The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America
By C. M. S.
The Origin of the Doctrine
The doctrine of religious liberty—the freedom of mind and soul from the jurisdiction of the state—is considered by very many as of purely American origin, a plant indigenous to this country. To such the proof of its exotic origin may be unwelcome; but an exotic it surely is. Palestine was its home, and Jesus Christ the one who prepared the soil and planted the tree. “If any man believe not,” said Jesus, “I judge him not.” That declaration of our Lord was the direct antithesis of the teachings and the practices of his times in the nations of the world. In his day to teach any religion or worship any god not recognized by Rome was an offense punishable by banishment or by death, according to the social standing of the one so doing. Men must believe as the state directed and worship as the state commanded, or suffer the severest penalties. Not to believe as the state directed, not to worship as the state commanded, would cause one to be judged and condemned and punished. Against that condition of intolerance in that world empire, in all nations yet to be, in the hearts of unconverted men, and in the hearts of professed but intolerant Christians, Jesus Christ sets up5the gospel of soul liberty—unwelcome in his day, and throughout a large portion of Christendom unwelcome in our day. Because of a religious belief and teaching and practice different from that of Judaism, a cross was planted on Calvary, and the Lord of glory, the true author of religious liberty, was crucified thereon. For the same reason Stephen was judged worthy of death, and Saul, consenting unto his death, held the clothes of those that stoned him. For the same reason Paul (Saul) himself was stoned at Lystra and dragged out of the city by the multitude who supposed they had thus answered his arguments and closed his mouth forever. For the same reason each of the apostles met cruel death in various parts of the world where they sought to teach the principles of the kingdom of righteousness. In such inhospitable soil that wonderful plant first found lodgment, watered first by the blood of Him who set it there, and then by the blood and tears of his faithful followers through succeeding centuries. That plant must have rooted deeper than human hearts and its branches must have towered higher than human arms could reach, else it must have been swept from the earth by the storms and the fires of persecution that have raged for eighteen hundred years. The sharpest cruelties of a Nero or a Decius could not entirely uproot it. Its indestructibility under such treatment proves its origin divine. It is one of the anomalies of history that after the fierce struggle of the early Christians during three hundred years, the half-converted pagan Emperor Constantine gave voice to principles in close harmony with the principles of true soul-liberty. In the year 303 Diocletian determined to uproot Christianity, and enacted laws to that end. “By these enactments all Christian assemblies were prohibited; all churches were to be demolished; all copies of the Scriptures to be burned; all Christians who held rank or office to be degraded; all of whatever rank to lose citizenship, and be liable like slaves to the torture; Christian slaves were to be incapable of receiving freedom; all bishops and clergy were to be thrown into prison and there compelled to sacrifice; and all Christians everywhere ordered publicly to worship the gods, under the usual penalty of torture and death.”—Innes, “Church and State,” page 19. For eight years that régime continued. Then came the edict of toleration by Galerius. The following year, 312, Constantine came to the throne, and one year later, in conference with Licinius, emperor of the East, issued the famous edict of Milan. By that edict there was granted to all men the utmost freedom of worship. In that edict are two points worthy of note: first, it disestablished the heathen religion, and second, it did not establish any other religion. It was a direct step from soul-thraldom to soul-liberty without stopping at the half-way house of “toleration.” But Constantine seems to have been unable to realize or carry out in their fulness the principles of his own edict; for only eight years later, in the year 321, we find him enacting a religious law, the forerunner of all Sunday laws from his time till now. Nevertheless, after Constantine had conquered Licinius and had made himself the head of the entire Roman world, we find him issuing his famous “Proclamation to the Peoples of the East,” emphasizing and enlarging upon the principles contained in the edict of Milan. That the reader may see how closely this proclamation harmonizes with the true principles of religious liberty as taught by their divine Author, we quote a portion of that document:— I hasten, O God, to put my shoulder to the work of restoring thy most holy house, which profane and impious princes have marred by their violence. But I desire that my people should live at peace and in concord, and that for the common good of the world and the advantage of mankind. Let the followers of error enjoy the same peace and security with those who believe: this very restoration of common privileges will be powerful to lead men towards the road of truth. Let no one molest his neighbor. What the soul of each man counsels him, that let him do. Only let men of sound judgment be assured that those alone will live a life of holiness and purity whom thou callest to find rest in thy holy laws. But for the others, who keep apart from us, let them, if they please, retain the temples of falsehood. We have the resplendent house of thy truth given us as our inheritance. But this we pray for them also, that they may come to share the gladness of a common belief. . . . Let all men henceforth enjoy the privilege placed within our reach, i. e., the blessing of peace; and let us keep our consciences far from what might hinder it. Whatever truth a man has received and been persuaded of, let him not smite his neighbor with it. Rather, whatever he has himself seen and understood, let him help his neighbor with it, if that is possible; if it is not, let him desist from the attempt. For it is one thing to voluntarily undertake to wrestle for immortality; it is another to constrain others to it by fear.”—Innes, “Church and State,” page 30. Concerning this “Proclamation” Sanford H. Cobb says, in his “Rise of Religious Liberty in America:”— The terms of this proclamation leave nothing to be desired, and the reader of it is impressed alike by its breadth and the deep spiritual insight it declares. That the privilege of freedom would “lead men toward the road of truth;” that “to constrain by fear” is no proper means of conversion; and that conscience demands for all men what it demands for itself; are truths which speak to us out of the turmoil of the fourth century with startling accents, soon condemned to silence until fourteen hundred years should give them voice again. Constantine, in this particular, was far ahead of his time. In 337 he died, leaving his throne to his sons, who soon began to use the same instruments of oppression against heathenism that Nero and Decius had employed against Christianity. First came this decree: “Let superstition cease; let the madness of sacrifices be abolished.” In 353 Constantius ordered that the heathen temples be closed. He decreed that “all abstain from sacrifices: if any be found doing otherwise, let him be slain with the sword.” This was the beginning of that reaction against paganism which resulted in the establishment of the Christian religion as the religion of the empire, and made possible that terrible caricature of Christianity which enthralled the minds and consciences of men for more than twelve centuries. But the principles of religious liberty, though “condemned to silence until fourteen hundred years should give them voice again,” did not remain in the condition to which they were condemned during all that age of intellectual and spiritual darkness. They came to flower and fruition again in various portions of Europe, breaking up through the crust of ecclesiastical oppression, now here and now there, in spite of the bitterest persecution from Catholic and Protestant alike. That phase of the growth of religious liberty will be considered next week.