Principles in the Early Church.
IN absolute freedom from the State, in utter separation from the governments of the world, the apostolic church began its work. It was vouchsafed all the power of God (Matt. 28:18-20); upon it was poured out the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:1-12); its weapons were not carnal, but spiritual, and yet mighty thru God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4, 5). That early church never appealed to the State for support. The apostles never asked the civil power for State aid to establish, promote, or preserve any Christian dogma or institution. They had so much faith in the simple truth of God that they boldly declared, "We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth" (2 Cor. 13:8); and that even the persecutions waged against the Gospel had "fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel" (Phil. 1:12). They died, but truth lived and conquered. Idol shrines melted before truth's glowing love, heathen temples crumbled before truth's intrinsic power, and darkened hearts became the light bearers of the Sun of Righteousness. It was not until the Church departed from her Lord that her mighty works ceased. It was not until she lost her power that she appealed to the State. The persecution of a Nero or Decius was better for the Church, suffer tho she did, than the "conversion" of a Constantine. Following the union of Church and State thru him, that apostasy rapidly developed, the fulness of which is seen in the persecutions of the Dark Ages; and that persecution not because men were naturally worse, but because they were led by wrong and wicked principles, which transformed them into demons, while at the same time they thought themselves God's ministers. The Dark Ages were but the developments of the first seedsowing in the days of Constantine, and previous. In fact, it began in the days of the apostle (2 Thess. 2:7), when Christ was excluded from the hearts of disciples, and unconverted men began to control the Church. Some of the Reformers started out in theory on the true Gospel principle of absolute separation of Church and State, but this principle did not long control. It was not until 1776 that a place was found among the civilized governments of earth where Church and State both stood where God designed they should stand, each in its own sphere. That place was the great Republic of the West. Shall they ever remain separate in this republic?