When Satan wrought through the Roman Church to lead men away from obedience, his agency was concealed, and his work was so disguised that the degradation and misery which resulted were not seen to be the fruit of transgression. And his power was so far counteracted by the working of the Spirit of G.o.d, that his purposes were prevented from reaching their full fruition. The people did not trace the effect to its cause, and discover the source of their miseries. But in the Revolution, the law of G.o.d was openly set aside by the National Council. And in the Reign of Terror which followed, the working of cause and effect could be seen by all.
When France publicly rejected G.o.d and set aside the Bible, wicked men and spirits of darkness exulted in their attainment of the object so long desired,-a kingdom free from the restraints of the law of G.o.d. Because sentence against an evil work was not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons of men was "fully set in them to do evil."(419) But the transgression of a just and righteous law must inevitably result in misery and ruin. Though not visited at once with judgments, the wickedness of men was nevertheless surely working out their doom. Centuries of apostasy and crime had been treasuring up wrath against the day of retribution; and when their iniquity was full, the despisers of G.o.d learned too late that it is a fearful thing to have worn out the divine patience. The restraining Spirit of G.o.d, which imposes a check upon the cruel power of Satan, was in a great measure removed, and he whose only delight is the wretchedness of men, was permitted to work his will. Those who had chosen the service of rebellion, were left to reap its fruits, until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities a terrible cry was heard,-a cry of bitterest anguish. France was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social order, the family, the state, and the church,-all were smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted against the law of G.o.d. Truly spake the wise man: "The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness." "Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear G.o.d, which fear before Him: but it shall not be well with the wicked."(420) "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord;" "therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices."(421)
G.o.d"s faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power that "ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," were not long to remain silent. "After three days and a half the Spirit of life from G.o.d entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them."(422) It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible, pa.s.sed the French a.s.sembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body. The world stood aghast at the enormity of guilt which had resulted from a rejection of the Sacred Oracles, and men recognized the necessity of faith in G.o.d and His word as the foundation of virtue and morality. Saith the Lord, "Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel."(423) "Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know Mine hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah."(424)
Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them."(425) Since France made war upon G.o.d"s two witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized.
This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded.
When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into more than four hundred languages and dialects.(426)
For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was given to the work of foreign missions. No new societies were formed, and there were but few churches that made any effort for the spread of Christianity in heathen lands. But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results of rationalism, and realized the necessity of divine revelation and experimental religion.
From this time the work of foreign missions attained an unprecedented growth.(427)
The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome, have opened the way for the entrance of the word of G.o.d. For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe.
The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: "I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to overthrow it." A century has pa.s.sed since his death. Millions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so far from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred in Voltaire"s time, there are now ten thousand, yes, a hundred thousand copies of the Book of G.o.d. In the words of an early Reformer concerning the Christian church, "The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers." Saith the Lord, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn."(428)
"The word of our G.o.d shall stand forever." "All His commandments are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness."(429) Whatever is built upon the authority of man will be overthrown; but that which is founded upon the rock of G.o.d"s immutable word shall stand forever.
16. THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Chapter header.]
The English Reformers, while renouncing the doctrines of Romanism, had retained many of its forms. Thus though the authority and the creed of Rome were rejected, not a few of her customs and ceremonies were incorporated into the worship of the Church of England. It was claimed that these things were not matters of conscience; that though they were not commanded in Scripture, and hence were non-essential, yet not being forbidden, they were not intrinsically evil. Their observance tended to narrow the gulf which separated the reformed churches from Rome, and it was urged that they would promote the acceptance of the Protestant faith by Romanists.
To the conservative and compromising, these arguments seemed conclusive.
But there was another cla.s.s that did not so judge. The fact that these customs "tended to bridge over the chasm between Rome and the Reformation,"(430) was in their view a conclusive argument against retaining them. They looked upon them as badges of the slavery from which they had been delivered, and to which they had no disposition to return.
They reasoned that G.o.d has in His word established the regulations governing His worship, and that men are not at liberty to add to these or to detract from them. The very beginning of the great apostasy was in seeking to supplement the authority of G.o.d by that of the church. Rome began by enjoining what G.o.d had not forbidden, and she ended by forbidding what He had explicitly enjoined.
Many earnestly desired to return to the purity and simplicity which characterized the primitive church. They regarded many of the established customs of the English Church as monuments of idolatry, and they could not in conscience unite in her worship. But the church, being supported by the civil authority, would permit no dissent from her forms. Attendance upon her service was required by law, and unauthorized a.s.semblies for religious worship were prohibited, under penalty of imprisonment, exile, and death.
