Smyrna times., 1855-04-25
atllstrllancous 3tlattcr
The Wars of the Churches.

The Wars of the Churches.
Ever since the church crushed the Roman
empire III It's embraces the struggles fhumaL-
lty have been Implicated with ecclesiastical ele-
ments more or less patent or occult. Nhe
the emperors were pagans, the church had
fellow feeling for the barbarians, because they |
had common enemy. Afterwards the secu-
lar arm of the Caesars were used as much as "A
of propa eating the faith, as against the Inroads
of the savage invaders. The resusctatlon OF
the western empire under Charlemagne WAS
not by any means mere play of titles, as is |
best proved by his thirty years war against the
Saxons, ending In their torcble cOnverslOn.-
After the paganism of the north was entirely |
subdued, the contest turned against the ntides
of the east south and west; and this struggle
occupied the period Of the crusades. 1t was
not near SO successful as the battle against the
Mortimer; indeed it was rather a war OF de-
fence than offence. Ii barely suiiced to check
the advance of the Otlomans at Belgrade and
of the Moors at the Pyrenees.
Scarcely were these questions settled when
the war broke out in the bosom OF the church
itself Where heathenlsm had longest llnger
ed, professionalism awoke earliest; indeed, there
! is undenlaby a certain rude and savage pro-
testantsm in the doctrine of Mohamned, who
|
| if not the western, when he fashioned his dog
mas it is not without some probability there
fore, that the civilization of the Saracen empire,
communicated in the course of the Crusades
and of the commercial enterprise of the Hansa,
to the minds of the Saxons baptisedby Charlie
magne, were largely operative in arouslng the
spirit of protcstatlon in the north.
The wars between the Protestant and Catho-
lie element have lasted down to our own times.
True, in the wars proceeding the French revo-
luton we frequently find Catholic powers al
lied with Protestants, in opposition TO Catholics
or Protestants; the political element at times
Overbore the ecclesiastical; but wherever the
contest was more than mere war of cabinets,
wherever the people entered into its merits,
the question between popery and Protestant
ism will be found predominant. The same rule
APPLIES to the American revolution; the wings
battled for logcai consequence OF Protest
Observation-Disclosures selt-gOvernment; and the
tories supported the vital principle of Catholl-
S cisn-a hierarchy in Church and State. The
same conflict is still more glaringly apparent
in the French revolution. In the usurpatloI
=. of Napoleon, which practically effected thu
detailed aims and objects of the movement
: there was at the same time desertlon of 1t
g fundamental spirit; and thus the wars of lSl;
were a legitimate uprising Of Protestantlsn
against the renovated Catholic spirit, none thu
less that Catholic Austria Joined the alliance
e at the eleventh hour.
l. In all these developments the Greek Churc
: has played a very subordinate part. This eclc
sastical concrctIon stands to one western churc
' IN relation nearly corresponding to the pOs
Il ton held by the Roman Church to Protestant
lie ism. 1t nol only demands the remuneration {
II individual opinion, but it never assumes tn
- possibility ofthe existence ofindivldual opinion
IL punishes refusal to conform with Observal
ces with fire and sword, but 1t never asks r.
he cantation of opinions, because 1t does not D.
e, lieve them to be entertained. 1t does not al
O. cord sufficient honor to human thought to pros
=, cute it with an inquisitlon. 1t has the ARE
=" gance Of the Roman See, but not its energ
III for evil. While the former struggled for ce
Sd turies to subject the secular power to It's S
premacy, the latter quietly entered into Il
services of the state, claiming nothing but
hire and salary AS now manifested In kUsSl
il exhibits all the evil characteristics ofthe S
m per-refined Greeks from which it sprung CO
Dled with all the vices of the SclavOnc bG
S barism on which it was engrafted. The
#. dern Moscow may be regarded in every respe
as the viest carrcature of ancient Athe
"e which history could delineate.
The inroads of the Saracens made peace |
The tween the eastern and western churches, a
.he since that time their antagonsm has not ent'
40. ed into the combinations of history. they
- ways fought the Turks, who were the southe
hor infdels, and the northern heretics of Swed'
-. The genius of Frederick IL. was the hrst to d
ask turb this. amity, by producing the dism'mG :,
his ment of Poland, which, though 1t some"i
. aggrandzed Austria, banished Roman suPrcu
-. cy forever from the north of Europe. Slr
lty then, Russia has generally been found IN leas
- with the Protestant element.
The present war has deranged all these q
- positions, by bringing Eng land over 70 the
''eF wei of the Catholic powers, and prociaimmg CT
=, alliance between the crescent and the cross
~, The adhesion of Turkey TO the Catholic pow
is the natural result of circumstances; but
you LEAGUE of England with the great tutelary PC
must ers of the Roman See, brings her into a ia
position, which is daily increasing her em
an - rassments,t In hisrespect she yieldsthe P'
of consistency TO, that Prussia. which her Jc
you naiists so virulently assail, but whose polio
snce now daily gaining ground in public oplnlor
5en- Itis of particular interest to us Amerlcans
urse cause tits practically the same course, vi
cad weOuraelyes pursue, .ThOrs are indeed N q
i Ia afoetfahs' n4os 4tnj4gi3 qr8t,h % {-.u gaa