6. The State and not the Church wields the Sword.
answer, the bishops should do, to whom this duty is entrusted, and not to the princes.
Heresy can never be prevented by force. That must be taken hold of in a different way, and it must be opposed and dealt with otherwise than with the sword. Here God's Word must strive; if that does not accomplish the end, it will remain unaccomplished through secular power, though it fills the world with blood.
Heresy is a spiritual matter which no iron can strike, no fire can burn, and no water can drown. God's Word alone avails here, as Paul says, 2Cor 10:4, "Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to destroy every counsel and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
Moreover, faith and heresy are never so strong as when men oppose them by sheer force, without God's Word. For men count it certain that such force is for a wrong cause, and that it is directed against the right, since it proceeds without God's Word; and it does not know how to further its cause except by force, just as the brute beasts do. For even in secular affairs, force can be used only after the wrong has been legally condemned. How much less possible is it to act with force, and without justice and God's Word, in these high, spiritual matters!
See, therefore, what fine, shrewd nobles they are. They would drive out heresy, and set about it in such a way that they only strengthen the opposition, make themselves suspected, and justify the heretics. Friend, if you would drive out heresy, then you must find a plan first of all to tear it from the heart, and altogether to turn men's wills away from it. Force will not accomplish this; it will only strengthen the heresy.
What does it avail to strengthen heresy in the heart, to weaken only its outward expression, and to force the tongue to lie? God's Word, by contrast, enlightens the hearts; and so all heresies and errors perish of themselves from the heart.
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed such an overpowering of heresy in his eleventh chapter when he said, "He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips." (Isa 11:4) You see, if the wicked is to be struck and converted, it will be accomplished by the mouth. In short, such princes and tyrants do not know that to fight against heresy, is to fight against the devil, the one who fills men's hearts with error. As Paul says in Eph 6:12, "We do not fight with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness, with the rulers of the darkness of this world."
Therefore, as long as the devil is not repelled and driven from the heart, it little matters to him that I destroy his vessels with fire or sword; it is like fighting lightning with a straw. Job bore abundant witness to this, when in his forty-first chapter he said that the devil esteems iron as straw, and fears no power on earth. (Job 41:27)1 We also learn it from experience; for even if all the Jews and heretics were burned, no one has been or will be convinced and converted by it.
Nevertheless, such a world as this deserves such princes, none of whom do their duty. The bishops to leave the Word of God alone and do not rule souls by it; instead, they command the worldly princes to rule them with the sword.
6. The State and not the Church wields the Sword.
The worldly princes, in their turn, permit usury, theft, adultery, murder, and other evil works, and do them themselves; and then they allow the bishops to punish with the ban.
Thus they turn things topsy-turvy, and rule souls with iron, and the body with bans, so that worldly princes rule in a spiritual way, and spiritual princes rule in a worldly way. What else does the devil have to do on earth than to play the fool this way, and hold a carnival with his
1 In describing the Leviathan: Job 41:27 He regards iron as straw, And bronze as rotten wood.
folk? These are our Christian princes, who defend the faith and devour the Turk. Fine fellows, to be sure, whom we may well trust to accomplish something by such refined wisdom — namely, break their necks and plunge land and people into suffering and want.
I would, however, in all fidelity advise the blinded folk to take heed to the short saying in Psalm 107, "Effundit contemptum super principes." 1 I swear to you by God that, if through your fault this little text becomes effective against you, you are lost, though every one of you were as mighty as the Turk; your snorting and raving will not help you at all. A large part has already come true. For there are very few princes that are not reckoned fools or knaves. That is because they show themselves to be such; the common man is learning to think, and the prince's scourge, which God calls contemptum,2 is gathering force among the mob and with the common man. I fear there is no way to stop it, unless the princes conduct themselves in a princely manner and begin again to rule reasonably and thoroughly. Men ought not, men cannot, men will not suffer your tyranny and presumption much longer. Dear princes and lords, be wise and guide yourselves accordingly. God will no longer tolerate it.
The world is no longer what it was when you hunted and drove the people like so much game. Therefore drop your outrage and force, and remember to deal justly, and let God's
Word have its course, as it will and must and shall; nor will you prevent it. If there is heresy abroad, let it be overcome properly: with God's Word. But if you keep on brandishing the sword, take heed lest there come one who shall bid you sheath it, and that will not be in God's name.
