Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-04-23


the power of the state with that of the
church was renewed. Constantine and
other potentates sought to make the
church n civil power. But Chrst's
words proved true. MY kingdom is not
of this world" Whenever the church
has accepted alliance with the state 1t
has become feeble and corrupt and has
failed of its spiritual purpose. Her
strength now MS 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 movement Of
the crusadcS DO you believe that the
men who followed Godfrey of Bouillon
or Frederick Barbnrossa or Richard
the Lion Hearted or Count Baldwin of
Flanders cared Il picayune about
Christ? Do you believe they were sin
cerc, 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 10y conquest and fatten
upon the spoils Of their swords? When
! the pope sent forth his emissnries to
Dcddle around bis "indulgences." do
YOU think that he cared anything bout
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 cXtravagances
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-
llshcd the Church of England? He,
like the potentates that had gone be-
fore him, sought from the church the
help and strength it might afford. 1t
was selfish design. ont of which God
has brought good to the world. Wher-
ever you see the church in oden times
crow powerful In a temporal sense,
then II became tvrannical and Cypress
i've, and il any man refused to join 1t
he was looked upon as an enemy to his
country. In oden times the question
Of Il 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
product of human ingenuity and had
little to do with the great purpose of
Christs gospel.
But there Il another fact which has
split up the hard, rocky soil of the
earth for the gospel harvests-that is
some of the ablest men of this century
have come out unequivocally in theil
testimony to the truth of the Bible ans
the immortality Of the soul. The more
fully science has gone on in its in
vcstigations the more the Bible is &C
cepted in its simplicity, the more The
greatest men of light and learning are
ready to accept it. This fact is not {
matter OF doubt it is susceptible OF
proof.
About year ago the editor Of {;
popular magazine published the an
sWers to a series of questions which h,
had sent out to q thousand members Of
the medical profession. One Of til,
questions he asked was. DO you be
love in Immortality" There We're GOt
answers to that inquiry, and of these
every physician but twelve answered
in the affirmative. Think of that
Some Of US have supposed that tn,
medical profession was made up o
materialists. Five hundred and eighty
, eight physicians out of 600 confesse,
that they believed in the immortalit!
of the soul. And without any doub
the larger proportion of those men ais
believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ
, What is true of the medical profes
sion is true of the law. And what il
true of the law is also true to a larg'
! extent in reference TO students of phys
, zeal science. Said prominent colleg
president to me some time ago, M,
ambition IS to give my college the hes
. course Of science it Is possible for
TO have, for | believe the more we un
) dcrstand the sciences the more we vii
believe in the Holy Bible" The might
, est reinforcement today we have 70
: bible truth is the archaeologist ham
+ mer and the biologists crowbar-New
, ton and Faraday and AgassiZ and JIG
seph Henry and Sir William Dawso
. and Professor Sayre, the leaders O
scientific thought. all firm believers i
God and his book.
5 Science on siac of Religion.
. want to read Che powerful test
c mony Sir William Dawson, one of tn
r greatest biologists of our time, gay