At the opening of the seventeenth century the monarch who had just ascended the throne of England declared his determination to make the Puritans "conform, or ... harry them out of the land, or else worse."(431) Hunted, persecuted, and imprisoned, they could discern in the future no promise of better days, and many yielded to the conviction that for such as would serve G.o.d according to the dictates of their conscience, "England was ceasing forever to be a habitable place."(432) They were at last determined to seek refuge in Holland. Difficulties, losses, and imprisonment were encountered. Their purposes were thwarted, and they were betrayed into the hands of their enemies. But steadfast perseverance finally conquered, and they found shelter on the friendly sh.o.r.es of the Dutch Republic.
In their flight they had left their houses, their goods, and their means of livelihood. They were strangers in a strange land, among a people of different language and customs. They were forced to resort to new and untried occupations to earn their bread. Middle-aged men, who had spent their lives in tilling the soil, had now to learn mechanical trades. But they cheerfully accepted the situation, and lost no time in idleness or repining. Though often pinched with poverty, they thanked G.o.d for the blessings which were still granted them, and found their joy in unmolested spiritual communion. "They knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits."(433)
In the midst of exile and hardship, their love and faith waxed strong.
They trusted the Lord"s promises, and He did not fail them in time of need. His angels were by their side, to encourage and support them. And when G.o.d"s hand seemed pointing them across the sea, to a land where they might found for themselves a state, and leave to their children the precious heritage of religious liberty, they went forward, without shrinking, in the path of providence.
G.o.d had permitted trials to come upon His people to prepare them for the accomplishment of His gracious purpose toward them. The church had been brought low, that she might be exalted. G.o.d was about to display His power in her behalf, to give to the world another evidence that He will not forsake those who trust in Him. He had overruled events to cause the wrath of Satan and the plots of evil men to advance His glory, and to bring His people to a place of security. Persecution and exile were opening the way to freedom.
When first constrained to separate from the English Church, the Puritans had joined themselves together by a solemn covenant, as the Lord"s free people, "to walk together in all His ways made known or to be made known to them."(434) Here was the true spirit of reform, the vital principle of Protestantism. It was with this purpose that the Pilgrims departed from Holland to find a home in the New World. John Robinson, their pastor, who was providentially prevented from accompanying them, in his farewell address to the exiles said:
"Brethren, we are now erelong to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether I shall live ever to see your faces more. But whether the Lord hath appointed it or not, I charge you before G.o.d and His blessed angels to follow me no farther than I have followed Christ. If G.o.d should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry; for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of His holy word."(435)
"For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no farther than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; ... and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of G.o.d, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to be lamented; for though they were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of G.o.d, but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received."(436)
"Remember your church covenant, in which you have agreed to walk in all the ways of the Lord, made or to be made known unto you. Remember your promise and covenant with G.o.d and with one another, to receive whatever light and truth shall be made known to you from His written word; but withal, take heed, I beseech you, what you receive for truth, and compare it and weigh it with other scriptures of truth before you accept it; for it is not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once."(437)
It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, and with G.o.d"s blessing to lay, on the sh.o.r.es of America, the foundation of a mighty nation. Yet honest and G.o.d-fearing as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great principle of religious liberty. The freedom which they sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not equally ready to grant to others. "Very few, even of the foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any just conception of that grand principle, the outgrowth of the New Testament, which acknowledges G.o.d as the sole judge of human faith."(438) The doctrine that G.o.d has committed to the church the right to control the conscience, and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errors. While the Reformers rejected the creed of Rome, they were not entirely free from her spirit of intolerance. The dense darkness in which, through the long ages of her rule, popery had enveloped all Christendom, had not even yet been wholly dissipated. Said one of the leading ministers in the colony of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay: "It was toleration that made the world antichristian; and the church never took harm by the punishment of heretics."(439) The regulation was adopted by the colonists, that only church-members should have a voice in the civil government. A kind of state church was formed, all the people being required to contribute to the support of the clergy, and the magistrates being authorized to suppress heresy. Thus the secular power was in the hands of the church. It was not long before these measures led to the inevitable result-persecution.