But if you were to ask, "Since there is to be no secular sword among Christians, how are they to be ruled outwardly? There certainly must be authority also among Christians." I answer,
Among Christians there shall and can be no authority; all alike are subject to one another. As Paul says in Rom 12:10, "Each shall count the other his superior," and Peter in 1Pet 5:5, "All of you be subject one to another." This is also what Christ means in Luke 14:10, "When you are invited to a wedding, sit down at the lowest place." There is no superior among Christians, but Christ Himself and Christ alone. And what kind of authority can there be where all are equal and have the same right, power, possession, and honor; and no one desires to be the other's superior, but each desires to be the other's inferior?
One could not establish authority where there are such people, even if one desired to, since their character and nature will not permit them to have superiors; for no one is willing or able to be the superior. But where there are no such people, there are no real Christians.
Priests and Bishops, Servants What, then, are the priests and bishops? I answer, Their government is not one of authority or power, but a service and an office; for they are neither higher nor better than other
Christians.
Therefore they should not impose any law or decree on others without their will and consent.
Their rule consists in nothing else than in dealing with God's Word, leading Christians by it, and overcoming heresy by its means. For, as was said, Christians can be ruled by nothing but God's Word. For Christians must be ruled in faith, not by outward works. Faith can come through no word of man, but only through the Word of God. As Paul says in Rom 10:17,
"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Those who do not believe are not Christians; they do not belong to Christ's kingdom, but to the worldly kingdom; and they are constrained and ruled by the sword and by outward rule. Christians of themselves, without
1 He pours contempt on princes, Psa 107.40.
2 Contemptible.
constraint, do every good thing, and find God's Word alone sufficient for them. Of this, however, I have written frequently and at length elsewhere.1
SECULAR AUTHORITY –
PART THREE: HOW IT SHOULD BE USED
Now that we know the limits of secular authority, it is time also to inquire how a prince should use it; for the sake of those who would be Christian princes and lords, and desire to enter the life beyond, of whom there are very few. For Christ Himself describes the nature of temporal princes in Luke 22:25, when he says, "The worldly princes exercise lordship, and those that are chief, exercise authority." For if they are born princes, or chosen to office, they think only that it is their right to be served and to rule with power. He who would be a Christian prince certainly must lay aside the intention to rule using force. For cursed and condemned is every kind of life lived and sought for selfish profit and good; cursed are all works not done in love. But they are done in love when they are directed with all one's heart, not toward selfish pleasure, profit, honor, ease and salvation, but toward the profit, honor and salvation of others.
I will say nothing here of secular affairs and of the laws of government, for that is a large subject and there are too many law-books already. Although, if a prince is not wiser than his jurists, and if he does not know more than is in the law-books, he will surely rule according to the saying in Prov 28:16, "A prince that lacks understanding will oppress many with injustice." No matter how good and equitable the laws are, they all make exceptions in cases of necessity,2 in which they cannot be enforced. Therefore a prince must have the law in hand as firmly as the sword, and decide in his own mind when and where the law must be applied strictly, or with moderation, so that reason may always control all law, and be the highest law and rule over all laws. A housefather, although he appoints a definite time and amount of work and food for his servants and children, he must still reserve the power to change or omit such regulations if his servants happen to be sick, imprisoned, detained, deceived, or are otherwise hindered, and not deal as severely with the sick as with the well. I say this in order that men may not think it is sufficient and excellent if they follow the written law, or legal advisers, more than that is required.
What should a prince do, if he is not sufficiently wise, and must follow the directions of jurists and law books? I answer, For this reason I said that the position of a prince is a perilous one; and if he is not wise enough to master both the law and his advisers, the saying of Solomon is fulfilled, "Woe to the land whose king is a child." (Eccl. 10:16) Solomon recognized this; therefore he despaired of all law, even of that law which Moses, through God, had prescribed for him; and he despaired of all his princes and counselors, and turned to God Himself, and prayed to Him for a wise heart to rule the people. A prince must follow this example and proceed with fear; he must depend neither upon dead books nor upon living heads, but cling solely to God, pray without ceasing to Him, and ask for a right
1 Cf. Treatise on Good Works, 2., and Treatise on Christian Liberty, II, 312 ff.
2 "Although it is beneficial to public safety that something be observed in the majority of cases, it happens in some cases that it is highly harmful. Therefore, because the law-maker cannot foresee all individual cases, he proposes a law in accordance with what happens in most cases, directing his intention to the common good.
Therefore, if a case arises in which the observance of such a law is harmful to the common welfare, it must not be observed. ... The right to interpret what is good and what is not good for the State belongs to the princes alone, who because of cases of this kind have authority to dispense from observing the law. But if the danger be sudden, so that it permits of no delay sufficient to allow one to go to the superior, necessity itself has dispensation joined to it, because necessity is not subject to the law." — Thomas Aquinas, Summa, i, 2, 96, 6.