1. We have seen[1] that the sacrament of the holy body of Christ is a
sign of the communion of all saints, therefore it becomes necessary to
know also what the ban is which is employed in the Church by the power
of the spiritual estate. For its chief and peculiar function and power
is to deprive guilty Christians of the holy sacrament and forbid it to
them. Therefore the one cannot be understood apart from the other,
because the one is the opposite of the other; for the Latin word
_communio_ means fellowship, and thus do the learned designate the
Holy Sacrament. Its opposite is the word _excommunicatio_, which means
exclusion from this fellowship, and so the learned term the ban.
2. There is a twofold fellowship, corresponding to the two things in
the sacrament, the sign and the thing signified, as was said in the
treatise[2]. The first is an inner, spiritual and invisible fellowship
of the heart, by which one is incorporated by true faith, hope and
love in the fellowship of Christ and of all the saints, signified and
bestowed in the sacrament; and this is the effect and virtue of the
sacrament. This fellowship can neither be given nor taken away by any
one, be he bishop, pope, or angel or any creature. God alone through
His Holy Spirit must pour it into the heart of the one who believes in
the sacrament, as was said in the treatise[3]. This fellowship no ban
can touch or affect, but only the unbelief or sin of the person
himself; by these he can excommunicate himself, and thus separate
himself from the grace, the and salvation of the fellowship. This St.
Paul proves in Romans viii: "Who shall separate us from the God? Can
anguish or need, or hunger or poverty, or danger or persecution, or
shedding of blood? Nay, I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor principalities nor angelic hosts, neither things
present nor things to come, naught that is mighty on the earth,
neither height nor depth nor any other creature can separate us from
the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Rom. 8:35,
38] And St. Peter says: "And who is he that will harm you, if ye be
followers of that which is good?" [1 Peter 3:13]
3. The second kind of fellowship is an outward, bodily and visible
fellowship, by which one is admitted to the Holy Sacrament and
receives and partakes of it together with others. From this fellowship
or communion bishop and pope can exclude one, and forbid it to him on
account of his sin, and that is called putting him under the ban. This
ban was much in vogue of old, and is now known as the lesser ban. For
the ban goes beyond this and forbids even burial, selling, trading,
all association and fellowship with men, finally, as they say, even
fire and water[4], and this is known as the greater ban.
Not satisfied with this, there are some who go still farther and use
the temporal powers against those under the ban, to coerce them with
sword, fire, and war[5]. These, however, are new inventions, rather
than the real meaning of Scripture. To wield the temporal sword
belongs to the emperor, to kings, to princes, and to the rulers of
this world, and by no means to the spiritual estate[6], whose sword is
not to be of iron, but the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word and
commandment of God, as St. Paul says. [Eph. 6:17]
4. This external ban, both the lesser and the greater, was instituted
by Christ when He said in Matthew xviii: "If thy brother shall
trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him
alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. If he will
not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth
of two or three witnesses every word or transaction may be
established. If he will not hear them, then tell it unto the whole
congregation, the Church. If he neglect to hear the Church, let him be
unto thee a heathen man and a publican." [Matt. 18:15 ff.]
Likewise St. Paul says in I Corinthians v: "If any man among you be a
fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard,
or an extortioner, with such an one keep not company, neither eat with
him." [1. Cor. 5:11] Again he says in II Thessalonians iii: "If any
man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no
company with him, that he may be ashamed." [2 Thess. 3:14] Again, John
says in his second Epistle: "If any one come unto you, and bring not
this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God
speed, and he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
deeds." [2 John 10]
From all these sayings we learn how the ban is to be used. First, we
should seek neither vengeance nor our own profit, as is at present the
disgraceful practice everywhere, but only the correction of our
neighbor. Second, the penalty should stop short of his death or
destruction; or St. Paul limits the purpose of the ban to the
correction of our neighbor, that he be put to shame when no one
associates with him, and he adds in 11 Thessalonians iii: "Count him
not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." [2 Thess. 3:15] But
now the ruthless tyrants deal with men as though they would cast them
down to hell, and do not in any wise seek their correction.
5. It may often happen that a person under the ban is deprived of the
holy sacrament, and also of burial, and is nevertheless inwardly[7]
secure and blessed in the fellowship of Christ and of all saints,
signified in the sacrament. On the other hand, there are many who are
not under the outward ban and who freely partake of the sacrament, but
are nevertheless inwardly quite estranged and excommunicated from the
fellowship of Christ; even though they be buried under the high altar
in a golden pall with much pomp and singing and tolling of bells.
