Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-04-24
THE ADDRESS OF ELDER GEORGE
PLATTENBURG.
At the Celebration of the Semi.
Centennial of the Christian
Church at lexington.
ADril II. 1856

Most great movements are generated by
their antagonIsms. Every great religious
movement connects itself with persistent
forms Of thOu4ht,of whirh it becomes the his
tOr,cal eXpres>i0n: the end of ii long chain
of intellectual antegedenis. Often il is the
recOil or reaction from prior degradations.
il revulsiou from lower grades OF life, INTO
which the race seems to draft by some inhe-
rent and incveiable force. Judaism dcSener-
ated into Il Rlb)ini>n of coarse SEperstitl"ns
senseess furns and empty ceremonies and
rites. Christ denounced the human inven-
lions and devices which deSpoiled ancient
truth of its power. rendering void the DIVINE
commandments by their fruitess and barren
substtutlons. The Pagan world at the intro
ductiOn of Christianity presented picture
of hopeless debasement. seldom equalled in
the history of mankind. In the words OF
Farrar: "lts enormous wealth; its unbound
ed seif-indulgence; its coarse and tasieless
luxury; its greedy avarice; Its sense OF in
security and terror; its apathy, debauchery
and cruelty; its hopeless fatalism; its un-
speakable sadness and weariness; its strange
eXtravagances, alike of iItidelity and super
stitiOn have never been exceeded in the story
of man." Its whole life debased, its art de-
graded, its literature smitten with the
taint of death. Yet by this very debasement,
cravings were begotten for higher and better
things. Out of this very sadness and weari-
ness of Sated lust, cries assembled into the ears
of theInfniteSpiri for deliVerance. Out OF the
worlds helplessness ready reception was
made for the healing and redeeming lessons
of Jesus, the prince Of all the ages. Even
from the sublimey sweet and simple truths
| Of the Mighty Master, men drified away into
darkness and moral and spiritual wreck.
From the fall of the Roman Empire to that
of COnstantinople. there was nearly thOus-
and years of gloom, cruelty, degradation,
almost defying the power Of feXpression;civili.
cation blotted out. the eclipse of faith and
| truth, ignorance and superstition filling the
whole earth with the malaria Of spiritual
| death. The reVulsion came at last. The
| revolution was inaugurated. The recOil from
Pagan fctioDs and fOllies came. The bur-
den laid upon human credulity became toe
| great, The common sense OF mankind could
bear no other strain, and the war began. In
| this great period, SO full of vast struggles Of
the mightiest forces, there were three forms
OF thought contending for the ascendency:
| |. Hierarchism, or the religion of the
Priest.
, Rationalism, or the religion of men.
3. Christianity, or The religion Of Chris
and God.
Or AS Chevalier fsunsen puts it, Sacer.
dotaIi>m and SchoIasticism, or Ari>totelan
ism. These two latter elements were inter.
woven with the web and wOoi of the pre-re
formation religions. The corruptors O
christianity even declared that the teachings
OF Aristotle were consonant to the truest ant
best doctrines of Christianity and ecen DlOr
true. The great work of the mighty German
Was to sweep away the canOns and decretals
the superstitions that had accumulated during
tue lapse of years eclpsing wholly the pur'
lessons of primitive truth. Mr.. Buckle say
his labor was Ito establish the right of priyat,
judgment; to appeal from the church to in
divlduals; to increase the play of each man
intellect ITO test The opinions of the priesthood
by the opinions of laymen; il was, in fact,
/, rising of the scholars against their teachers
of the ruled against the rulers" Free though
| Was trapHnm N m
hates to-day. One of the latest utterances o
Il champion of that baleful power, that i
semper eaie1n changeess in her nature ant
pOilty Is. that lit is free thought that has mad
The Gospels legend andt he subject of them
myth" But this great German soul smot
well upon the front, gave freedom and Il vas
impulse TO human thought, quickeninS iron
lie Carpaihian mountains to the pillars O
Hercules, from the Vlstula to the Tiber, tn
brain and Drawn of the world. Three cen
lurles and more of conQueStS, withOu
parallel in mankind's wondrOus career. Ye
while we recognize the marvellous work ac
compished, the greatness of soul and brai
in these bnld reforIncrs, the purity of purpOs
and grandeur OF aim in all this war of giants
we are not blind to their failures and weak
nesse,. They gave up in their own liie-tim
the very principle because OF which the re
bellion WAS inaugur;.,ed and the cOuili,
wased. RepudiatiDg the tyranny of the Papi
throne,,he authority of councils aud eccIesIa.
oiCdi 'ouSid' tosti-t pipiCsSiNc Eu;C vi GOSiia
and decretalS begoIen by the ingenuity O
men, they themselves began to impose upo
men articles and canOns OF their own con
triyance. crcctis of their own making. churc
policies OF their own bege;iing. thus, violatin
the great principle of the individual soul'
unlimited anu untrammelled liberty Z
thought. The right OF each man to inyestl
gate Tor himself tie word OF God aud to a,
for himself Independently of priestly intel
| vention. In the absence ai This principle, u,
reformation was an ImpoSsibIity, perchanc
Il crime. The truth of The claim WAS the sol
basi, and Justification OF tie re, Oiution All
yet they imposed in turn. upon The az,
human systems, H. lc>i, vi orthodoxy an
! standards of evangellc!ty. Th.Se standard.
! beginning with the earliest su-calleu symbols
{ introduced whole centuries of weariness an
horror and failure. he name of God be
came the shelter and defense of unspeakabl
atrocities. Ages OF palIid fear and lremblin!
. Saints hunted down By psam-singinS batch
ers, or naughty cavaliers with smooth ia,
= anu blonde curls dabblel in the blood of til
lelcct, fierce dragons bloody TO the bride b
in Cameronian slaughters. War, bitter an
cruel and relentless, marked by neither Dit
or remorse, war for the non-essentials of r.
liSion, for the accidents of denomination
sections of the mutllated body of Christ. pal
ty struggles Tor partisan aggraudize meut tt
spirit of Christ lost i'll the spirit OF sect ,alwa,
hateful, always rancorouS, always biastii
the cause OF Christ, ~ ith its hot ana poIsonor
V breath, always staying the triumph of Ii
right and the victory of the truth, the bod