Advice to a Desolate America
This is an extra post, something I only do here and there; my Substack title is, after all, Once a Week. I just read a short book that powerfully resonates with our current moment (in the US, at least), and think many Once a Week readers will find it edifying. Although there is often quite a bit of overlap with my focus on spiritual abuse, I don’t write about Christian nationalism. However, with my interest in one of the figures recently studied in my series on Calvin, named Sebastian Castellio, I read one of his books this weekend titled Advice to a Desolate France. Because this book fits so well with many of the debates and issues relevant to US politics (and similar Christian nationalist movements around the world), I decided to share portions of this book here. Obviously much is drastically different between 16th century France and 2024 America. No war is about to break out between Catholics and Protestants. But Castellio diagnosed what he saw as the sickness underneath the political/religious violence, and the diagnosis is very applicable to us today.
With little commentary (aside from a few occasional notes re Castellio), here is a 5k word abridgement of Castellio’s Advice to a Desolate France, published anonymously in 1562 (in French, Conseil à la France désolée). The book was finished in October, 1562, some seven months after the so-called Wars of Religion between the French Catholics and Protestants started on March 1 of that year at the Massacre of Vassy. Castellio directs his advice to both Catholics and Protestants (whom he calls Evangelics, ie, evangelicals, but also known as Huguenots).1
One of four surviving manuscripts of Castellio’s text
Advice to a Desolate France
A war, indeed, so horrible and detestable that I do not know whether there ever was a worse one since the earth came into existence, even though the world has hardly ever been without war…But this time your own children are ravaging and afflicting you, not by bickering with each other within your womb, as was the case with Rebecca, but by murdering and strangling each other within your bosom, without any mercy whatsoever, with enormous swords, fully drawn, with pistols and with halberds.
Well do you understand, O France, what I am saying, you who were so flourishing in the olden days, but are so strife-torn now. Well do you feel the blows and wounds which you are receiving, whilst your children are so cruelly killing one another. Well do you see that your towns and villages, indeed, your paths and fields, are littered with corpses, which stain your rivers red and putrify and foul the air. Briefly, within you there is neither peace nor rest, day nor night, and are but wails and lamentations heard from all sides and cannot a safe place, free of terror and murder, fear and horror, be found. This is your ill, O France, this is the malady which leaves you no respite, which torments you day and night.
The Seeking of a Remedy
Now we must see whether, somewhere in the world, the advice and remedy to heal you can be found. Many a time have I thought about this myself, and I was long in doubt as to whether I should apply myself to this, considering the difficulty which presented itself to me, not so much in the giving of good and definite advice (for that, unless I am very much deluding myself, is, thank God, rather easy for me), but in making it acceptable to those without whose consent I cannot see it being put into effect. And I would indeed, for the moment, have abstained from this undertaking, were it not for the magnitude of your ill, an ill so great, and becoming so much worse from day to day, that it is better for me to risk any possible consequences and at least do my duty, than to let you perish in such a miserable manner.
[as to risk of consequences, this book was banned by the Genevan Council which destroyed all known copies imported to their city. Also, as mentioned in part 3 of my series on Calvin as tyrant, Castellio’s brother-in-law Mathieu Issotier, a Genevan minister, was deposed in 1563 for distributing this book.]
Now, in order to find a remedy for you, it is necessary to do the same as good doctors do, who, in order to heal an illness, always seek the cause and then apply contrary remedies, in accordance with the general rule, which is that illnesses are healed by their antidotes. Likewise it is necessary, in this matter, to seek out the cause of your malady and then to apply contrary remedies to it. Otherwise, whatever one may do about it, will but be like beautiful plasters which, even whilst covering the wound on the outside, will nourish rather than heal it on the inside.
The Cause of the Malady
I find that the principal and effective cause of your malady, that is to say of the sedition and war which torment you, is the forcing of consciences, and I think that if you consider this well, you will assuredly find that this is so.
