Christian fellowship. The opposition proceeded chiefly from the "Old Lutherans," so called, who
insist upon "pure doctrine," as the basis of union, to the exclusion of the Calvinistic "heresies," and
who took just offense at the forcible introduction of the new liturgy of the king (the Agende of
1822); but the opposition was silenced by granting them the liberty of separate organization and
self-government (1845). The Prussian Union suffers from the defects of Erastianism, but no more
than any other state-church, or the introduction of the Reformation in the sixteenth century by the
civil power. Experience has proved that moderate Lutherans and Reformed Christians can live
together, commune at the same altar, and co-operate in the work of the common Master. This
experience is a great gain. The union type of Protestantism has become an important historic fact
and factor in the modern theology and church life of Prussia and those other parts of Germany
which followed her example.
The two sons and successors of the founder of the Prussian Union, King Frederick William
IV. (1840–1858), and Emperor William I. (1858–1888), have faithfully adhered to it in theory and
practice.
Frederick William IV. was well versed in theology, and a pronounced evangelical believer.
He wished to make the church more independent, and as a means to that end he established the
Oberkirchenrath (1850, modified 1852), which in connection with the Cultusministerium should
administer the affairs of the church in the name of the king; while a general synod was to exercise
the legislative function. Under his reign the principle of religious liberty made great progress, and
was embodied in the Prussian Constitution of 1850, which guarantees in Article XII. the freedom
of conscience and of private and public worship to all religious associations.^799
William I., aided by Bismarck and Moltke, raised Prussia, by superior statesmanship and
diplomacy, and by brilliant victories in the wars with Austria (1866) and France (1870), to her
present commanding position. He became by common consent of the German sovereigns and people
the first hereditary emperor of United Germany under the lead of Prussia. He adorned this position
in eighteen years of peace by his wisdom, integrity, justice, untiring industry, and simple piety, and
gained the universal esteem and affection of the German nation, yea, we may say, of the civilized
world, which mourned for him when on the 9th of March, 1888, in the ninety-first year of an eventful
life, he entered into his rest. History has never seen a more illustrious trio than the Emperor William,
"the Iron Chancellor," and "the Battle-thinker," who "feared God, and nothing else."
The new German Empire with a Protestant head is the last outcome of the Reformation of
Prussia, and would not have been possible without it.
§ 100. Protestant Martyrs.
No great cause in church or state, in religion or science, has ever succeeded without sacrifice.
Blood is the price of liberty. "The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity." Persecution develops
the heroic qualities of human nature, and the passive virtues of patience and endurance under
suffering. Protestantism has its martyrs as well as Catholicism. In Germany it achieved a permanent
legal existence only after the Thirty Years’ War. The Reformed churches in France, Holland,
England, and Scotland, passed through the fiery ordeal of persecution. It has been estimated that
(^799) See Schaff, Church and State in the United States, New York, 1888, p. 97 sq.