Eleven years after the planting of the first colony, Roger Williams came to the New World. Like the early Pilgrims, he came to enjoy religious freedom; but unlike them, he saw-what so few in his time had yet seen-that this freedom was the inalienable right of all, whatever might be their creed. He was an earnest seeker for truth, with Robinson holding it impossible that all the light from G.o.d"s word had yet been received.
Williams "was the first person in modern Christendom to establish civil government on the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions before the law."(440) He declared it to be the duty of the magistrate to restrain crime, but never to control the conscience. "The public or the magistrates may decide," he said, "what is due from man to man; but when they attempt to prescribe a man"s duties to G.o.d, they are out of place, and there can be no safety; for it is clear that if the magistrate has the power, he may decree one set of opinions or beliefs to-day and another to-morrow; as has been done in England by different kings and queens, and by different popes and councils in the Roman Church; so that belief would become a heap of confusion."(441)
Attendance at the services of the established church was required under a penalty of fine or imprisonment. "Williams reprobated the law; the worst statute in the English code was that which did but enforce attendance upon the parish church. To compel men to unite with those of a different creed, he regarded as an open violation of their natural rights; to drag to public worship the irreligious and the unwilling, seemed only like requiring hypocrisy.... "No one should be bound to worship, or," he added, "to maintain a worship, against his own consent." "What!" exclaimed his antagonists, amazed at his tenets, "is not the laborer worthy of his hire?" "Yes," replied he, "from them that hire him." "(442)
Roger Williams was respected and beloved as a faithful minister, a man of rare gifts, of unbending integrity and true benevolence; yet his steadfast denial of the right of civil magistrates to authority over the church, and his demand for religious liberty, could not be tolerated. The application of this new doctrine, it was urged, would "subvert the fundamental state and government of the country."(443) He was sentenced to banishment from the colonies, and finally, to avoid arrest, he was forced to flee, amid the cold and storms of winter, into the unbroken forest.
"For fourteen weeks," he says, "I was sorely tossed in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." But "the ravens fed me in the wilderness," and a hollow tree often served him for a shelter.(444) Thus he continued his painful flight through the snow and the trackless forest, until he found refuge with an Indian tribe whose confidence and affection he had won while endeavoring to teach them the truths of the gospel.
Making his way at last, after months of change and wandering, to the sh.o.r.es of Narragansett Bay, he there laid the foundation of the first state of modern times that in the fullest sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The fundamental principle of Roger Williams"s colony, was "that every man should have liberty to worship G.o.d according to the light of his own conscience."(445) His little State, Rhode Island, became the asylum of the oppressed, and it increased and prospered until its foundation principles-civil and religious liberty-became the corner-stones of the American Republic.
In that grand old doc.u.ment which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights-the Declaration of Independence-they declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And the Const.i.tution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the inviolability of conscience: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States." "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
"The framers of the Const.i.tution recognized the eternal principle that man"s relation with his G.o.d is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to G.o.d was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate."(446)
As the tidings spread through the countries of Europe, of a land where every man might enjoy the fruit of his own labor and obey the convictions of his conscience, thousands flocked to the sh.o.r.es of the New World.
Colonies rapidly multiplied. "Ma.s.sachusetts, by special law, offered free welcome and aid, at the public cost, to Christians of any nationality who might fly beyond the Atlantic "to escape from wars or famine, or the oppression of their persecutors." Thus the fugitive and the downtrodden were, by statute, made the guests of the commonwealth."(447) In twenty years from the first landing at Plymouth, as many thousand Pilgrims were settled in New England.
To secure the object which they sought, "they were content to earn a bare subsistence by a life of frugality and toil. They asked nothing from the soil but the reasonable returns of their own labor. No golden vision threw a deceitful halo around their path.... They were content with the slow but steady progress of their social polity. They patiently endured the privations of the wilderness, watering the tree of liberty with their tears, and with the sweat of their brow, till it took deep root in the land."
The Bible was held as the foundation of faith, the source of wisdom, and the charter of liberty. Its principles were diligently taught in the home, in the school, and in the church, and its fruits were manifest in thrift, intelligence, purity, and temperance. One might be for years a dweller in the Puritan settlements, "and not see a drunkard, or hear an oath, or meet a beggar."(448) It was demonstrated that the principles of the Bible are the surest safeguards of national greatness. The feeble and isolated colonies grew to a confederation of powerful States, and the world marked with wonder the peace and prosperity of "a church without a pope, and a state without a king."
