Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1908-04-25

IN succeeding ages the attempt to unite
the power of the state with that Of tie
church was renewed. Constantine and
other potentates sought to make the
church a civil power. But Chrst's
words proved true, "My kingdom Is not
of this world" Whenever the church
has accepted alliance with the state II
has become feeble and corrupt and has
failed Of its spiritual purpose. Her
strength now, as In former ages,
comes, as God declared, mot by might
nor by power but by my spirit, saith
the Lord"
The Crusaders.
Take, for instance, the NOV ement OF
the crusades. Do you believe that the
men who followed Godfrey of Bouillon
or Frederick Barbarossa or Richard
the Lion Hearted or Count Baldwin Of
Flanders cared picayune about
Christ? Do you believe they were sin.
cere, earnest, noble self sacrificing
Christians, or do you believe that for
the most the crusaders Of old were
freebooters and renegades and children
of the fortunes of war who cared not
whom they were fighting as long as
they could live by conquest and fatten
upon the spoils Of their swords? When
the pope sent forth his emissaries to
peddle around his 'indulgences," do
you think that he cared anything about
the sins of the people? Was it not
rather that he adopted this means to
levy a tax upon the whole world to
support the outrageous extravagances
of his ecclesiastical hierarchy? Do you
believe Henry VIII. was concerned
about the purity of the church when
he separated from the pope and estab-
lished the Church of England? He,
like the potentates that had gone be-
fore him, sought from the church the
help and strength 1t might afford. 1t
was a selfish design, out Of which God
has brought good to the world. Wher-
ever you see the church in Olden times
grow powerful In a temporal sense,
| then 1t became tyrannical and oppress-
| i've, and If any man refused to join 1t
he was looked upon as an enemy to his
country. In olden times the question
of a mans membership in the church
| did not turn upon whether he loved
| Christ and had his spirit but whether
he believed in the technicalities Of a
sectarian creed which had been the
of htrtf in0annifU
| little to do with the great purpose OF
Christ's gospel.
| But there is another fact which has
split up the hard, rocky soil of the
earth for the gospel haryests-that Is,
some of the ablest men of this century
have come out unequlvocally in their
| testimony to the truth Of the Bible and
| the Immortality of the soul. The more
fully science has gone on In Its In
vestigatlons the more the Bible is ac-
cepted In its simplicity, the more the
greatest men Of light and learning are
ready to accept it, This fact Is not a
matter of doubt; 1t is susceptible OF
proof.
About a year ago the editor Of a
popular magazine published the an
swers to q series Of questions which he
had sent out to thousand members of
the medical profession. One of the
questions he asked was, "Do you be-
lieve in Immortality" There were 800
answers to that inquiry, and OF these
every physician but twelve answered
In the affirmative. Think of that!
Some of us have supposed that the
medical profession was made up OF
materialists. Five hundred and eighty
eight physicians out of 600 confessed
that they believed In the immortality
of the soul. And without any doubt
the larger proportion of those men also
believed in the divinity Of Jesus Christ
What Is true of the medical profes'
sion is true Of the law. And what is
true of the law is also true to a large
extent In reference to students of phys
| ical science. Said a prominent college
| president to me some time ago, My
ambition is to give my college the best
/ course of science it is possible for II
TO have. for believe the more we un'
/ derstand the sciences the more we VIII
believe in the Holy Bible" The might
est reinforcement today we have fol
/ Bible truth is the archaeologists ham
mer and the biologists crowbar-NeW'
ton and Faraday and Agassiz and 10
seph Henry and Sir William Dawson
and Professor Sayre, the leaders ol
scientific thought, all firm believers IL
God and his book.
Science on Side of Religion.
want to read the powerful testi
mony Sir William Dawson, one OF the
greatest biologists Of our time, gave
some time ago before a body OF stu
dents: 81 have read recently--and,
confess, with feelings of contempt
discussions respecting the supposed
limitations Of the knowledge of Jesus
Did he know the data Of modern crit
cism? Was he acquainted with the dis
coyeries of modern science? The ny
alighting on my hand might as wei
ATTEMPT to understand the thoughts
passing through my brain as criticism
to gauge in this way the mind of Je
sus. To me as a student Of fifty years
OF nature, of man and of the Bibl'
such discussions seem most frivolous
since our Lords knowledge as we haV'
It in his discourses is altogether abov'
and beyond our science and philoso
ply, transcending them as much as th
] vision Of an astronomer armed witt
one Of the great telescopes of our tim
A. ,,nofJad riciOn Chr1a