The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-06-25
A SUNDAY SERMON
ELOQUENT DISCOURSE DELIVERED
of Our Religious Liberty Were
FIRST Laid.

g~ational Church. Ercoiyn. the Rev. j.. Z.
Wilson, associate pastor, delivered a dis
course Oh Tie Stru&Ec inc Religious Lib
erty," the subject being Europe on the
Eve Of The Reformation The text was
Acts v, IS and 50: And now | say unto
YOU, Refrain from these men, and let them
alone; for il this counse or this work be
of men, it will come 10 naught, but If 1t be
of God, We cannot overthrow it: lest haply
We be found even to fight against God.
Mr.. Wilson said:
Let me suggest at the outset that the
struggle for religious liberty 4 what IS
known as the Reformation are not IN all
respects identical movements. The Retor-
nation was a great tidal wave which swept
over Europe in the sixteenth century, out
of the vast and troubled sea OF The centur-
les whose waters were greatly agltated by
the struggle for religious liberty. 1t was
the elimination of that struggle. 1t assert
ed the fundamental principles upon which
it had proceeded, and succeeded in laying
broad and secure foundations upon which
true religious liberty could he built, but 1t
left some OF the higher standards and finer
ideals upattained. II that respect there Is
much vet to be desired.
In view OF the fact that the Reformation
split Europe into two great warning relg'
ions camps. it is necessary u remind our
selves that uo TO that time there had been
but one Christian church in Western Ed
rope And the struggle for religious liberty
went on within that church and no! out
side of it., nor against it, after the first
three centuries. Whatever glory and what
ever shane attaches to that church during
the first fifteen centuries IS shared equally
BY us all. ProteStants and Roman Catholic
alike. The Reformation itself originated
within the Roman Catholic Church, and
was led by mea bred in her schools and
cloisters. We should also remember that
the Roman Catholic Church of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries is not the Roman
Catholic Church of the twentieth century
and in the United States.
From a very cary age religious differ.
ences have engendered strife and stirred
the most violent passions of men. Although
the Jews tasted the bitterness OF persecu-
ton, that did not prevent them from
pressing the same cno to the lips OF the
early Christians and, with the aid Of the
Romans, making them drink it to it's dregs.
Then were written the first pages III the
most ~sanguinary and thrilling story-a
story OF unutterable suffering and grim en-
durance for conscience sake-which his
tory's pages record. 1t can scarcely be
called a struggle. it was as impossible for
the obscure and defenseless sufferers to re-
sist their enemies as for n fly to resist the
hdlu lldl u 4 ~ ouNSSb wv oplNNi
ances, it was a renorseieSs massacre. which
crushed its victims into the Garth. But the
real forces that were working out the prob
lem were not on the surface. The odds
against which the early Christians were
matched drove them to seek refuge In the
mountain Businesses and in the subterra-
mean cavernS. known as catacombs. Here
they cherished their faith and worship m
til the violence of their enemies abatcd.
After two centuries they came forth from
their hiding places. disciplined by hard
ship, trained 10 prudence and foresight by
the peril in which they had lived and with
a compact and efficient organization. Their
leaders had imUrovGd their long seclusIon
to cultivate letters and arts, and soon took
leading PAGES among scholars and men or
affairs: so that when Constantine succeed
ed to the undivided possession OF supreme
power in the Roman Empire prudence. ii
not preference, moved him to an alliance
with them.
Then began a new phase in the struggle
for religious liberty. The despised and
prosecuted Christians. now risen to places
of power and possessing the throne in the
person OF the Emperor. did not abuse their
. tru.t. Such was the spirit OF sweet rea-
sonableneSs which animated them that the
hrst Christian Emperor issued an edict Of
religious liberation, known as the edlct OF
Milan. which granted religious liberty with
in the empire. on the basis of the sacred
rights Of conscience; on,y those religious
rites were prohibited which involved i'm
morality, magic or sorcery. Not until the
fatal passion for power had been aroused IN
them by its possession did the Christians
resort to persecution. The organization OF
the Christian church kept pace with Its
spread in Europe. From Rome as a centre
the missionaries penetrated 10 al parts OF
Europe. They carried with them the love
OF the mother church from which they
went and bound the churches which they
planted to her in gratitude and Christian
Fellowship. The confidence and affection
which. she wol by her generosity and self
sacrifice in the gospel, she soon cane to de-
mand as her r;"ht. and when at length the
Bishop of ROME secured the political pow
er Of his city he asDired to make the tladi-
tional capital of the world It's ecclesiastical
capital also. then. with the policy OF mill
tary Rome the Christian church adopted.
also. the ambitious and relentless spirit OF
the Caesars. Ecclesiastical Rome usurped
the right of mankind and perverted their
liberties &, ,uthlessly as did political Rome.
1nrou.a .1ccessive stages the church
mounted i the throne of its power until
it was mo absolute than the empire had
ever essayed To be. Men like Gregory the
GrSat, LEO H. anu lliucDTdiu ulauS tHe
most astonishing claims, and absolute SUI
premacy in all human affairs. and treated
with the utmost severity all who withstood
their claims. Unavailing protests to their
astounding pretensions were raised by men
like John Scotus, Abeiard Arnold. of Bres-
cia and Wickliff, and in the humber walks
of life opposition showed itself in such
sects as the Albigenses and the Waldenses,
neither of which desired to separate them
selves from the Catholic Church, but both
of them desired that it's pretensions should
be moderated and its abuses reformed &C.
cording to the scriptural requirements Of
apostolic simplicity and parity. These men
were simple minded and their lives were
pure, but they were subjected to the most
Temorseless persecution. Their heroic en-.
durance and unfaltering faith has covered
their memory with halo of glory like unto
that which surrounds the early Christian
martyrs. During the massacre of the Abb
genses was horn the order of the Domini-
cans. into whose hands was intrusted the
institution known as the 1nquisition, the
most diabolical engine Of intolerance and
persecution hat human ingenuity ever de-
vised.
1t is the fate of all despotisms to work