to keep the Gospel which you tear to pieces Hoill you be able to stand before God?
Therefore when they say, ”Our ban ,” we reply: ”Yes, that is true, but it is also true that your unjust ban harms no one but yourselves, and harms you in body and soul And the just ban harms you more than it harms me Therefore you should also endure your injury in fear, be it right or wrong, and if you glory over lory over you because of your suffering If a criminal took my coat and said: 'You should endure it in fear and humility,' I would say, 'I will; not for the sake of your theft, which harms me not, but for the sake of Christ's commandment [Matt 5:40]' Just so I fear your ban, not for the ban's sake (it does not harm me, but rather yourself), but for the sake of Christ's coh it is true that the ban , yet those who lay the ban are always in greater danger than those on whoer but that of despising the ban and not bearing it, whether it be right or wrong
But he who bans is in danger, in the first place, of not enduring injustice in fear; in the second place, of avenging hih the ban without any fear; in the third place, of not seeking, with singleness of purpose, his sinful neighbor's correction by means of the ban This is evident because he despises his own sin and that of others, and only attacks the man who injures him, all of which is contrary to the Gospel Hence it comes that by means of their dreadful perverseness those who use the ban nowadays pick up the spoon and tread in the dish[14]; they put others under the external ban and put themselves under condemnation inwardly; in addition, they becoreatly their external ban is to be feared, and inwardly they condemn themselves, and rejoice boldly and without fear like fools and madmen For this reason I a, Our banIt does not become a Christian, not to say one in the spiritual estate[15], to wrong another, much less to lord it over him and boast that this injustice must be feared It behooves me to say, Thy injustice makes me tremble; it behooves theeand threatenthat I must endure it in fear; or thy injustice can harm me only in time, but thee it harms to all eternity So evil and lamentable are these present times, in which such furious tyrants sha hurt (which would be horrible even in Turks and heathen), in order that they may be defiant now and mock at the misfortunes of those who suffer, whom they do not seek to correct, but only to inspire with fear and false terror
In a word, the higher estate is always, with all its works, in greater danger than the lower estate, and where the lower estate her estate needs be in fear ten times over
On this account those who exercise the ban have no reason to lord it over those who are under the ban or to deal arrogantly with them, but all the hty, as Wisdom the wise man says [Wisdom 6:8 f]
14 It were indeed better if Christians were taught to love the ban rather than to fear it[16], as we are taught by Christ to love chastisement, pain and even death, and not to fear theh they teach that all other chastisements and misfortunes are to be borne cheerfully
Whereby they betray their blind and cursed purpose, which is to rule by force over the people of Christ, and as it were to take the free Christian Church captive in fear Therefore let us learn what is our chief duty with respect to the ban, namely, not to despise it or bear it impatiently, and this for two reasons First, because the authority of the ban was given by Christ to the holy mother, the Christian Church, that is, to the community of all Christians Therefore, in this matter we should honor and submit to our dear mother Church and to Christ For what Christ and the Church do should have our approval, our love and our filial fear Secondly, because the effect and purpose of the ban is beneficial and salutary and never injurious, if one endures it and does not despise it To use a homely illustration: When a mother punishes her beloved son, whether he has deserved it or not, she certainly does not do it with evil intent, but it is a maternal, harmless and salutary punishment, if the son bears it patiently Only when he beco or to do the good for the sake of which he is punished, but turns against his in to do hiainst God, Who has commanded: ”Thou shalt honor thy father and ht, harmless, yea even beneficial chastise pain and punishment
15 Thus it happens in our day that certain officials[17] and their associates are murdered, beaten and bound, or are in constant fear of death Doubtless this would not occur at all, or at leastopinion that the ban is more har, and coh this is terrible, yet by God's dispensation the tyrants get what they deserve, because they conceal the real benefit of the ban fro no effort toward correction, but aih every one ought to endure the ban, they too ought not to despise a poor huuilty or innocent, as Christ says: ”Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones that believe on Me, for I say unto you that their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven” [Matt 18:10] Why should they wonder if, in the providence of God, at times their heads are broken and their commands despised, because of the unjust tyrannical ban, since without ceasing they act so insolently against God's co on both sides Yet if the people were taught that the power of the ban is wholesome and necessary and that it is not ordained nor used to their hurt, but to their benefit, the officials would be in less danger, and find greater and readier obedience, nay, greater love, good will and honor a all the people
