The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-07-24

a BRILLIANT HISTORICAL DISC oU95E
ON THE REFORMATION
The Rev. }. q. Wilson Talks Instructlvoiv
% That Period when the Foundations
Of True Religious Liberty Were Laid
Freeing the Mind From IhraiIdom.

% That Period when the Foundations
Of True Religious Liberty Were Laid
Freeing the Mind From ThraiIdom.
New YORK CITY.-In the South Congre.
gatlonal Church Brooklyn, the Rev. i. G..
Wilson, associate pastor, delivered "a dis
course on The Struggle for Religious Lib.
erty, the subieet being Europe on The
Eve OF the Reformation The text WAS
Acts w., IS and 30. And now / saw unto
you, Refrain from these men. and let them
alone; for II this counsel or this work be
OF men, 1t viii come 10 naught. but if t be
of God, ye cannot overthrow 10; lest happy
ye be found even to fight against Coo"
Mr. Wilson said.
Let me suggest at the outset that the
struggle for religious liberty and what b.
known az the Reformation are not In all
respects identical movements. The Reior.
nation was a great tidal wave which swept
over Europe IN the sixteenth century, out
OF the vast and troubled sea Of che centul-
les whose waters were greatly agitated by
the struggle for religious hDerty. II was
the elimination Of that struggle. II assert
ed the fundamental principles upon which
II had proceeded, and succeeded in laying
broad and secure foundations upon which
true religious liberty could be built but IL
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 reig.
ious camps, 1t is necessary to remind our
selves that uD to that time there had been
but one Christian church in Western Eu-
rope. And the struggle for religious liberty
Yelt q within that church and not out
side OF it, nor aea'nst it, after the first
three centuries. Whatever glory and what.
ever shame attaches to that church during
the first fifteen centuries s 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 its dreCs
Then were written the first pages in the
most sangulnary and thrilling story-a
story OF unutterable suffering and grim en-.
durance for conscience aake-whieh his.
tory's pages record. 1t can scarcely be
called a struggle. Jt was as impossible for
the obscure and defenseless sufferers TO re.
slst their enemies rs for fly to resist the
hand that brushes it. Judged from appear
ances, Z was a remOrseless massacre which
! crushed its victims into the earth. But the
real forces that were working out me 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 subtprra
mean caverns. known as catacombs Here
they cherished their faith and worship mn
til the violence of their enemies abated
After two centuries they came forth trou
their hiding places, disciplined by hard
ship, trained to prudence and foresight by
! the peril in which they had lived and witt
a compact and efficient organization. Their
| leaders had improved their long seclusior
to cultivate letters and arts, and soon tool
| leading places among scholars md men N
! affairs: so that when Constantine succeed
! ed to the undivided possession of supreme
! power in the Roman Empire prudence. i
| not preference, moved him to an alliance
with them.
! Then began a new phase in the struggl,
! for religious liberty. The despised anC
! prosecuted Christians. now risen to place.
| of power aud possessing the throne in tn,
| person of the Emperor, did not abuse thei
trust. Such was the spirit of sweet rea
| sonableness which animated them that tn,
| first Christian Emperor issued an ediCt o
religious liberation. known as the edct o
! Milan, which granted religious liberty with
| IN the empire, on the basis of the sacred
| rights of conscience, only those religiOu
! rites were prohibited which involved i'm
morality, magic or sorcery. Not until tn
fatal passion for power had been aroused il
! 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 a centr
| the missionaries penetrated to all parts 0
| Europe. They carried with them the low
| of the mother church from which the
went and bound the churches which the
| planted to her In gratitude and Christian
fellowship. The confidence and affection
which she won by her generosity and sell
sacrifice in the gospel, she soon came to dc
Iuand as her right and when at length tn
Bishop of Rome secured the political pow
er of his city he asDired to make the trad
| tional capital Of the world its ecclesiastica
capital also, then witE the policy Of mil
tary Rome the Christian church adopted
also, the ambitious and relentless spirit {
the Caesars. Ecclesiastical Rome usurpe
the rights of mankind and perverted thei
liberties as ruthIessly as did political Rome
Through successive stages the churc
mounted to the throne of its power unit
it was more absolute than the empire ha
ever essayed TO be. Men like Gregory til
Great, Leo III. and Hildebrand made tn
most astonishing claims, and absolute s,
premacy in all human affairs, and treate
with the utmost severity all who withstoo
their claims Unavailing protests to the
astounding pretensions were raised by me
like John Scotus, Aheard Arnold, Of Bre
cha and Wickliff, and in the humber wall
of life opposition showed itself in sur
sects as the Albigenses and the Waldeuse
neither of which desired to separate ther