The Progress., 1892-12-24
~sUGys
vesus Christ in

SIItS UOTtu.
..ar has this spirit of persecution
done for us? John came back to Christ
and said, Master, saw man casting
ont devils who seemed to be doing great
work. but he was not with us, was not
orthodox, and we told him he had no
right" Jesus said: FORBID him not.
In this great fight with evil and wrong
if a man is not against you he Is with
Won. Let him alone" Jesus rebuked
this spirit in one of his disciples and
laid down a principle of law that makes
impossible any heresy trial on the fun
damental grounds of loyalty to Jesus.
What has this spirit of persecution
done for the church of Christ in the his
tory of the past?
First-It has repressed, crucited and
destroyed the noblest ministers OF the
truth. Those who have been the Proph-
cts of God have been the men thus cru
cited. Jesus himself was the first great
hereto in line. The orthodox church in
his day was Judaism, and they crucified
| him because he was not orthodox. The
sanhedrim tried him on the specific
charge of thus violating what they said
were the fundamentals of the religion of
Judaism. 1t was this spirit that made
the tragedy of Calvary possible.
Come down the path of history, and
you find that the martyrs in their long
procession were men who were thus
hunted by that spirit of persecution.
John Wesley now has his name in West
minister abbey. Certainly he is en-
throned in the hearts of the English
world. But what did they say about
him when he started? This most limo
cent and generous man was called liar,
a swindler, the most notorious criminal
living.
Now John Wesley is a saint, not only
in Methodism, but in the church OF Jesu;
Christ universal. And just so far as the
Episcopal church does not agree will
that it is outside the pale of Christianity
1t was that spirit-not walking with us
not doing as we do-that prosecuted
John Wesley on through the ages unit
long after his death, until he was en-
throned in the hearts of humanity.
1t is this spirit that destroys the indi
viduality of men and keeps men tina
have character and power from comm,
up and doing the work of the Lord fo
fear that some blessed old heresy hunte
is sitting there with his blunderbus
ready to open fire on him.
In the history Of the past whenever
heresy trial has come up it has been tn
hour for little men to appear; men who's
sole opportunity to figure in the histor
of ecclesiasticism is in the hour whe
they may accuse some man whose shoe
! they are not worthy to unlatch. Me
, who in that hour rise and with the fin
: ger of scorn and with vituperation an
an arraignment that goes to the very e'
sence of the mans work assert that he
: wrong and against the Christ because h
/ differs in opinion from them. 1t is TIL
| process that has crucified free thinkin
manhood in Protestant Christianity eve
{ | since Christ came into the world and b.
gan his great work.
r THE AGES OF PERSECUTION.
E Second-It is this spirit that hs
: heaped on the church of Jesus the il
= fanny of the history of the thumbscrev
: the rack and torch and fame; tn;
n has disgraced Christianity until r
man Catholic does not dare to mentio
certain periods of history because IL
/ ghosts of all the dead rise up. They II
e to rub it out and write it over again
:, fair letters, but the spirits of the des
q rise, and the cries of Galileo and BruI
# still ring round the world.
IS 1t was this spirit that burned Servet'
:, at the stake, and that made John Calv
It agree to his executioI5 the spirit tn
; deluged England with blood and di
= graced the name of Professionalism
70 Christianity along with Catholicisr
II this spirit that came across the waite
y and even with the Pilgrim Fathers d
y graced them in Salem village, and &
3, pionesrs of the south who whipped !.