Christ rebuked the
Pharisees because they rejected the commandment of God to keep their own
tradition; Paul proclaimed that men should be justified by faith without
the deeds of the law; and Luther preached that the Christian was free,
that the soul did not live because the body wore vestments or prayed with
the lips, and he denounced the tyranny of the clergy, who arrogated to
themselves a higher position than others who were Christian in the spirit.
On their side priesthoods know these leaders of rebellion by an unerring
instinct and pursue them to the death.
The ministers of New England were formalists to the core, and the society
over which they dominated was organized upon the avowed basis of the
manifestation of godliness in the outward man. The sad countenance, the
Biblical speech, the sombre garb, the austere life, the attendance at
worship, and, above all, the unfailing deference paid to themselves, were
the marks of sanctification by which the elders knew the saints on earth,
for whom they were to open the path to fortune by making them members of
the church.
Happily for Massachusetts, there has never been a time when all her
children could be docile under such a rule; and, among her champions of
freedom, none have been braver than those who have sprung from the ranks
of her ministry, as the fate of Roger Williams had already proved.
Pages:
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232