Therefore, no one is to be judged, even if he be under the ban,
especially if he has not been put under the ban for heresy or sin, but
for the purpose of correction. For to put men under the ban for the
sake of money or other temporal considerations is a new invention, of
which the apostles and Christ knew nothing.
6. To put under the ban is not, as some think, to deliver a soul to
Satan and deprive it of the intercession and of all the good works[8]
of the Church. For where the true faith and love of God remain in the
heart, there remains a real participation in all the possessions and
intercessions of the Church, together with all the benefits of the
sacrament, since the ban is and can be nothing else than exclusion
from the external sacrament or from association with men. If I were
cast into prison I would, of course, be deprived of the outward
companionship of my friends, and yet not be deprived of their favor
and friendship; so he that is put under the ban must relinquish the
sacrament and association with men, but is not on that account cut off
from their love, intercession and good works.
7. It is true that the ban, when it is rightly and deservedly applied,
is a sign, an admonition and a chastisement, whereby the one under the
ban should recognize that he himself has delivered his soul unto Satan
by his transgression and sin, and has deprived himself of the
fellowship of all the saints and of Christ. For by the penalty of the
ban our mother, the holy Church, would show her dear son the awful
consequences of sin and thereby bring him back from the devil to God.
When an earthly mother rebukes and chastises her erring son, she does
not give him over to the hangman or to the wolves, nor make a knave of
him, but she restrains him and shows him by her chastisement that he
is in danger of the hangman, and thus keeps him at home in his
father's house. In the same way, when the spiritual power puts any one
under the ban, it should be in this spirit: "Behold, thou has done
this or that, whereby thou hast delivered thy soul unto the devil,
deserved God's wrath, and deprived thyself of all Christian
fellowship; thou art fallen under the inward spiritual ban in the
sight of God and art unwilling to cease or to return. So then, I put
thee also outwardly under the ban in the sight of men, and to thy
shame I deprive thee of the sacrament and of fellowship with men,
until thou come to thyself and bring back thy soul."
8. Let every bishop, provost or official[9], who uses the ban for any
other purpose, take heed lest he put himself under the everlasting ban
from which neither God nor any creature shall deliver him. There are
none to whom the ban is more harmful and dangerous than those who
apply it, even though it be laid quite justly and only on account of
wrongdoing, for the reason that they seldom if ever have this object
in view. Besides they go about it without fear and do not consider how
perchance they themselves may be more worthy of a hundred bans in the
sight of God, as the Gospel records of the servant who owed his Lord
ten thousand pounds and yet would not have patience with his fellow
servant who owed him a hundred pence. What will become of these
miserable taskmasters, who for the sake of money have brought things
to such a pass with their bans, often violently and unjustly imposed,
that Turks and heathen have an easier life than Christians? It is very
evident that many of them are under the ban in the sight of God, and
are deprived of the blessing of the sacrament and of inward, spiritual
fellowship, although they do nothing day and night but cite others to
appear, harass them and put them under the ban, and deprive of the
external sacrament those who are a thousandfold better inwardly and in
the sight of God and are living in the spiritual fellowship of the
sacrament. O miserable business! O terrible existence maintained by
this abominable trade! I am not sure whether such publicans and
officials were wolves before becoming officials or whether they are on
the way to becoming wolves; their work is certainly wolves' work.
9. From this there follows the truth that the ban of itself ruins,
condemns or harms no one, but seeks and finds the ruined and condemned
soul for the purpose of bringing it back. For all chastisement is for
the correction of sin; the ban is simply a chastisement and motherly
correction; therefore it makes no one worse or more sinful, but is
ordained solely to restore the inward spiritual fellowship when justly
laid, or to deepen it when unjustly imposed. This is proved by St.
Paul when he says in II Corinthians xiii: This I write to you
according to the power which the Lord hath given me, to edification
and not to destruction," [2 Cor. 13:10] And thus, when he rebukes him
who had taken his step-mother to wife, he says in I Corinthians v: "I
together with you deliver him unto the devil for the destruction of the
flesh, that the spirit may be saved at the last day." [1 Cor. 5:5]
Thus also in the passage quoted above he said: "We should not count
him who is under the ban as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother,
in order that he may be put to shame and not be lost." [2 Thess. 3:15]
Nay, even Christ Himself, as man, had not the power to cut off and
deliver a single soul to the devil, as He says in John vi: "Him that
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out, and this is the will of My
Father Who sent Me, that I should not destroy or lose what He giveth
Me." [John 6:37, 39] Again He says: "The Son of Man is not come to
destroy, but to save men's souls." [Luke 9:56] If Christ Himself and
all the apostles had no other power than to help souls, and have let
behind them no other power in the Church, how dare the blind tyrants
presume and boast in their presumption that they have power to curse,
to condemn and to destroy, which power is even denied them by their
own canon law; for in the Liber Sextus[10], which treats of the
sentence of excommunication, we read: "Since the ban is a medicine and
not a poison, only a discipline, not a destructive uprooting, in so
far as the one subjected to it does not despise it: therefore let
every spiritual judge give diligence to prove himself one who seeks by
the ban naught but to correct and to cure."
