The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-11
TIE GRIMES OF cHRIsrENDOM,
To THE EprToR OF The SUN-Sfr: Com
nentinG on an arraignment Of the Christian
churches. you said the other day:


churches. you said the other day:
II our correspondent will follow the history OF
Christianity In Europe from the time rst gathered
strength 10 assert itself with physical force ne wiz
reed record OF war. persecution. atrocity ana
nerce human passions in6aned by religious en-
thusasm which Is not exceeded II II IA equanea Ia
ss darkness In the history Of any previous rehs'ous
propaganda OF which ~e have the record
or the crimes committed in the name OF
Christianity it is impossible to speak with
too much sorrow and adherence. but
the guilt. submit attaches not TO Chris
tianity itself. but to malignant influences
under which it has fallen. The vital doc
trinee Of Christianity as preached by It's
Founder are the fatherhood Of God and the
brotherhood OF man. Our faith in these
doctrines may be failing; our faith in the
brotherhood Of man would certainly appear
to he undergoing eclipse. But there ID
nothing in them which could possibly lend
itself to atrocity or persecution. When
the Inquisitor sought a warrant in the
Gospel for his religious murders, he could
find nothing more to his purpose than the
words in the parable of the Great Feast.
Compel them 1.-THE guestsl TO come In.
or st. Paul's saying, Il would that they were
cut of which trouble you" which only the
blindest bigotry could construe az longing
for an auto-da-fe.
Christianity in It's native character propa-
gated itself by the Word preached by peace
full missionaries, who. taking their lives In
their hands, converted the barbarians and
founded the Christian nations.
The Founder Of Christianity said that
His Kingdom was not of this world. Had
that saying been kept. there could have
been no prosecutions. By keeping it in
after days the Baptist Church has won
distinction unhappily almost unique. When
the empire. after struggling long to ex-
tinguish Christianity. bowed to it and
made It the imperial religion. 1t extended
It's political despotism over the Church.
Orthodoxy, i. e., the doctrine patronized
by the court, became law, heresy became
treason; and the Ill starred, though perhaps
almost inevitable union produced the in
evitable results. Ecclesiastics denied their
founder by appealing to the secular arm.
Christianity, however. humanized the Ro-
man law. notably with regard to slavery.
Special influence and authority could
not fail to attach to the Bishops Of the
| two Imperial cities. Rome and Const anti
nople especially to the Bishop Of Rome,
| who was not overshadowed by the presence
| Of the Emperor I'm the dissolution Of the
empire, the Roman See became a rallying
point for the Western Church. But there
| was really no Pope in the present sense
| Of the term, no spiritual dictator claiming
autocratio and universal authority over
| the Church. before Hildebrand. Gregory
the Great denounced the title Of universal
Bishop as blasphemous. Hildebrand 1t
was who created the universal despotism.
using az his instruments German rebellion
and Norman conquest, as well as a clerical
militia detached from humanity and bound
| to the Papacy by the enforcement OF cell
bacy. There is not in history such another
mockery as the pretence Of this autocrat
and his SUCCESSORS, including Innocent
III, Alexander W. and Julius H., to repre-
sent the preacher Of the Sermon on the
Mount. Here we have Che main source
Of persecution and all its atrocities; hence
flowed the determination OF the Albigenses,
the Inquisition, Alva's reign Of blood in
the Netherlands the massacre of st. Bar
tholomew and the Dragonnades. The Cru
sadee, with any atrocities which they may
have involved, were more the work Of Chris
tendon at large, but they can hardly be
SOL down as atrocities; they were really
| rather a war for the defence OF Chris ian
civilization against the inrushing tide OF
Mohammedan conquest, an Eruption Of
moral barbarism. as is now plainly seen.
All the time genuine Christianity was not
left without witnesses 1t showed itself in
such characters as that Of Anselm, in such
writings as the Imitatio Christi
Protestant Christianity could not at once
get clear of the medieval tradition. But
presently it did. 1t has repented Of It's
crimes and renowned persecution. The
Syllabus which Is the latest manifesto OF
the Papacy. reafflrms in plain terms the
principle of intolerance, throwing down
the gauntlet to modern civilization and the
liberty Of opinion, which has been won by
the struggle of ages for humanity. In
fallibility cannot repent. The Papacy
moreover, continues to use the political
intrigue Of the Jesuit, who, there can be
little doubt. by his influence over super,
stitious woman, had share in bringing or
the Franco German War.
The religious character would in any case
no doubt have displayed its weaknesses
There would have been extravagarcs
bieotry, controversial heat and rancor
perhaps fanatical and sectarian ARRAY; but
without the influence Of the Empire and the
Papacy there would not have been these
enormous crimes.
Catholicism and Papalism. though they
have unhappily come to be identified, are
essentially distinct Catholicism, ss it,
name IMPORTS. is universal Papalism il
Italian. Only Italians can be Popes. Tn,
very few historical exceptions are excep
tions which prove the rule. Catholicism
with all it's charact eristics and graces, wa
fully developed before Hildebrand The,,
is nothing enthusiastically Papal in tn,
writings Of Thomas Kempis, Pascal o
F6nelon. Lacordaire and Montalember
we're thoroughly Catholic, but as friends o
liberty, thinking that it could be reconcilet
with Catholicism, they were disavowed b,
the Papacy.
need hardly say that do not pretend t.
orthodoxy. But | plead for a fair con
sideration Of all real phenomena, whethe
they appear to fall within the domain o
physical science or not. Christianity in it
self and apart from its unhappy entangle
ments with imperial despotisms and Papa
usurpation. seems. by the principles which
it has propagated and the characters whicl
it has produced, to have been up to tn
present time a great power, to say tn
least, OF moral progress, and one whicl