The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1896-01-02
DR.. Thompson
and the Church.

being banished was the desire OF .
powerful party in the Church. who
thought that such signal punishment
would work good by striking terror
into the hereties Of every nation One
Of the most influential men OF his time
said that for the sake of example, every
Morisco In Spain should have his throat
cut, because il was impossible to tell
which OF them were Christians at heart,
and 1t was enough TO leave the matter
TO God, who would reward the true
Christians in the world TO come. Thus
zone million Of the most industrious
Inhabitants Of Spain were hunted out
like wild beasts, because the sincerity
Of their religious opinions was doubt
full. Many were slain As they APP
preached the coast: others were beaten
and plundered; and the majority In
most wretched plight sailed for Africa.
The church was triumphant.
All were orthodox, and all were loyal.
Every inhabitant Of that great country
obeyed the church and feared the
| King"
1.-The victory gained by the church"
continued Buckle, Increased both her
power and her reputation. The great
| est men, with hardly an exception, be-
considerations, all views of earthly po-
icy, were despised and set at naught.
No one inquired; no one doubted; no
one presumed to ask if all this was
right. The minds Of men succumbed
and were PROSTATE. While every other
country was advancing, Spain alone
was receding. Every other country
was making some addition to knowl-
edge, creating some act, or charging
some science. Spain, numbed into a
death-like torpor, spell-bound and en-
tranced by the accursed superstition
which preyed on her strength, pre-
sented to Europe a solitary instance OF
constant decay" l commend this sad
picture of complete Church prevalence
to the thoughtful attention of DIR. At
kins and Mr.. Cole.
In other lands heretics, not the
church-heretics like Luther, Calvin
Knox, and a host whose breath went
back to God from Freedoms altar
through church-kindled fames-had
established measure of religious free.
dom. And not religious freedom only
For it is well said that the value of the
religious revolution of the 10th GEN.
fury lies not in its substitution of one
creed for another, but in the spirit Of
inquiry, the freedom Of thought and
discussion, the fearless quest of truth
which was reused to action during thu
process of change. For humanity, thi!
was the real triumph Of the refOrma
ton, and, in so far as this spirit sue
ceeded, this was the triumph Of Chris
tianity toward human freedom; ant
this triumph was over the church.
For when has the Church ever in.
augurated or perfected any reform
looking to an enlargement of human
freedom? This is the work of the rad
ical, not the conservative; of the he
retic out of joint and ahead of hi
time. Whether in Italy, Bohemia o.
Spain; in France, Germany, or thu
Netherlands; in England, Scotland o.
America; the Church has been thu
ready handmade of monarchy, aristoc
racy, and tyranny; of gorgeous greet
and human oppression. The Good Sa
marian, the type of the despised he
retic; the priest and the Levite tn
type of the Church: the care O
wounded humanity the application 0
Christianity to the world, has been thu
task of the sceptic of his time who rev
erenced Christ more than Creed, ant
whose worth the piOus of later gen
Grafton confessed. So we build thu
tOmbs of the prophets our fathers hav'
} slain, and so fill we up the measure 0
our fathers.
CYRUS THOMPSON.
RirhlautS n g. Dec II 1SQS