The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-10-22

courRged slavery, still the Spirit O
Christ and the general mass OF man
kind has been at work, from the O Ia
ker movement in the 10Th century, tt
the emancipation of slaves in th,
British Empire, and the characterization
of slaves In Brazil. That has been tn,
result of the increased light which
springs from the Cross-tha liberty
that was born In the Son OF G d. II
other words, the Spirit OF Christ has
mingled with the intelligence of the
world. One can see that the Spirit o.
Christ gets in the air-the atmosphere
OF the worlds intelligence, and brings
about great revolution in morals.
The speaker, DR.. Thompson, who
used this expression, was not thinking
of slavery of the human body, but ella
very of the mind. Not the slavery Of
the human body in the sense in which
the colored mar was a slave until the
late war, but humanity as q slave tC
other powers; to political powers
financial powers. to social influences,
Take your dictionary and study the
definition of slavery: it means any
thing by which n man Is given such
power over another as to control his
Thought or control his action, or con
troll his hammer of life, and it is in this
that We think OF it just now.
Take the last several centruIes, and
notice how men were not allowed to
think. Ask the definition of the bloody
InqulsiUlon of Spain Ask the deini
GlOn of the fires that lit up Scotland in
the days of bitter persecution. Ask the
smoke from burning martyrs IN Eng,
land and Switzerland and Norway.
The answer is Ecclesiastical slavery.
Just at this point I want to read a
selection from Herron's plea for the
Gospel, one of the most interesting
books that has been written in this
age:
But the church was, withal, in
Gods way. AS an institution ig had
come to exist for its own sake, making
religion the disgust OF intelligence, the
suspicion of moral honesty, and the
protection of blackes5 crimes. 1t had
juggled with righteousness and dis
GorCed the truth, until the world was
well nigh ceasing to believe in the re-
atty of righteousness or the existence
Of truth. Better the church should
have been swept from the face of the
than have remained consecrated
to selfish ends"
Just at that time Martin Luther
upon the scene, and under his
leadership moral slavery was abolished,
by means Of which you and I are an
joying and holding individual opinion,
and are expressing it without fear of
m~olestation.
Again continuing the same thought,
Heron says:
Then Christianity grappled with
Civil Romanism, and the empire was
converted into a great e~cclesias
Structure, and Christianity be
came a despotic government instead Of
life with God. Gods Father
hood became q Ce yarhood. Christ the
and elder brother of men be-
CANA a successful pleader at the bar
Of an Ipfiuite Judge, in q Court Of alb
and unreal justice; q judge who
had nothing to do with the reality of
Instead Of being received as q
revelation of God. Christ has been pre-
s9Dted to men as q protection from
GCd. Divine and great beyond all
reckoning, was the work OF the Re
formers. But there remains a greater
work to be done. There has been a
reformation the work that r. remains is
q restoration of Christianity an eman-
cipation of the Gospel from baneful
bondage to the Greeks, who have fet
tered its freedom and bruised its life
through all the centuries Of it's pro-
gress; a d~eliverance of Christianity
from the Romans, who have corrupted
our very language with their unvltal
legalism of thought; whose law, Hegel
says, makes q definition of humanity
impossible"
That is as true gospel as can be read
in this age.
Taking up the thought as contained
in the text as a first Illustration of the
thought TO- in hand, the Church acts
differently from the Spirit of Christ
the theory of the Church is one thing;
the practice of the Church is another.
The Church will take the same atti-
tude before the last coming of Christ
as she occupied just before the first
coming. The Church is an organized
body composed of men to carry out the
ideas of Christ. If the Church we're
perfect it would lose all the great ne
of a personal coming OF Christ
himself to right the wrongs of q sinful
Christ, you remember, was not the
Of a heather nation; Christ was
not put on the cross by virtue of the
Roman government. Il was the Church
that was founded upon the laws of
Moses; it was the Church as controlled
by the Pharisees and Scribes that &C,
cused Christ of blasphemy. 1t was the
Church that signed his death warrant
and cried cruelty him" The Roman
soldiers were nothing but instruments
in the hands of the Jewish Church to
cruelty the Son of God.
Who can for a moment deny such a
fact as that7 This was the spirit that
prevailed in the ancient Church.
The other facts mentioned show the
spirit in the modern Church. Look at
1t to day. What is the slavery of to-
day 1t is the slavery of creed. Not
Christian, but Churchism is the dan.
ger of the dRV in which Won and 1juo