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X.
Christian Liberty
Chapter 106
:
Union of Church and State
1. WHAT was already at
work in the church in Paul's day?
"For the mystery of iniquity
doth already work." 2 Thess. 2:7.
2. What class of men
did he say would arise in the church?
"For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock. Also of
your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them." Acts 20:29,30.
3. Through what
experience was the church to pass, and what was
to develop in the church, before Christ's second
coming?
"Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition." 2 Thess.
2:3.
4. In what was shown
the first tangible evidence of this "falling
away" from the truth of God?
The adoption of heathen rites and
customs in the church.
NOTE.-"The bishops augmented the number of
religious rites in the Christian worship, by
way of accommodation to the infirmities and
prejudices, both of Jews and heathen, in
order to facilitate their conversion to
Christianity. . . . For this purpose they
gave the name of mysteries to the
institutions of the gospel, and decorated
particularly the holy sacrament with that
solemn title. They used in that sacred
institution, as also in that of baptism,
several of the terms employed in the heathen
mysteries, and proceeded so far, at length,
as even to adopt some of the rites and of
the ceremonies of which those renowned
mysteries consisted." - Mosheim's
"Ecclesiastical History" (Maclaine's
translation), cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4,
pars. 2-5.
5. How early was this
tendency manifested?
"This imitation began in the eastern
provinces; but, after the time of Adrian
[emperor 117-138 A.D.], who first introduced the
mysteries among the Latins, it was followed by
the Christians who dwelt in the western parts of
the empire."-
Id., par. 5.
6. What has been one
great characteristic of the Papacy?
A union of church and state, or the
religious power dominating the civil power to
further its ends.
7. When was th union of
church and state formed from which the Papacy
grew?
During the reign of Constantine,
313-337 A.D.
8. What was the
character and the work of many of the bishops at
that time?
"Worldly-minded bishops,
instead of caring for the salvation of their
flocks, were often but too much inclined to
travel about, and entangle themselves in
worldly concerns."-
Neander's "History of the Christian Religion
and Church" (Torrey's translation), Vol. II,
page 16.
9. What did the bishops
determine to do?
"This theocratical theory was already
the prevailing one in the time of Constantine;
and. . . the bishops voluntarily made themselves
dependent on him by their disputes, and by
their determination to make use of the power of
the state for the furtherance of their aims."-
Id., page 132.
NOTE.-The "theocratical theory" was that of
a government administered by God through the
church, particularly through the church
bishops.
10. What was the date
of Constantine's famous Sunday law?
A. D. 321.
11. When and by whom
was the Council of Nice convened?
By the emperor Constantine, 325 A. D.
12. Under what
authority were its decrees published?
"The decrees. . . were published
under the imperial authority, and thus
obtained a political importance."-
Id., page 133.
13. What was one
principal object in calling this council?
"The question relating to the
observance of Easter, which was agitated in
the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward
in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was
one of the principal reasons for convoking the
Council of Nice, being the most important
subject to be considered after the Arian
controversy."
"It appears that the churches of Syria and
Mesopotamia continued to follow the custom of
the Jews, and celebrated Easter on the
fourteenth day of the moon, whether falling
on Sunday or not. All the other churches
observed that solemnity on Sunday only, namely;
those of Rome, Italy, Africa, Lydia, Egypt,
Spain, Gaul, and Britain; and all Greece, Asia,
and Pontus."-
Boyle's "Historical View of the Council of
Nice," page 23, edition 1836.
14. How was the matter
finally decided?
"Easter day was fixed on the
Sunday immediately following the full moon
which was nearest after the vernal equinox."-
Id., page 24.
15. What was decreed by
the Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364?
That Christians should keep the
Sunday, and that if they persisted in resting on
the Sabbath, "they shall be shut out from
Christ." See Hefele's "History of the Councils
of the Church," Vol. II, page 316.
16. What imperial law
was issued in A. D. 386?
"By a law of the year 386, those
older changes effected by Constantine were more
vigorously enforced; and, in general, civil
transactions of every kind on Sunday were
strictly forbidden."-
Neander's "Church History," Vol. II, page 300.
17. What petition was
made to the emperor by a church convention of
bishops in A. D. 401?
"That the public shows might be
transferred from the Christian Sunday and from
the feast-days to some other days of the week."-
Id.
NOTE.-The
desired law was secured in 425 A.D.
18. What was the object
of the church bishops in securing these Sunday
laws?
"That the day might be devoted with
less interruption to the purposes of devotion."
"That the devotion of the faithful might be free
from all disturbance."-
Id., pages 297,301.
19. How was the
"devotion" of the "faithful" disturbed?
"Church teachers. . . were, in truth,
often forced to complain that in such
competitions the theater was vastly more
frequented than the church."-
Id., page 300.
20. What does Neander
say of the securing of these laws?
"In this way the church received help
from the state for the furtherance of her ends."-
Id., page 301.
NOTE.-In this way, more perhaps than in any
other, church and state were united. In this
way the church gained control of the civil
power, which she later used as a means of
carrying on most bitter and extensive
persecutions. In this way she denied Christ
and the power of godliness.
21. When the church had
received help from the state to this extent,
what more did she demand?
That the civil power should be
exerted to compel men to serve God as the church
should dictate.
22. What did Augustine,
the father of this theocratical or
church-and-state theory, teach concerning it?
"Who doubts but what it is better to
be led to God by instruction than by fear of
punishment or affliction? But because the
former, who will be guided only by instruction,
are better, the others are still not to be
neglected. . . . Many, like bad servants, must
often be reclaimed to their Master by the rod of
temporal suffering, ere they can attain to this
highest stage of religious development."-
Id., pages 214,215.
23. What is Neander's conclusion regarding
this theory?
"It was by Augustine, then, that a theory was
proposed and founded, which, tempered though it
was, in its practical application, by his own
pious, philanthropic spirit, nevertheless
contained the germ of that whole system of
spiritual despotism, of intolerance and
persecution, which ended in the tribunals of the
Inquisition." "He did not give precedence to the
question, What is right? over the
question, What is expedient? But a theory
which overlooks these distinctions leaves room
for any despotism which would make holy ends a
pretext for the use of unholy means."-
Id., pages 217,249,250.
NOTE.-It was thus that the union of church
and state was formed, out of which was
developed "the beast," or Papacy, of the
Apocalypse, which made "war with the saints"
and overcame them. A like course cannot fail
to produce like results today. Dr. Philip
Schaff, in his work on "Church and State,"
page 11, well says: "Secular power has
proved a satanic gift to the church, and
ecclesiastical power has proved an engine of
tyranny in the hands of the state."
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