But continually increasing numbers were attracted to the sh.o.r.es of America, actuated by motives widely different from those of the first Pilgrims. Though the primitive faith and purity exerted a wide-spread and moulding power, yet its influence became less and less as the numbers increased of those who sought only worldly advantage.
The regulation adopted by the early colonists, of permitting only members of the church to vote or to hold office in the civil government, led to most pernicious results. This measure had been accepted as a means of preserving the purity of the state, but it resulted in the corruption of the church. A profession of religion being the condition of suffrage and office-holding, many, actuated solely by motives of worldly policy, united with the church without a change of heart. Thus the churches came to consist, to a considerable extent, of unconverted persons; and even in the ministry were those who not only held errors of doctrine, but who were ignorant of the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. Thus again was demonstrated the evil results, so often witnessed in the history of the church from the days of Constantine to the present, of attempting to build up the church by the aid of the state, of appealing to the secular power in support of the gospel of Him who declared, "My kingdom is not of this world."(449) The union of the church with the state, be the degree never so slight, while it may appear to bring the world nearer to the church, does in reality but bring the church nearer to the world.
The great principle so n.o.bly advocated by Robinson and Roger Williams, that truth is progressive, that Christians should stand ready to accept all the light which may shine from G.o.d"s holy word, was lost sight of by their descendants. The Protestant churches of America-and those of Europe as well-so highly favored in receiving the blessings of the Reformation, failed to press forward in the path of reform. Though a few faithful men arose, from time to time, to proclaim new truth and expose long-cherished error, the majority, like the Jews in Christ"s day or the papists in the time of Luther, were content to believe as their fathers had believed, and to live as they had lived. Therefore religion again degenerated into formalism; and errors and superst.i.tions which would have been cast aside had the church continued to walk in the light of G.o.d"s word, were retained and cherished. Thus the spirit inspired by the Reformation gradually died out, until there was almost as great need of reform in the Protestant churches as in the Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same worldliness and spiritual stupor, a similar reverence for the opinions of men, and subst.i.tution of human theories for the teachings of G.o.d"s word.
The wide circulation of the Bible in the early part of the nineteenth century, and the great light thus shed upon the world, was not followed by a corresponding advance in knowledge of revealed truth, or in experimental religion. Satan could not, as in former ages, keep G.o.d"s word from the people; it had been placed within the reach of all; but in order still to accomplish his object, he led many to value it but lightly. Men neglected to search the Scriptures, and thus they continued to accept false interpretations, and to cherish doctrines which had no foundation in the Bible.
Seeing the failure of his efforts to crush out the truth by persecution, Satan had again resorted to the plan of compromise which led to the great apostasy and the formation of the Church of Rome. He had induced Christians to ally themselves, not now with pagans, but with those who, by their devotion to the things of this world, had proved themselves to be as truly idolaters as were the worshipers of graven images. And the results of this union were no less pernicious now than in former ages; pride and extravagance were fostered under the guise of religion, and the churches became corrupted. Satan continued to pervert the doctrines of the Bible, and traditions that were to ruin millions were taking deep root. The church was upholding and defending these traditions, instead of contending for "the faith which was once delivered to the saints." Thus were degraded the principles for which the Reformers had done and suffered so much.
17. HERALDS OF THE MORNING.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Chapter header.]
One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in the Bible is that of Christ"s second coming, to complete the great work of redemption. To G.o.d"s pilgrim people, so long left to sojourn in "the region and shadow of death," a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in the promise of His appearing, who is "the resurrection and the life," to "bring home again His banished." The doctrine of the second advent is the very key-note of the Sacred Scriptures. From the day when the first pair turned their sorrowing steps from Eden, the children of faith have waited the coming of the Promised One to break the destroyer"s power and bring them again to the lost Paradise. Holy men of old looked forward to the advent of the Messiah in glory, as the consummation of their hope. Enoch, only the seventh in descent from them that dwelt in Eden, he who for three centuries on earth walked with his G.o.d, was permitted to behold from afar the coming of the Deliverer. "Behold," he declared, "the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all."(450) The patriarch Job in the night of his affliction exclaimed with unshaken trust: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: ... in my flesh shall I see G.o.d: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another."(451)
The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of righteousness, has inspired the most sublime and impa.s.sioned utterances of the sacred writers. The poets and prophets of the Bible have dwelt upon it in words glowing with celestial fire. The psalmist sung of the power and majesty of Israel"s King: "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, G.o.d hath shined. Our G.o.d shall come, and shall not keep silence.... He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people."(452) "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ... before the Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth."(453)