Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 92:366 (Apr 1935)
Article: Editorials
Author: Anonymous

BSac 92:366 (Apr 35) p. 129

Editorials

Religious Liberty and Discipline

The framers of our national constitution, mindful of the persecutions which drove to our land many of its early settlers, wisely provided the guaranty of religious liberty to all comers to our shores. This has been one of the prized principles underlying the constitutional rights of the individual citizen. Under it he is given liberty to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience without interference by atheistic fanatics. By the same token he is free not to conform to any religious system without danger of persecution from false religious zealots. In this free atmosphere true Christian forces, exercising their God-given powers of persuasion, could and did make notable conquests under the direction and in the power of the Holy Spirit. With the passing of time marked by no serious opposition, however, the church has gradually lost its moral and spiritual fiber. Today thousands of churches fail to list in their annual reports any additions to membership on confession of faith. During the early history of the Christian movement the often quoted words of Turtullian had had full demonstration: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Progress in both the purity of the church and increased number of its adherents has ever followed seasons of persecutions.

On the other hand, humanly devised methods of compulsion have never won true converts to the banner of Christ. Following the “Edict of Milan,” proclaimed by Constantine in March, 313 A.D., persecutions were interdicted and were replaced in many instances by compulsory baptisms of unbelievers. It may be seriously doubted that any considerable number of true conversions resulted from the wholesale baptisms of Roman soldiers who were forced to submit to the

BSac 92:366 (Apr 35) p. 130

rite at the point of the sword. Under the régime of human authority thus established the church, in turn, gradually sank to the role of persecutor, as witnessed during the dark ages and culminating in the horrors of the Inquisition.

In the land of the Reformation where the principles of religious liberty were recovered, we are now witnessing a recrudescence of the fanatical spirit of persecution. A paganized national church under the sanction and direction of the government is conducting persecutions against the Christian churches, Protestant and Roman Catholic alike, while the government itself is carrying on a barbarous campaign against the ancient people of God within its jurisdiction. Should the present world order prevail for a sufficient length of time, we may confidently predict that the true Christian forces of that unhappy land will be solidified and purified in this period of sore trial. History gives warrant for such a con...