The Papacy and Good Works (F. Pieper)
F. Pieper. Christian Dogmatics. Volume III. The Papacy and Good Works: Pages 65-66.
"This rule, by the way, that the members of the Jesuit order must put their conscience into the keeping of the superior, represents no new development in the system of the Papacy. When the Pope denies to the rest of mankind the right to judge for themselves in matters of doctrine and demands the sacrificium intellectus et voluntatis, he thereby requires every human being to surrender his own conscience and thus to renounce that faculty which distinguishes man from beast. It has been justly said of the Papacy that it "dehumanizes mankind." The right to be a man has been reclaimed for mankind by the Reformation. Luther demands that all questions of right and wrong be submitted to the conscience of the individual, that the individual Christian decide for himself the questions of doctrine and morals according to God's revealed Word, and that in matters pertaining to the state and civil life the individual decides according to the light of reason, or the "natural Law, in which reason appears at its best (St. L. X:416).
Footnote 107:
In accordance with this everyone must carefully examine whether, e. g., a war is justified or not. Cf. Luther, St. L. X:413 ff., 524 ff. Here the conscience of the individual must decide; he cannot permit the State or the Church (pastor, synod) or any other man-made agency to make the decision for him. Therefore Luther stresses the need to investigate the situation, not in a superficial manner, but "with the greatest diligence." That is also the meaning of the 16th article of the Augustana, where among the functions of the government also the right "to engage in just wars" is mentioned. If the government calls its citizens to arms to prosecute an unjust war, the citizens must refuse their obedience, as the end of the article states. Luther states the same in the treatises mentioned above. Only where, after diligent inquiry, a personal decision becomes impossible and the matter remains uncertain, there according to Luther's opinion, the Christian, when forced to serve in the war, should "not weaken the certain obedience" (to the government) "for the sake of an uncertain right." (ibid., 525)
"This rule, by the way, that the members of the Jesuit order must put their conscience into the keeping of the superior, represents no new development in the system of the Papacy. When the Pope denies to the rest of mankind the right to judge for themselves in matters of doctrine and demands the sacrificium intellectus et voluntatis, he thereby requires every human being to surrender his own conscience and thus to renounce that faculty which distinguishes man from beast. It has been justly said of the Papacy that it "dehumanizes mankind." The right to be a man has been reclaimed for mankind by the Reformation. Luther demands that all questions of right and wrong be submitted to the conscience of the individual, that the individual Christian decide for himself the questions of doctrine and morals according to God's revealed Word, and that in matters pertaining to the state and civil life the individual decides according to the light of reason, or the "natural Law, in which reason appears at its best (St. L. X:416).
Footnote 107:
In accordance with this everyone must carefully examine whether, e. g., a war is justified or not. Cf. Luther, St. L. X:413 ff., 524 ff. Here the conscience of the individual must decide; he cannot permit the State or the Church (pastor, synod) or any other man-made agency to make the decision for him. Therefore Luther stresses the need to investigate the situation, not in a superficial manner, but "with the greatest diligence." That is also the meaning of the 16th article of the Augustana, where among the functions of the government also the right "to engage in just wars" is mentioned. If the government calls its citizens to arms to prosecute an unjust war, the citizens must refuse their obedience, as the end of the article states. Luther states the same in the treatises mentioned above. Only where, after diligent inquiry, a personal decision becomes impossible and the matter remains uncertain, there according to Luther's opinion, the Christian, when forced to serve in the war, should "not weaken the certain obedience" (to the government) "for the sake of an uncertain right." (ibid., 525)
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