10. From the above passage it is evident that the ban, when it is not
despised, is wholesome and harmless, and not fatal to the soul, as
certain timid and dejected consciences, frightened by the outrageous
abuses of some, imagine; although in apostolic times it was able to
deliver the body to the devil and to death[11], as indeed it might
still be, if the judges would wield the ban, not in the abuse of
power, but in humble faith and love, for the correction of their
neighbor. It follows further that the ban brings greater danger and
terror to those who apply it and are not careful to seek only the
correction and salvation of those under the ban, according to the
words of the above passage[12]. For the ban can be nothing else than a
kind, motherly scourge applied to the body and temporal possessions,
by which no one is cast into hell, but rather drawn out of it, and
freed from condemnation unto salvation. Therefore we should not only
endure it without impatience, but receive it with all joy and
reverence. But for the tyrants, who seek therein nothing else than
power, awe and gain for themselves, the ban must be a terrible injury,
because they pervert it and its purpose, turn the medicine into a
poison, and seek only to become a terror to a frightened people; of
correction they never think. For this they will have to give an awful
reckoning--woe unto them!
11. They have devised a saying, to wit: "Our ban must be feared, right
or wrong." With this saying they insolently comfort themselves, swell
their chests and puff themselves up like adders, and almost dare to
defy heaven and to threaten the whole world; with this bugaboo they
have made a deep and mighty impression, imagining that there is more
in these words than there really is. Therefore we would explain them
more fully and prick this bladder, which with its three peas makes
such a rightful noise.
Now, it is true, the ban must be feared and not be despised, whether
it be just or unjust. But why apply this only to the ban, which is a
motherly chastening, and not to all the other and greater penalties
and tribulations as well? For what great thing have you done or the
ban by saying it must be feared? Must we not also fear when we are
sick, poor, slandered, despised, or deprived of goods, income or
justice, nay, when the Turk and other enemies attack or afflict us?
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 him
that taketh away thy goods ask them not again." [Luke 6:30] Why are
you not also afraid, dear tyrant, when you suffer injustice, when your
income is refused, your property stolen, your rights 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 commanded to
endure your power in ear, whether right or wrong, and that you are
free from this commandment and need not endure violence or wrong in
fear? You will learn that you also are human and under the same law
with which you threaten others, puffing yourself up in your folly.
12. What perversity! The spiritual powers come along 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 themselves from God's commandment, in keeping 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 may be resisted and be repelled, as vigorously 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 income, and you do not endure it in fear, but would frighten him
with the ban[13], especially when you are seeking 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 him
in, which you have no right to do, and compel him to keep the Gospel
which you tear to pieces. How will you be able to stand before God?
Therefore when they say, "Our ban must be feared, right or wrong," 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 me because of the ban I will glory 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
commandment."