16 Therefore the people should be taught in some such way as this: My dear people, let not those who have and use the power of the ban drive you to despair, whether they be pious or evil, whether they do you justice or injustice The power of the ban cannot harm you, but must always be beneficial to the soul, if only you bear and endure it aright; their abuse of the ban does not hinder its virtue Or if you cannot endure it, then try to escape froe and retaliation by word or deed And in all things look not to them, but to the dear mother Church What difference does it make to you whether she lays her rods of chastiseh wicked rulers? It is and remains, nevertheless, your dearestof the world it has been so, and will ever reiven to the Pilates, Herods, Annases and Caiaphases than to the pious Peters, Pauls and the like, and as in all other estates so in that of government there are always more of the wicked than of the pious It is not to be supposed or hoped that we shall ever have an entirely pious governrace or by special prayer and ht use of power is to be had at all For God punishes wicked subjects by wicked rulers, as He says: ”I will give children to be their prelates and their rulers shall be childish hty man, the wise, the prudent and the man of war,”
[Isa 3:4] etc Since, then, incapable or evil rulers are God's chastise us who deserve such chastises us and abuses its power toward us, nay, weus and do us injustice
17 Wherefore, since the world is at present overburdened, as it has abundantly deserved to be because of its heinous sins, with young, imprudent and inexperienced rulers, especially in the spiritual estate, so that this age of ours is extraordinarily perilous, we must act very prudently and by all overnhest honor, even as Christ honors the authority of Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas, and of the terievous abuses and the childish rule of the prelates to move us to despise all authority, so that despite those unworthy persons who bear rule we may not at the same time despise their authority, but cheerfully bear what it imposes, or reuse to bear it at least with humility and proper respect For God cannot and will not permit authority to be wantonly and iainst God or His coh they theainst God, or injure us as e and condereat and powerful tyrants; so too, there are those whom He would help, and such are the oppressed sufferers Therefore we should yield to this His will and leave the ment, and allow Him to help us, as St Paul says: ”O dearly beloved brethren, neither avenge nor defend yourselves, but rather give place unto the wrath of God, because it is written Vengeance belongs to Me alone and I will repay each one [Deut 32:35]” [Rom 12:19]
And yet we should humbly tell these prelates (especially should the preachers rebuke the theainst God and show theently and earnestly pray to God or them; even as Jeremiah wrote to the children of Israel in Babylon that they should zealously pray or the king of Babylon, or his son and for his kingdoh he had taken them captive, had troubled and slain them and done them all manner of evil
And we can easily do this if we rehteous authority cannot harm our souls, provided we submit to them, and they must ever be of profit, unless they are despised So also are the authorities a thousandfold worse in the sight of God than we, and are therefore to be pitied rather than wickedly to be despised For this reason we are also commanded in the law of Moses that no one shall revile the rulers, be they good or evil, even though they give great occasion In short, we must have evil or childish rulers,--if it is not the Turk, then it must needs be the Christians
The world is far too wicked to be worthy of good and pious lords, it o to war, levy taxes and shed blood, and it must have spiritual tyrants who impoverish and burden it with bulls and letters[19] and laws This and other chastisements are rather what it has deserved, and to resist the else than to resist God's chastisement As humbly as I conduct myself when God sends me a sickness, so huovernment, which the same God also sends me
18 When we are justly and deservedly put under the ban our chief concern should be to correct the sins of commission and omission which caused the ban, since the ban always is imposed on account of sin (which is far worse than the ban itself), and yet here as elsewhere things are perverted, so that we only consider how much the rod hurts and not e are punished Where can you findGod as they are in fear of the ban? Thus it happens that we are more in fear of the wholesome chastisement than of the heinous sins We must let men think and act thus, because the natural man does not see the spiritual harh the fear of the ban has also been exaggerated by the tyrannous es who drive the people to fear punishment more than sin