I do not even want to mention that they themselves [the Evangelicals, or Reformed], in their treaty entered into at Orleans, stress sufficiently clearly that they are fighting for religion, considering that of the three reasons for which they say they are taking up arms, the first is the Honour of God.2 As such, one must conclude that the cause of this war is the forcing of consciences.
Wrong Remedies
Now the remedy which your children, O France, are seeking is, firstly, to make war with each other, to kill and murder one another…and, secondly, to force one another’s consciences.
Those are the remedies which your children, O poor France, seek for your malady. They are, however, so unlike real remedies that they are having exactly the opposite effect, for these are the correct means to disembowel and destroy you, bodily as well as spiritually.
Now as far as the spiritual remedy is concerned, which is the forcing of consciences, I cannot wonder enough (and I must speak frankly here) at the foolishness and blindness as much of the one side as of the other. And in order to make myself better understood, I want to address myself frankly to both parties for a while. Today there are two kinds of people in France who wage war amongst each other for the sake of religion. The first are called Papists by their adversaries and the others Huguenots, and the Huguenots call themselves Evangelics, and the Papists Catholics. I shall call them what they call themselves, in order not to offend them.
To the Catholics
First of all I want to talk to you, O Catholics, who claim to have the ancient, true and catholic faith and religion. Do consider your affairs somewhat closely for a while, for it is time and more than time that you should do so. Remember how you have hitherto treated the Evangelics. You know well that you have persecuted them, imprisoned them, locked them into subterranean cellars, let them be eaten by lice and fleas, let them rot in mud pits, kept them in hideous dark places, under the shadow of death, and finally roasted them alive on a small fire in order to prolong their sufferings even further. And for what crime? Because they did not want to believe in the Pope, or mass, or purgatory and such other things, all of which so completely lack any foundation in the Scriptures, that even their names are nowhere to be found in them. Is that not a beautiful and just reason for burning people alive? You call yourselves Catholics and make it your business to uphold the Catholic faith, as contained in the Holy Scriptures, but you nevertheless hold for heretics, and burn alive, those who only want to believe that which is contained in the Scriptures? Stop a while here and weigh this up to the best of your knowledge…Tell me and answer now, for you will, for better or for worse, in any event have to answer for it one day, before the just Judge, whose name you carry….Would you yourselves like to be treated in this manner? Would you like to be persecuted, imprisoned, locked in subterranean cellars, given as food to lice and fleas, to rot in mud pits, to be kept in hideous dark places and under the shadow of death and, finally, to be roasted alive on a small fire, for not having believed in or confessed to something which was against your conscience? What do you answer? But what need is there for an answer; it is well known that your conscience says no, so emphatically indeed that even the most impudent amongst you would not dare to deny it.
And this is proof that to force a person’s conscience is worse than to deprive him cruelly of his life, for a God-fearing person prefers to have himself cruelly deprived of his life rather than to let his conscience be forced.
Because you have certainly martyred and murdered many a holy person, for which the Lord has now begun to reward you, and if you do not make amends, do not expect Him to withdraw His hand, which is stretched out to strike you. But how are you making amends? By doing even worse things than previously, namely by persecuting the Evangelics even more than ever. Is this the way to appease God? Is this not quite to the contrary, the very way to anger Him even more? For if He is angry with you by reason of your past cruelties (as, indeed, He is, and you are really blind if you do not see this), do not expect to appease Him by persevering with the same cruelty. For you are acting just like the man who has contracted gout by drinking too much, and then proceeds to drink even more, in order to get rid of it. Or like a child which has been hit by its father for having hit its brother and which then, in order to appease its father, proceeds to hit its brother even harder.
To the Evangelics
Now I am coming to you, Evangelics. In the past you peaceably suffered persecution for the sake of the Gospel, loved your enemies and rendered good for evil. You blessed those who cursed you, resisting them in no other way than by fleeing, if necessary, and all this you did in accordance with the commandment of the Lord. From where, now, comes such a great change in some of you? The innocent will not feel offended at my words; I am not speaking to all. I am only addressing those who are as I have described, and to them I say: Has the Lord changed His commandment, and have you received a new revelation telling you to do exactly the opposite of what you did before? You began well in spirit, but how did you manage to succeed in the flesh?
