hand all persecuted religions, sects, and parties are advocates of toleration and freedom, at least
for themselves. Some of the best as well as the worst men have been persecutors, believing that
they served the cause of God by fighting his enemies. Saul of Tarsus, and Marcus Aurelius, the
Stoic saint and philosopher on the throne of the Caesars, have in ignorance persecuted Christianity,
the one from zeal for the law of Moses, the other from devotion to the laws and gods of Rome.
Charlemagne thought he could best promote Christianity among the heathen Saxons by chasing
them through the river for wholesale baptism. St. Augustin, Thomas Aquinas, and Calvin were
equally convinced of the right and duty of the civil magistrate to punish heresy. A religion or church
established by law must be protected by law against its enemies. The only sure guarantee against
persecution is to put all churches on an equal footing before the law, and either to support all or
none.
Church history is lurid with the infernal fires of persecutions, not only of Christians by
heathens and Mohammedans, but of Christians by Christians.
But there is a silver lining to every cloud, and an overruling Providence in all human
wickedness. The persecutions test character, develop moral heroism, bring out the glories of
martyrdom, and sow the bloody seed of religious liberty. They fail of their object when the persecuted
party has the truth on its side, and ultimately result in its victory. This was the case with Christianity
in the Roman empire, and to a large extent with Protestantism. They suffered the cross, and reaped
the crown.
Let us now briefly survey the chief stages in the history of persecution, which is at the same
time a history of religious liberty.
- The New Testament furnishes not a single passage in favor of persecution. The teaching
and example of Christ and the Apostles are against it. He came to save the world, not to destroy it.
He declared that His kingdom is not of this world. He rebuked the hasty Peter for drawing the
sword, though it was in defense of his Master; and he preferred to suffer and to die rather than to
call the angels of God to aid against his enemies. The Apostles spread the gospel by spiritual means
and condemned the use of carnal weapons.
For three hundred years the church followed their example and advocated freedom of
conscience. She suffered persecution from Jews and Gentiles, but never retaliated, and made her
way to triumph through the power of truth and a holy life sealed by a heroic death.^43
- The change began with the union of church and state under Constantine the Great, in the
East, and Charles the Great, in the West. Both these emperors represent the continuation of the old
Roman empire under the dominion of the sword and the cross.
The mediaeval theory of the Catholic Church assumes a close alliance of Caesar and Pope,
or the civil and ecclesiastical power, in Christian countries, and the exclusiveness of the Catholic
communion out of which there can be no salvation. The Athanasian Creed has no less than three
damning clauses against all who dissent from the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
From this point of view every heresy, i.e., every departure from catholic orthodoxy, is a sin and a
crime against society, and punishable both by the church and the state, though in different ways.
(^43) Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Lactantius made some of the strongest pleas in favor of religious liberty. See vol. II. 35 and 825.