When, however, we are unjustly put under the ban, we should be very careful that we in no way do, omit, say or withhold that on account of which we are under the ban (unless we cannot do so without sin and without injury to our neighbor)[20], but rather should we endure the ban in humility, die happily under it, if it cannot be otherwise, and not be terrified, even though we do not receive the sacraround The reason is this: Truth and righteousness belong to the inner, spiritual fellowshi+p[21] andunder God's eternal ban
Therefore they dare not be surrendered for the sake of the external fellowshi+p, which is immeasurably inferior, nor because of the ban To receive the sacraround are of too little consequence that or their sake truth and righteousness be neglected And that no one o further and say that even he who dies under a just ban is not damned, unless indeed he did not repent of his sin or despised the ban For sorrow and repentance h his body be exhumed or his ashes cast into the water[22]
19 The unjust ban then is much more to be desired than either the just ban or the external fellowshi+p It is a very precious ht of God, and blessed is he who dies under an unjust ban God will grant him an eternal crown for the truth's sake, on account of which he is under the ban Then let hi in the words of Psalm cix, ”They have cursed me, but Thou hast blessedthe authorities, and humbly declare our innocence; if this does not avail, then we are free and without guilt in the sight of God For if we are in duty bound by the coree with our adversary [Matt 5:25]; how ree with the authority of the Christian Church, be it exercised justly or unjustly, by worthy or unworthy rulers
An obedient child, though it does not deserve the punishment it receives from its mother, suffers no harm from the unjust chastisement, nay, by its very patience it beco to the ht, if at the hands of evil rulers we endure the unmerited punishment of the Church, as our spiritual mother For the Church remains our ed into a step-mother simply because of our evil rulers
Nevertheless, the prelates and bishops and their officials should be temperate and not hastily use the ban, forelse thanmany laws is to set many snares for poor souls And so by nureat offence and an occasion or sin, by which the wrath of God is provoked, although the ban was ordained to reconcile Hih we are truly bound to obey theulate their decree and authority according to our ability and need and for our correction and salvation; for we have shown froiven not for destruction but for edification [2 Cor 13:10]
20 The ban should be applied not only to heretics and schisuilty of open sin, as we have shown above from St
Paul, who commands that the railer, extortioner, fornicator and drunkard be put under the ban [1 Cor 5:11] But in our day such sinners are let in peace, especially if they are bigwigs; and to the disgrace of this noble form of authority, the ban is used only for the collection of debts of nificant that the costs aloss this over they have hit upon a new device, saying they put under the ban not because of debt but because of disobedience, because the summons was not respected; were it not for debt, however, they would forget the disobedience, as we see when many other sins, even their own, escape the ban A poor o so lect his trade It is utter tyranny to summon a man to come such a distance across country to court
And I commend the temporal princes[24] ill not permit the ban and the abuses connected with it in their lands and a their people
What are princes and counsellors for if they do not concern thee such temporaltheir subjects? The spiritual powers should be concerned with the Word of God, with sin, and with the devil, in order to bring souls to God, and should relinquish tees, as Paul writes[25][1 Cor 6:1] Indeed, as things are now, it is almost necessary to use the ban in order to drive the people into the Church and not out of it
21 Whether one be justly or unjustly under the ban, no one may exclude him from the Church until the Gospel has been read or the ser of the Gospel and the ser of the Word of God should remain free to every one[27] Nay, those who are under a just ban ought most of all to hear it, that they e their sin and to reform We read that it was the ancient practice of the Church to disregation were under the ban the serh there were no ban In addition, even though he who is under the ban may not remain for the mass after the sermon, nor colect it, but spiritually come to the sacrament, that is, he should heartily desire it and believe that he can spiritually receive it, as was said in the treatise on the sacra treatise on the _Blessed Sacrament_