Furthermore you question people on your doctrine and you are not satisfied with the fact that there is agreement on the main points of religion which are clear and evident from the Holy Scriptures. You then, if they are in agreement with you on all points, give them letters with which they can prove that they are faithful, that is to say Christians, wherever they may go, so that they may be recognized amongst the unfaithful. Those are the three remedies which you are using, namely bloodshed, the forcing of consciences, and the condemning and regarding as unfaithful of those who are not entirely in agreement with your doctrine, I am astounded at your lack of understanding if you do not see that you are following your enemies and him you usually call the Antichrist, in these three points. I well understand that which some of you have taken to replying: namely that you are right, and they are wrong, and that for that reason it is quite permissible to persecute and force them. But they are not permitted to do this to you, which is the same as if you said that it is quite permissible for you to seize the possessions of others, but that others may not seize yours. But embellish your cause as much as you wish before men, and seek as many beautiful distinctions as you like, it is well known, and I am taking your own consciences as witnesses for this, that you are doing things to others which you would not like to be done to you.
You are, furthermore, using the fourth remedy, namely prayers and fasts, to appease the ire of God. This remedy would be very good and true, if the wrongs which I have mentioned did not prevent it from being effective. But there where cruelty and derision exist, fasts and prayers find no favour whatsoever with God…[T]hough you may pray and fast as much as you like, the Lord will hide His eyes from you, unless you mend your ways.
It is therefore based on false principles that you wish to be considered reformers of the Church, and that you call your churches reformed Churches, whereas, judging by your actions, they should in fact be called destroying churches. And I have indeed heard it said that your predecessor, Martin Luther, once openly admitted it. When asked the reason why his people did not amend their lives, he replied that God had sent him to destroy the Pope and not to build the Church, and that He would afterwards send someone else to do the building. But Luther was much more reasonable than you, for he at least fought with his tongue and his pen, without taking up arms, and not forcing others to do so but, rather, dissuading them from it, as is evidenced by the book which he wrote about the magistracy. And you did, as a matter of fact, once follow him, but now you are going very much further.
To the Catholics and the Evangelics, Concerning the Forcing of One Another’s Consciences
Answer in the name of Jesus Christ, answer me whether you would like your consciences to be forced. I am quite persuaded that your consciences answer no, and if this is the case, then why did you previously complain of the Catholics forcing yours, O Evangelics? And you, Catholics, why are you now beginning to complain of the Evangelics forcing yours? Are not your complaints condemning you, considering that you are doing those very things which you are finding fault with in others?
But do as you wish and seek everywhere in all diligence such scapegoats as you may, your own consciences will accuse you both at the day of Judgment, and in your own hearts will you carry your witnesses, witnesses which you will neither be able to despise nor reproach.
And if [the apostle Paul] so earnestly reprimands him who, by his example, causes another to sin against his conscience, without forcing him in any other way, indeed, without even telling him to do it, what would he say today if he saw the enormous violations which you are doing to consciences not by example, but as much by words as by deeds, by censuring, condemning, vilifying, banishing, depriving of their honour, their possessions and often of their body, those who cannot in good conscience believe or do what you believe or do?
[this appears to be an autobiographical comment, for Castellio was pushed out of Geneva when, after applying multiple times to be ordained, he was denied because he couldn’t in good conscience believe and agree with Calvin on relatively minor points of doctrine (how to interpret the Song of Songs, and the phrase on Christ’s descent into hell in the creed). As a consequence, Castellio for a time resorted to earning money by dredging up wood from the river and selling it.]
For if that is not forcing, then I do not know what forcing is. It is, indeed, impossible to commit greater violence, and yet I really believe that if you could find a greater one, you would commit it.
