The Gist of the Matter.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3190, 10 May 1879, Page 1

The Gist of the Matter.

Whence came th« original power of ;3Proifettatitj«n^ ■' Wbat^was ,tb*re atiput attraction for. great, and',noble-minded men P Enthusiasm-does not make heroes, if'<it ii enthusiasm for illusion.' Some greai genuine truth there must have been at stake in that tremendous conflagration, or it: would hare burnt out like a fire of »(WwWx Something indispfctably *here was^l(rhjc)i the descendants of the Eeforiners J*ave forgotten, and have lost their "felijiiJß^i of a Latimer or "a" Knor there w.(B*^pttv.cpjastftSWiti. The positive part of it t^aji^Fiiifmirtion of the elementarytruth of^&foifeftty&V tbe "obligation of obedience to th«"li#;of jmoral duty; the Jftcond, or riegatiri^tt r waß a firm refusal to believe in lies, or to conceal or ;-thyi?;. disbWl^fj'•-" Ml Vi flreat : Spiritual movements have started under the" game conditions. They' haVe-their 'period tofU-youtb.' and vitality, their period; of /established usefulness, and inpturii their period of petrifaction. Creeds, by the law of their being, stiffen viny timer .into form./ Wherever external " ceremonial \ observances are supposed to be in thfemselves meretorious or efficacious, ( the weight of .the matter is sooner or "\&(fv[ cast.upontheim To sacrifice pur corrupt incliaalions is disagreeable and difficult. 0 To sacrifice bulls and goats ia one age, to mutter: paternosters and go to a priest for absolution in another, is simple andieasy. Priests themselves encourage a tendency which gives them consequence and authority. They need.not be con* scious rogues, bat their convictions go along with their interests/and they believe easily what they desire that others should believe. So' the! prbcess goes on, the I moral element growing! #caVer and weaker; andat last! dying out altogether. Men lose their Horror' of sin when a prirate arrangement'with. a s confessor- will clear jit.aw«y.,/ißeiigi6n become a'contriyance to enable them to live for pleasure, .iod to lose nothing by it; a»hooupocui which God i"s supposed to have contrived to cheat the devil—a conglomerate of halftruths buried in lies. As soon as this point is reached the catastrophe is not far off;./Conscience does?not sleep. The better sort of men perceive more pr less ! clearly that they.- are living upon illusions. They, may" not see their way to anything \ better. They may go on for, a, while in outward conformity, but sooner or later something occurs to' 1 make them speak, pqtnejiiinusually flagrant "scandal, or some politically • favourable opportunity- for a change. A single voice hai but to say the fitting-word,-and it is not the voice of 6"neTput t of millions. In the hearts of all generous high-minded persons there is an instinctive hatred of falsenood: a sense that it is dreadful and horrible, and that | they cannot- and dare not bear with it. They.! wanted bread; and;'they were fed with stones—but the stones will not serve them longer* and they fall back on the original elementary, moral certainties which are the natural food of their souls.

■ element i/iisaally that Wtiibt'at the beginning most occupies them, which .constitutes at once their'honour , an s <i 't|»eirj peril.^ Tlie.pbsitife! element ia simple and rapidly, summed;- up; nor in general does, it r contain j. the, .points , for which the battle is bein^ fought. The Reformers', l' chief; business' always is to destroy falsehood, to drag down the temple of imposture .where idols hold the place of the Almighty. I Thefgrowth of Christianity at the beginning was precisely this. The earty martyrs did not suffer for professing Christ; the Emperor Adrian had no objection to placing Christ in the Pantheon; but they,would not acknowledge the deities of the empire. Tbe^- refused* to fcall beings.divine which were 'either demons- or nothing.^ /The first ste.p, in their conversion was the -recognition:that they were living in a lie, and the truth to which they bore wituess in their deaths was not the mystery of the Incarnation, bat simply that the Gods of Greece and Rome were not Gods at all. Tne'fh^rignts otftbeir Master and Saviour hovered before them in their tortures, and took from death its .terrors;, t but they died, it cannot be too clearly remembered, for a negation. The last confession befc re the praetor, tbe words on which their fate depended, were not "we do believe," but "we do not believe." We will not to save our miserable' lives take a lie between our lips, and say we think what we do not think. The Reformation was yet more emphatically destructive. The very name Protestant was a declaration of revolt. It commenced with the repudiation of pardons and indulgences; and the theory of-the priesthood followed.' The clergy professed to be a separate caste, to possess magical powers in virtue of their from the Apostles, and to be able to work invisible miracles by gestures and cabalistic sentences. The war passed rapidly to the central mystery of the Catholic faith, r Heaven,did not interfere, so the Church fought for it, and went to work sword in hand to chastise the inovators. Where they conld not resist they died; and if we look over the .trials of the Protestant confessors in Holland, France, or England, we find .them condemned, not'for their positive doctrines of election, justification, or irresistible grace—the Church would have let them!'sky what they pleased about cjirious paradoxes, which, would have added but fresh propositions to the creed and furnished,fresh material for faith— the Church destroyed them for insisting that bread was bread, and wine was wine, and that a priest was no more a conjuror than a layman. And then to serious per* sons like John Frederick, and Coliquy, and William the Silent, the question arose, should the Church be allowed to do this ? While 'the ■ debate turned on in* tricaeies of theology, they were uncertain, and were inclined to stand still. These

great men did not quarrel with transub■tantiation as a more theological opinion. They were'unwilling to embroil Christendom for words. They would have left opinion free, and allowed the liberty to others which they demanded for themselves. The burnings and massacres forced them into a sterner attitude. When towns began to be sacked, and women ravished and buried alive, and men by tens of thousands hanged, shot, roasted, torn in pieces, and babies tossed upon the pikes of Romish crusaders, a cause had risen which might well command the sympathies of brave man; the cause of humanity against theology, the cause of God against the devil. It is idle to say that the Catholic cruelties of the sixteenth century rose from the spirit of the age. If the plea were true, the Papacy could not be held excused, for the Papacy claims to be inspired of God, and hot by the temper oi the times. But the age was not cruel till the Church made it so. The Refer mers, before they were persecuted, nevei sought or desired more for themselves than toleration: they demanded merely permission to think and speak then own thoughts. If in isolated oases extreme fanatics followed the atrocious examples of the Catholics, it was because they had not wholly shaken off the spirit of the creed in which they had been bred, But the judicial murders which can be laid to the charge of the Protestants are as units where the Church is responsible for thousands. . . . ... The evil element in Catholicism, which made Igobd men so detest it, was not that it held a theory of its own on the relation between God and man, but that it murdered everybody who would not agree with it. The work of the Reformation was done when speculative opinion was declared free. The lay intelligence of the world cares at all times more for justice than theology, and it left the Protestants to fight their own battles with their own arguments, as soon as it had secured them fair play. The contrast between the negative and positive principles has become increasingly apparent in every successive generation. —" Prospects of Protestantism."— Feottde.