13. Though it is true that the ban must be feared, whether it be right
or wrong, yet those who lay the ban are always in greater danger than
those on whom it is laid. He who is banned is in no danger 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 himself through
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 become so
blinded that they boast how greatly 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 am sure that the
Holy Spirit did not invent the saying, Our ban must be feared, right
or wrong. It 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 thee much more to take
heed and be in fear lest thou do me wrong and threaten me besides,
saying that 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
shamelessly and openly boast of their sin and everlasting 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 must needs be
in fear once, there the higher 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 more reason to weep or themselves. For God's judgment will not
be pronounced on the lowly, but on the mighty, 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 them. But these
prattlers speak only of fear in the ban, though 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 becomes impatient, and is not influenced by it to leave the
wrong or to do the good for the sake of which he is punished, but
turns against his mother and despises her, does the punishment begin
to do him harm; or then he offends against God, Who has commanded:
"Thou shalt honor thy father and mother" [Ex. 20:12]; and out of a
light, harmless, yea even beneficial chastisement he makes a terrible
wrong and sin, to his everlasting 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 least much less
frequently, if the people did not hold the wrong opinion that the ban
is more harmful than profitable. For this reason they venture
everything, and commit such crimes as it were in despair. Although
this is terrible, yet by God's dispensation the tyrants get what they
deserve, because they conceal the real benefit of the ban from the
people, and misuse it, making no effort toward correction, but aiming
simply to increase their own power. For although every one ought to
endure the ban, they too ought not to despise a poor human being, be
he guilty 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 commandment? True, there is great wrong 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 among 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 from it with meekness, not with
revenge 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 chastisement upon you through pious
or through wicked rulers? It is and remains, nevertheless, your
dearest mother's most salutary rod. From the beginning of the world it
has been so, and will ever remain, that spiritual and temporal power
is more often given 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 government, nay, it must come as a pure
git of grace or by special prayer and merit, if good government or a
right 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 men, I will take
from them every mighty man, the wise, the prudent and the man of war,"
[Isa. 3:4] etc. Since, then, incapable or evil rulers are God's
chastisement, and there are so many among us who deserve such
chastisement, we must not be surprised if the government wrongs us and
abuses its power toward us, nay, we must wonder and thank God when it
does not wrong us 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 means see to it that we hold the
government and all authority in the highest honor, even as Christ
honors the authority of Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas, and of the
temporal rulers of His time we must not permit such grievous 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 impudently resisted when it does not force us to do what is
against God or His commandments[18], though they themselves do as much
as they can against God, or injure us as much as they will. There are
some whom He Himself would judge and condemn, and such are those great
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 mighty to His sword and judgment, 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 them, yet only by showing them from the Word of God)
that they are acting against God and show them what He would have them
do, and in addition diligently 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
kingdom, although 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 remember that the ban and all
unrighteous 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
must have princes who go 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 them is nothing else than to resist
God's chastisement. As humbly as I conduct myself when God sends me a
sickness, so humbly should I conduct myself toward the evil
government, 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 why we are punished. Where can you find men to-day who are as
much in fear of sinning and provoking God 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 harm in sin
as he feels the smarts of chastisement; although the fear of the ban
has also been exaggerated by the tyrannous methods and threatenings of
the spiritual judges 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 sacrament and are
buried in unconsecrated ground. The reason is this: Truth and
righteousness belong to the inner, spiritual fellowship[21] and may
not be abandoned under penalty of falling under God's eternal ban.
Therefore they dare not be surrendered for the sake of the external
fellowship, which is immeasurably inferior, nor because of the ban. To
receive the sacrament and to be buried in consecrated ground are of
too little consequence that or their sake truth and righteousness be
neglected. And that no one may think this strange I will go 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 make all things right, even though 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 fellowship. It is a very precious merit in
the sight 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 him sing in the words of Psalm
cix, "They have cursed me, but Thou hast blessed me." [Ps. 109:28]
Only let us beware of despising the 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
commandment of Christ to agree with our adversary [Matt. 5:25]; how
much more should we agree 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 becomes much dearer and
more pleasing to the mother; how much more do we become lovable in
God's sight, if at the hands of evil rulers we endure the unmerited
punishment of the Church, as our spiritual mother. For the Church
remains our mother because Christ remains Christ, and she is not
changed 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, for many bans means nothing
else than many laws and commandments, and prescribing many laws is to
set many snares for poor souls. And so by numerous ill-advised bans
nothing more results than great offence and an occasion or sin, by
which the wrath of God is provoked, although the ban was ordained to
reconcile Him. And although we are truly bound to obey them, still
more are they bound to direct, change and regulate their decree and
authority according to our ability and need and for our correction and
salvation; for we have shown from St. Paul[23] that power is given not
for destruction but for edification [2 Cor. 13:10].
20. The ban should be applied not only to heretics and schismatics,
but to all who are guilty 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 money, often so insignificant that the costs
amount to more than the original debt. In order to gloss 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 man must often be disobedient if he is cited to go so
many miles, lose time and money and neglect 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] who will not permit the ban and
the abuses connected with it in their lands and among their people.
What are princes and counsellors for if they do not concern themselves
with and judge such temporal matters as debts, each in their city and
province and among their 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 temporal cases to the
temporal judges, 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
sermon preached[26]. For from the hearing of the Gospel and the sermon
no one shall or can exclude or be excluded. The hearing 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 may perchance be
moved by it to acknowledge their sin and to reform. We read that it
was the ancient practice of the Church to dismiss those under the ban
after the sermon, and if a whole congregation were under the ban the
sermon must be allowed to proceed just as though there were no ban. In
addition, even though he who is under the ban may not remain for the
mass after the sermon, nor come to the sacrament[28], nevertheless he
should not neglect 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 sacrament[29].