And I know well what some used to say here: “We would gladly teach them, but they are stubborn and they always persevere with their own ideas, whatever one says to them.” To which I reply: “But then, you propose things to them which would cause astonishment were they accepted by a man of good conscience and which, not surprisingly, they do not accept.” But let us assume that you are propounding the truth to them (as I believe you occasionally do) and that they do not accept it, what could one do about it? Would you make them accept it by force? If a sick person could not eat the good food which you might offer to him, would you force it down his throat by force? Or if a donkey does not want to drink, would you drown it to make it drink? Learn from Christ, and follow His example. When He came into contact with stubborn people He left them and said to His disciples: “Leave them.”
Exampes
Such examples [of unethical behavior by biblical characters, like Moses killing the Egyptians, etc.], briefly, are too dangerous to consider as matter for deliberation and have caused many to stumble. And with this it often happens as with a child, who wishes to act like a man who wields a sword and knows how to handle it, but hurts himself or another, because he is a child and does not know how to handle it. And furthermore, even if there were no danger, there are no examples concerning the forcing of consciences to be found, and even if there were, one should still not follow them, for the reasons set out above.
But the most important reason of all is that we owe allegiance to Christ, whose doctrine and example we have to follow, irrespective of what the others said or did, considering that the Father told us that He is His dear Son, and that we should listen to Him and obey Him.
It is this Son of God who says to us: “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” If, therefore, we do not learn gentleness and humility from Him, let us not expect to find peace for our souls. And experience will indeed show you that people who thus force the consciences of others, never have peace in their hearts even in this life, let alone in the other.
About the Good Intention
It but remains that what you are doing is being done by you as the result of a good intention, in the belief that you are doing well. But you know well, or you should at least know, that we must not follow our good intention, but the commandment of God, as He Himself says. For one is sometimes seriously mistaken in thinking that one is doing well…Likewise, from the words of Christ, who speaks as follows to his disciples: “They shall put you out of the synagogues: Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.”…Do not think, therefore, that God is satisfied with your thinking that you are doing well, if it is not done in accordance with His commandment.
The Fruits of Forcing Consciences
Let us now consider the fruits which result from your constraint.
Firstly, if those whom you are forcing, are strong and persevering and prefer to die rather than to hurt their consciences, you kill them, and as the murderers of their bodies you will have to answer to God for this.
Secondly, if they are so weak that they prefer to go back on their word and hurt their consciences, rather than to endure your torments and insufferable tortures, you are causing their souls to perish, which is still worse.
Thirdly, you are causing enormous offence to all true Christians and children of God. These, having a spirit in Christ, who is the spirit of complete gentleness, goodness and kindness, are, not without cause, greatly offended by your enormous violence and are continuously wailing to God about it. And do not doubt that there are several amongst you who, fearing your violence, are effectively keeping quiet with their mouths, but whose heart cries to the Heavens, and whose cry reaches up to the ears of Him who hears the sighs of the wrongly oppressed. Now consider whether it is a small sin to offend so many God-fearing people, considering that Christ says that it would be much better to be thrown into the middle of the sea with a millstone around your neck than to give the least offence to those who believe in Him. Think awhile, I pray you, about this millstone.
Fourthly, you are the reason why the holy name and holy and blessed doctrine of Jesus Christ is found fault with and blasphemed amidst foreign nations.
Fifthly, you are the reason why enmities, hatred and mortal and immortal grudges are being engendered amongst you.
There is only one benefit which the less bad amongst you are perhaps hoping for as the reward for all these evils, namely that through such violence some will be gained for Christ. To which I firstly answer that even if this were so, this benefit could in no way be compared to so many such great disadvantages as have already been mentioned. Furthermore, for you to commit so many wrongs for such a benefit, is just as great a madness as for someone to sow a hundred barrels of corn in order to harvest one, or for someone to burn his house in order to obtain ashes, or for one to kill a hundred men already advanced in age, in order to beget a child.
