still fear amongst a nation. He basically said that God was not to be feared, rather he should be respected. Furthermore, he wanted the leaders of the world to be good Christians. He wanted them to follow Christ's word rather than use his words to make other's follow them. "But my hope is that I may be able to teach princes and secular authorities how they can remain Christians and yet leave Christ as Lord, without reducing Christ's commands to mere 'counsels' for their sake". ( Luth. p 4) This quote clearly illustrates Luther's feelings about Machiavelli's views. Luther also says that it is important to obey God's law before obeying any secular law. He also draws a clear distinction between God's law and secular law. "The first point to be noted is that the two parts into which the children of Adam are divided, the one the kingdom of God under Christ, the other the kingdom of the world under secular authority, have each their own kind of law. Everyday experience sufficiently shows us that every kingdom must have its own laws and that no kingdom or government can survive without law. Secular government has laws which extend no longer than the body, goods and outward, earthly matters. But where the soul is concerned, God neither can nor will allow anyone but himself to rule. And so, where secular authority takes it upon itself to legislate for the soul, it trespasses on (what belongs to) God's government, and merely seduces and ruins souls". (Luth. p 23) Machiavelli and Luther both believed that religion was a fundamental part of any successful society, large or small, but for very different reasons. Machiavelli strongly believed that religion was the only thing that would lead to widespread conformity with the basic laws of society. He strongly believed that it was all right to use religion in politics to ultimately control the people. " It was religion that facilitated whatever enterprise the senate and the great men of R...
