The Kingdom of God Is Within You
By Leo Tolstoy.
Translated by Leo Weiner.
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“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 8:32
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Matthew 10:28
“Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”
1. Corinthians 7:23
Preface
In the year 1884 I wrote a book under the title, My Religion. In this book I really expounded what my religion is.
In expounding my belief in Christ’s teaching, I could not help but express the reason why I do not believe in the ecclesiastic faith, which is generally called Christianity, and why I consider it to be a delusion.
Among the many deviations of this teaching of Christ, I pointed out the chief deviation, namely, the failure to acknowledge the commandment of nonresistance to evil, which more obviously than any other shows the distortion of Christ’s teaching in the church doctrine.
I knew very little, like the rest of us, as to what had been done and preached and written in former days on this subject of nonresistance to evil. I knew what had been said on this subject by the fathers of the church, Origen, Tertullian, and others, and I knew also that there have existed certain so-called sects of the Mennonites, Herrnhuters, Quakers, who do not admit for a Christian the use of weapons and who do not enter military service, but what had been done by these so-called sects for the solution of this question was quite unknown to me.
My book, as I expected, was held back by the Russian censor, but, partly in consequence of my reputation as a writer, partly because it interested people, this book was disseminated in manuscripts and lithographic reprints in Russia and in translations abroad, and called forth, on the one hand, on the part of men who shared my views, a series of references to works written on the subject, and, on the other, a series of criticisms on the thoughts expressed in that book itself.
Both, together with the historical phenomena of recent times, have made many things clear to me and have brought me to new deductions and conclusions, which I wish to express.
First I shall tell of the information which I received concerning the history of the question of nonresistance to evil, then of the opinions on this subject which were expressed by ecclesiastic critics, that is, such as profess the Christian religion, and also by laymen, that is, such as do not profess the Christian religion; and finally, those deductions to which I was brought by both and by the historical events of recent times.
The Kingdom of God Is Within You
Christianity Not as a Mystical Teaching but as a New Concept of Life
I
Among the first answers to my book there came some letters from the American Quakers. In these letters, which express their sympathy with my views concerning the unlawfulness for Christianity of all violence and war, the Quakers informed me of the details of their so-called sect, which for more than two hundred years has in fact professed Christ’s teaching about nonresistance to evil, and which has used no arms in order to defend itself. With their letters, the Quakers sent me their pamphlets, periodicals, and books. From these periodicals, pamphlets, and books which they sent me I learned to what extent they had many years ago incontestably proved the obligation for a Christian to fulfil the commandment about nonresistance to evil and had laid bare the incorrectness of the church teaching, which admitted executions and wars.
Having proved, by a whole series of considerations and texts, that war, that is, the maiming and killing of men, is incompatible with a religion which is based on love of peace and goodwill to men, the Quakers affirm and prove that nothing has so much contributed to the obscuring of Christ’s truth in the eyes of the pagans and impeded the dissemination of Christianity in the world as the nonacknowledgment of this commandment by men who called themselves Christians—as the permission granted to a Christian to wage war and use violence.
“Christ’s teaching, which entered into the consciousness of men, not by means of the sword and of violence,” they say, “but by means of nonresistance to evil, can be disseminated in the world only through humility, meekness, peace, concord, and love among its followers.
“A Christian, according to the teaching of God Himself, can be guided in his relations to