This is why I say that those who thus look to numbers and for that reason force people, gain nothing, but rather lose. They are like the fool who, possessing a large vat containing a small quantity of wine, fills it completely with water in order to have more, and so doing not only fails to increase his wine, but even spoils the good he had. Thus, such people wishing to augment the number of Christians, not only completely fail to do so, but even spoil whatever good there was…For it must be said that wine is worth but little if people are forced to drink it, and it must equally be said that your doctrine is worth but little if you have to force it onto people.
These are the evils which, instead of good, result from your good intentions and coercions. It is amazing if you do not see these and fail to notice that, instead of advancing your religion, you are even retarding it.
Consider the matter well, so that you may realize that this is so. Firstly, when Luther began to make himself heard, you, Catholics, began to persecute his sect and to burn its members in order to suppress it, and you have since never ceased to endeavour, in every possible manner, to uproot it. And what have you gained? You have rendered yourselves suspect and have caused people to want to investigate what it was, as the result of which the matter became so important that a hundred have come in the place of the one which you have burned.
It is the same with you, Evangelics. When, hitherto, you fought with spiritual arms, which you learnt and took from Christ and His Apostles, namely faith, love, patience and others, God blessed you and strengthened you so much that your cause always progressed from good to better and that your numbers grew manifold, like the dewdrops of the dawn of day. But now that you have abandoned spiritual arms and taken up mortal ones, everything is going completely awry for you. For your violence renders you suspect and causes people to regard you in a very bad light and to withdraw instead of stepping forward.
About Disadvantages
I am now going to talk about the disadvantages which could, it seems, come about if one should let the heretics live. These disadvantages could be twofold. The first, unrest and sedition, and the second, the false doctrine which the heretics might spread.
To which I answer, firstly as far as the sedition is concerned, that the fools are bringing about that very evil which they think they are avoiding. For seditions are being caused by the fact that one wants to force and kill the heretics, rather than to let them live without constraint, for tyranny engenders sedition…For it is certain that the sedition which torments you is the result of the tyrannising and persecuting of those which are held for heretics. Had they not been tyrannised, they would perhaps not have revolted…I do not even wish to mention that it would be better to be in danger of a future sedition than to use tyranny now, all the more so as tyranny is a far greater, certain and actual evil, which kills both the soul of the tyrant and the bodies and sometimes also the souls of the tyrannised, whilst sedition is an evil which may possibly not come about and which, if it does, can be repulsed or, at worst, will but affect the body.
As far as the false doctrine, which the heretics might sow, is concerned, I indeed admit that this is a disadvantage which it would be well to remedy. But one must take care (as I have just remarked, concerning the matter of sedition) that the remedy is not worse and more harmful to the patient than the ill which one desires to cure. Now it is a fact that the remedy which is being used, namely the tyrannising and murdering of the heretics, is far worse and more harmful than the illness…What is more, when the world so continually sees them cast in the role of martyrs, it comes to believe that they are good people, so that several will take up their cause, as the result of which you will sometimes for one make seven others. That, then, is the result of your foolish wisdom.
It also happens more often than not that, instead of persecuting a heretic, one by mistake persecutes a Christian. Christ indeed predicted this, when He said to His disciples that whoever would kill Him, would think that he was rendering service to God. This we always find to have happened, from the time of Christ, right up to our time.
A wise man always chooses the lesser of two evils, if he cannot avoid them both. A wise doctor prefers to let the sickness continue, rather than to kill the patient. A wise labourer prefers to let the weeds grow with the corn rather than, whilst tearing out the weeds, to tear out the corn at the same time. Jesus Christ, who is the wise doctor and labourer, saw this clearly in the parable of the tare, that is to say the weeds. For whether or not He speaks of heretics in this parable (I say this because this point is being debated), the circumstance is still similar…Likewise, if a labourer gave an order to his servants to the effect that they should tear the weeds out from amongst the corn, he would be acting foolishly (however much the weeds might be a nuisance, and however much it might be desirable for them to be torn out) and would cause the good corn to be pulled out. Thus a theologian who draws up an ordinance to the effect that one should kill heretics, is acting foolishly (however much the heretics may be a nuisance, and however much it may be desirable for them to be eradicated) and is causing Christians to be put to death.
