The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-05-08

centuries OF It's history. III Will mdto
rails so feeble and unpromising, as those
which constituted the primitive Church,
and in the face of opposition such as no
other system of doctrine ever encounter
ed, the Christian Church were able steadi-
" to advance in the world; then might
the Church in all subsequent ages learn
the great lesson, that it needed no pat
ronage from the State. In the inherent
power of truth, i'll the living exemplifca-
tons of holiness, and in the spiritual aid
of its heavenly King, the Church pos
sessed the surest pledges of her safety
and ultimate triumph. The powers of
the world, too, might have learned, and
should have learned, not only that their
hostility to this divine Kingdom must
prove unavailing; but that it stood in no
need of their cooperation to further its
interests.
Unhappily for both Church and State
these great lessons were overlooked, or
soon forgotten; when Christians discov-
cred that they had become strong enough
in power to enlist the aid of the State.
From the day when the first Christian
Emperor of Rome became the avowed
patron and ally of Christ's Kingdom, the
ehurch's true glory. became in a measure
eclipsed. In external splendor and a
certain form of power the Church of the
fourth century surpassed its earlier re-
nown; and even among evangelical men
we find some, who dwell with complacen-
cy upon the fact, that under Constantine
and his successors, the Kingdom of
Christ was by law, established in the
Roman empire. But let any one, whose
views of Christ's Kingdom have been
formed under the light of the New Tes-
lament alone, and especially of the doc
trine of our text, let any one carefully
study the history of the Church from the
days of Constantine to our own, and he
will feel, that in seeking, or permitting
an alliance with the State, it has been
guilty of grievous detection from the
Gospel standard, and has lost far more
in spiritual purity and energy, than ii
has gained IN external prosperity and
power. Scarcely was the religion of the
Gospel espoused by the powers of the
State, when Christians began to demand
the propagation of their doctrines by the
forces of the State. They who, while
subject to Pagan persecution, had insist
ed that the weapons of the Church were
"not carnal, but spiritual, now employ
ed the sword Of the magistrate to extend
the Kingdom of Him who had proclaim
ed, "My Kingdom is not of this world. y
We find Arians prosecuting the Ortho
dox, and Orthodox prosecuting Arians
We read of princes compelling heather
tribes to submit to Christian baptism, OIL
suffer the penalty of the sword. AnC
for more than thousand years the his
tory of Christianized Europe is history
of incessant intermeddling of State with
Church, and of Church with State. NJ
| small part of the craftsmanship of Chris
tian nations was expended in the adjust
ment of the claims and interests of thu
Church. No inconsiderable proportion
of the wars which desolated European
states for twelve centuries have, in one
way or another, been prosecuted for the
alledged welfare of Christ's Kingdom
The crusades for the possession of the
Holy Sepulchre, and the extirpation o.
Albigenses and Waldenses, the wars o.
tSpain for the suppression of Protestant
ism in the Netherlands, and of France
againsther Huguenot subjec the "Thir
ty Years War" in Germany, and some
of the most sanguinary conflicts in Great
Britain and Ireland, were waged in pro
fessed maintenance of that Kingdom
whose Sovereign had announced, "My
Kingdom is not of this world; else would
my servants fight" "Put up thy sword
into his place; for all they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword
| So long had the Church been accus-
toned to call to its aid the sword of the
State; so habituated had Christians be-
come to the pernicious doctrine that
States, as States, were bound to defend
Christ's cause, by furnishing its enemies
that even the Reformers themselves ad.
vocated the punishment of heretics by
the civil sword. Without an exception
they had learned in the bosom of the
Romish Church and from a perverted
Interpretation of the Old Testament tc
treat religious heresies, as if they had
been civil offences, and to apply to
Christ's spiritual Kingdom, what was
only applicable to the Jewish State, in
which Jehovah was as much the Civil
Ruler and Lawgiver, as he was their Reli.
gious Sovereign.
Nor was it merely in suppressing here
sizes and furnishing heretics that the
Church authoritatively claimed the in,
terposition of the State. In endless
ways did it presume to prescribe to the
State, what policy it should pursue in
promoting religion, in advancing civil in
terests, and even in conducting its af
fairs with foreign nations.
1t seems strange to US, that in all the
Reformed Churches of Europe the State
should have been allowed, and even in
vited, to prescribe and legislate for the
Church. We shall be no less surprised
to discover, that the Church did not
scruple to dictate to the State, not only
as to matters ecclesias zeal, but even as
to many strictly political. Even in Scot
land, where the work of Reformation
was more thorough than in most coun-
tries, and where the successors of the
Reformers, if not the Reformers them
i snluas had attainnd inStnr uiaws of the