Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 83:331 (Jul 1926)
Article: Views On Church And State
Author: A. v. C. P. Huizinga

BSac 83:331 (July 1926) p. 316

Views On Church And State

A. v. C. P. Huizinga

II.

The bold claim of the Roman Catholic Church to rule the entire world as the “Peerless Mistress of the truth,” under the command and authority of God, has often aroused bitter antagonism. Priestly arrogance and ecclesiastical tyranny have been charged against the Church of Rome, and sometimes the church has been set in contrast with true Christianity by her opponents. Even among the anti-clerical it is taken for granted that a true Christianity has a right to rule, that the spiritual may rightfully control the material, but against the identification of Christianity with the Romish church, the acceptance of this visible churchly institution as the representative of the holy catholic church, a well-founded protest is raised. In Reformed theology a more spiritual view is maintained of the invisible holy catholic church. It is therefore incapable of such a decree as that of the Lateran Council: “Let secular powers whatever offices they may exercise exterminate from the territories of their jurisdiction heretics of all kinds marked out by the church. But if any temporal ruler being required and admonished by the church, shall neglect to purge his hand from this heretical filth, let him be bound in the chain of excommunication by the metropolitan and other bishops of the province. And if he shall disdain to make satisfaction within a year, let this be signified to the supreme pontiff, that he may declare the vassals of that ruler henceforth released from their allegiance, and may offer the land to occupation by catholics, who, having exterminated the heretics, may possess it in peace and preserve it steadfast in the Faith.” A surprising and stultifying reliance upon secular power and brute force in behalf of the spiritual interests of the church of Rome is betrayed here. Yet, while invoking the secular powers in the cruel work of persecution that Church claims not

BSac 83:331 (July 1926) p. 317

to be stained by these massacres; she turns the execution of heretics over to the secular power. The Reformers, on the other hand, rely wholly on spiritual influence for the extermination of heretics, and would enact laws of religious observance only when a community is actually won to their faith, and even then leave freedom for dissenters. The claim of the Romish church is too high, both with respect to herself and the community. Wherever its claim has been through necessity abated the Romish church itself has proved truer to her mission. Thus the Romish church has itself been benefited by the deeper spiritual power of the Reformation, which declared Christ Himself the supreme spiritual authority; while the belief in the priesthood of all believers shattered the priestly assumptions of the churc...