Regarding this point, someone will say to me: “Do you then want the heretics to be left to do and say whatever they please, without resisting them in any way?” Most certainly not, I do not want this, but it is my desire that they should be resisted by good and becoming means, like the wise and godly resisted them in the past. For I ask you how Jesus Christ resisted the Pharisees and Sadducees? How did the Apostles resist Simon, the magician, and Bar-Jesus and others? Was it not by means of divine and virtuous words, without putting the hand to the sword and without inciting anyone else, whether a public or private person, to do so? For they were wise warriors, who knew how to wage spiritual war with spiritual arms. They, therefore, who act differently and use violence, clearly show that they are not their followers.
The Ways to Resist the Heretics
Thus the way to combat the heretics would be by means of words of truth, which are always more powerful than words of lies. And if, having been persuaded by truth, and having been several times legitimately admonished, they still persevere with their hardheadedness, let them be excommunicated. That is the correct punishment for heretics. And if, having been excommunicated, they still do not desist from teaching, let the people be forbidden to listen to them, and if someone nevertheless listens to them, let he himself be admonished and, in the end, should he persevere, be regarded as disobedient. That is how one can protect the church from heretics.
The Turc indeed protects his Christian and Jewish subjects against the violence which could be done to them, and he does not protect them because of their religion, which he holds in disdain, but because they are his subjects. The Christian princes act likewise with the Jews. In this way they will be able to protect their subjects, whoever they may be, against any violence which might be done to them.
These are the correct ways to resist the heretics: by words, if they but use words, and by the sword, if they avail themselves of the sword.
Summary
Thus, to come to the point and to end my argument, I have shown that the cause of your illness, O France, is the forcing of consciences and that the remedies which are being sought for it, as much by the one side as by the other, are wrong and can but worsen and not cure your illness. Also they are displeasing to God, being against God and reason, not being based on a commandment by God, and without an authentic example, and proceeding only from a good intention, combined with ignorance of the truth.
Warning to the Preachers
As good advice is of no value to people if the governors are not in agreement with it, and as the governors cannot agree with it as long as they are being wrongly taught by those whose doctrine they follow, I advise you, O preachers and teachers, as much of the one side as of the other, to give this matter mature consideration and to remember the words of the Heavenly Teacher, who spoke as follows: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” From this it clearly follows that the firebrands, who favour and incite war, are wretched, for they shall be called children of the devil. Do not think that it is a small scandal and sin to incite princes and nations to war.
To the Princes
Likewise, O Princes and Captains, be wise and rather follow the doctrine of the pacifists than that of the others, lest you, being blind, should follow the blind and fall with your guides into the abyss of perdition, from which those who have made you stumble into it, cannot retrieve you
To the Private People
And you, private people, who are neither teachers nor lords, do not be so hasty to follow those who urge you to take up arms in order to kill your brothers, gaining nothing but the displeasure of God. For, certainly, those who are guiding you are leading you astray in this matter and are causing you to take steps for which they will veritably have to give account on your behalf. But even so, you will still not be acquitted, for both he who gives wrong advice and he who follows it, will be punished. May the Lord grant all of you the mercy to return, rather late than never, to your right senses, and if this should come about, I shall praise Him for it. If it does not come about, I shall at least have done my duty, and I hope that at least someone will learn something, and realise that I have spoken the truth, which would mean, even if there be only one such person, that my work has not been in vain.
Written in the month of October, in the year 1562.
1 Excerpts are taken from the translation by Wouter Valkhoff (Shepherdstown, WV: Patmos Press, 1975), reprinted in the Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 19, Number 1 (Spring 2016): 155–218. There is no paywall to the copy reproduced in Journal of Markets & Morality, and my posts are entirely free, so I trust my extensive excerpting is ethical.
2 “At Orléans on April 12, 1562, the Huguenot leaders signed the manifesto in which they stated that as loyal subjects they were driven to take up arms for liberty of conscience on behalf of the persecuted saints.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Huguenot”