Orange County observer., 1903-07-02
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A BRILLIANT HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
ON THE REFORMATION.
The Rev. j. G.. Wilson Talks Instructively
OF That Period When tho Foundations
OF True Religious Liberty Were LAID
Freeing the Mind From Thralldom.

Freeing the Mind From Thralldom.
New YORK CITY.-In the South Conere.
gational Church, Brooklyn, the Rev. J. g;
wilson, associate pastor. delivered dis
course on ''The Struggle for Religious Lib
erty," the subject being Europe On the
Eve OF the Reformation" The text was
Acts v, 3S and 80: "And now I say unto
you, Refrain from these men, and let them |
alone; tor If this counsel or this work be |
OF men, it will come to naught, but if it be |
OF God, We cannot overthrow it; lest haply |
ye be found even to fight against God"
Mr.. Wilson said.
Let me suggest at the outset that the
struggle for religious liberty and what is
known as the Reformation are not in all |
respects identical movements. The Refor-
nation was 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 agitated by
the struggle for religious liberty. It was
the elimination of that struggle. It assert
ed the fundamental principles upon which
it had proceeded, and succeeded in laying
broad and secure foundations upon which
true religious liberty could be built, but it
LETT some of the higher standards and finer
ideals unattained. In that respect there is
much vet to be desired.
In view of the fact that the Reformation
split Europe into two great warning relig-
lous camps, it is necessary to remind our
selves that up to that time there had been
but one Christian church in Western Eu-
| rope. And the struggle for religious liberty
| went on within that church and not out
! side of it, nor against it. after the first
three centuries. Whatever glory and what
ever shame 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 men 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 very early 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 cup 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 in the
most sanguinary. and thrilling story-a
story of unutterable suffering and grim en-
/ durance for conscience sake-which his
tory's pages record. It can scarcely be
called struggle. It was as impossible fo1
the obscure and defenseless sufferers to re
sist their enemies as for fly to resist til.
hand that crushes it. Judged from appear
ances, 1T was a remorseless massacre. whicl
crushed its victims into the earth. But TIN
real forces that were working out the prob
lem were not on the surface. The odd
against which the early Christians wer
matched drove them to seek refuge in th
mountain Businesses and in the subterra
mean caverns, known catacombs. Her
they cherished their faith and worship un
til the violence of their enemies abated
After two centuries they came forth from
their hiding places, disciplined by hard
ship, trained to prudence and foresight b.
the peril in which they had lived and will
a compact and efficient organiza ton. Thei
leaders had improved their long seclusioi
to cultivate letters and arts, and soon tool
leading places among scholars and men o
affairs; SO that when Constantine succeed
ed to the undivided possession of suprem
power in the Roman Empire prudence, i
not preference, moved him to an allianc,
with them
Then began a new phase in the struggl
for religious liberty. The despised ane
prosecuted Christians. now risen to places
OF power and possessing the throne in tn
person of the Emperor, did not abuse theil
trust. Such was the spirit of sweet rea
sonableness which animated them that tht
first Christian Emperor issued an edict O
religious liberation, known as the edict o
Milan, which granted religious liberty with
in the empire, on the basis of the sacree
rights of conscience. only those religious
rites were prohibited which involved i'm
morality, magic or sorcery Not until thu
them by its possession did the Christian:
resort to persecution. The organization O.
the Christian church kept pace with it,
spread in Europe. From Rome as centr.
the missionaries penetrated to all parts O.
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 won by her generosity and self
sacrifice in the gospel, she soon came to de
mand as her right, and when at length th'
Bishop of Rome secured the political pow
er of his city he aspired to make the tradi
tional capital of the world its ecclesiastical
capital also, then. with the policy of mill
tary Rome the Christian church adopted
the Caesars Ecclesiastical Rome usurpee
the rights of mankind and perverted theil
liberties as ruthlessly as did political Rome
7 Through successive stages the church
mounted to the throne of it's power unit
it was more absolute than the empire hat
2 Great, Leo III. and Hildebrand made tn
most astonishing claims. and absolute su
premacy in all human affairs, and treatet
with the utmost severity all who withstoot
3 their claims. Unavailing protests to thei
l astounding pretensions were raised by mel
: cia and Wickliff, and in the humber walk
!. Of life opposition showed itself in sucl
] sects as the Albigenses and the Waldenses
? neither of which desired to separate them
? selves from the Catholic Church, but bot
of them desired that its pretensions shoul,
: be moderated and it's abuses reformed ae
e cording to the scriptural requirements o
I apostolic simplicity and purity. These me1
: were simple minded and their lives wer
: pure, but they were subjected to the mos
e remorseless persecution. Their heroic en-
: durance and unfaltering faith has covere
/ their memory with halo of glory like unit
:. that which surrounds the early Christian
I martyrs. During the massacre of the Abb
d genses was born the order of the Domini
d cans, into whose hands was int-usted tn
! institution known as the !nquisition, tn
= most diabolical engine of intolerance an,
persecution that human ingenuity ever de
vised.
II = the fate of all despotisms to worl
It their own destruction by a fatal disregar'
q of the limits of human endurance, AM
. when the papacy added the horrors of tn
Inquisition to the usurpation of the mos
3 sacred of human rights. and aggravated he
o ofenses by the fragrant immortality of tn