Quotes from book
The Net of Faith

Name: The Net of Faith
Author: Petr Chelčický

Petr Chelčický Original title Sieť viery pravé (Czech, 1443)

“The Church of Rome has allied herself with the state, and now they both drink together the blood of Christ, one from a chalice, and the other from the ground where it was spilled by the sword…”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

Source: The Net of Faith (c. 1443), Chapter 91, Interpretation of Romans 13:5-7 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2013%3A5-7&version=NIV (Conclusion)

“Our faith obliges us to bind wounds, not to make blood run.”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

Source: The Net of Faith (c. 1443)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%203%3A14&version=NIV Luke 3:14

“Facts witness to the reality that [Christians] have abandoned God, that they have entered the world and become one with the world. Whatever the world considers praiseworthy – vanity, comfort, wealth, fancy notions, blasphemies – the Christians, too, praise with one accord, quite blatantly without shame and without conscience. We can find with difficulty one man in a thousand who does not conform himself to the world.”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

Source: The Net of Faith (c. 1443), Chapter 95

“Wars and other kinds of murder have their beginning in the hatred of the enemy and in the unwillingness to be patient with evil. Their root is in intemperate self-love and in immoderate affection for temporal possessions. These conflicts are brought into this world because men do not trust the Son of God enough to abide by his commandments.”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

The Net of Faith (c. 1443)

“A world contrary to God must be kept within bounds by the world’s sword. But true Christians love God and their neighbors as themselves; they commit no evil by the grace of God. It is not necessary to compel them to goodness since they know better what is good than the law imposing authority.”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

Source: The Net of Faith (c. 1443), Chapter 95

“He who obeys God needs no other authority.”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

The Net of Faith (c. 1443)

“But true Christians love God and their neighbors as themselves; they commit no evil by the grace of God. It is not necessary to compel them to goodness since they know better what is good than the law-imposing authority. They have a knowledge of God within, which is a knowledge of His commandments and His love. Having His love within they do good to others and are just to all men in accordance with His law so that the authorities which rule the world have no occasion to find them guilty.”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

Variant: A world contrary to God must be kept within bounds by the world’s sword. But true Christians love God and their neighbors as themselves; they commit no evil by the grace of God. It is not necessary to compel them to goodness since they know better what is good than the law imposing authority.
Source: The Net of Faith (c. 1443), Chapter 95, Summary

“When the Jews were prisoners of the King of Babylon, they sent a message to the Jews of Jerusalem, saying,
Pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and for the life of Belshazzar his son, that their days may be like the days of heaven upon the earth. And the Lord, will give us strength, … and we will live under the shadow of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and under the shadow of Belshazzar his son, and we will serve them for a long time and find favor in their sight.
This prayer was offered by prisoners – and they prayed for the king their jailer. He was their enemy, and yet they prayed for him…”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

Source: The Net of Faith (c. 1443), Chapter 92, Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:1-3 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%202:1-3&version=NIV There Can Be No Christian Sovereignty