There is little in this period that bears upon the subject of our study, except in a negative way, and it may be dismissed very briefly. The tendencies toward doctrinal refinement and concentration of ecclesiastical authority reached their culmination in this age of the church. The union which existed was not so much the result of unity as of ecclesiastical despotism. The authoritative doctrinal creed, which men must hold under pain of excommunication from the Church and from heaven, and the decisions of the papal authority in the form of decrees and anathemas, were now relied upon to prevent heresies and schisms. It was all very simple. As long as the Church had one supreme earthly head, whose decision on every question of difference was final, submission to that supreme authority was the sole condition of union. It was as simple as the union of the Apostolic Age, but the difference was the pope had usurped the place of Jesus Christ, and differences of opinion had been made uniform by authority, instead of being left free to work themselves out in liberty under the law of love.
The first great division in the Church occurred in this period, namely, that between the Eastern and Western, or Greek and Roman Catholic Churches, as they are now known. Differences in doctrine, and rivalry between the sees of Rome and Constantinople, had existed for a long time, but these reached their culmination in the middle of the eleventh century, when the pope of Rome and the patriarch of Constantinople issued bulls excommunicating each other! The line of cleavage was then clearly drawn and remains until this day. Each of these ecclesiastics assumed that he had the authority to excommunicate the other, and their assumptions were about equally well-grounded. The theory of union by authority vested in an earthly head, and uniformity of doctrine by an authoritative creed, had failed, even in an age when religious liberty and the sacred rights of conscience did not receive the emphasis which they have in our day. How idle, then, is the dream of certain advocates of union who hope to see it realized by submission to ecclesiastical authority, or by conformity to a certain theory of Episcopal ordination! Not less vain is the hope of others that some formulation of doctrines may be made that will serve as a basis of union, on which all believers may unite. History has repeated, over and over, the apostolic statement: "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
Will this historic division in the Church ever be healed? Will the long conflict between the Roman Pope and the Greek Patriarch end in peace? With God all things are possible. Again, will the broad chasm which separates both the Greek and Roman Churches from Protestant Christendom be bridged over, so that there shall be "one flock and one Shepherd?" Impossible as this may seem to men, it is not beyond the possibilities of divine wisdom and power. Indeed it is not possible to see how Christ's prayer for the unity of all who believe on Him can be fulfilled until all true believers within the bosom of these ancient ecclesiasticisms shall be delivered from their bondage to human authority and false teaching, and shall find in submission to Christ alone both the unity and the freedom which He alone can give to His enslaved and divided followers. This is the ideal which must be kept before us even while our immediate efforts be the union of Protestants.
Superstition and gross ignorance of the Scriptures prevailed largely in this period. Legalism had so infected the Church that it became a burden to conscience as was manifested in frequent self-imposed austerities in the way of penance. "In the devotional system of the middle ages the celestial hierarchy of angels had an important place. Apparitions of angels were believed to be not infrequent. They were protectors against the demoniacal spirits with which the air was peopled. 'The swarming, busy, indefatigable malignant spirits' claimed the world of man as their own. They assumed grotesque and repulsive forms. Satan was figured as having horns, a tail, and the cloven foot. Connected with this ever-present superstition, the torment of the young and the old, was the belief in magic spells and the efficacy of talismans. The potent reliance of the timid, tempted, and persecuted soul was in the help and intercession of the saints. These multiplied in number as time advanced. Every church, every village, had its tutelary spirits. The miracles which they were believed to have wrought were numberless."[13] These things are pertinent here only as showing the baneful results which followed a false theory of unity, which relied on external authority more than on faith, and enlightenment through the knowledge of the Scriptures, and on personal love for and devotion to Christ.
But let no one make the mistake of supposing that there were no true faith in Christ, and no sincere piety and devotion, even in that age of superstition and authority. Even some of the Popes, and many of the bishops, gave wise Christian instruction and admonition to the Church. The Ten Commandments, the Lord's prayer, and the Apostles' Creed were at least made familiar to the people. Some of the purest and noblest examples of a serene faith and deep devotion to God, existed in that period of the Church. Christianity, though corrupted, flowed on like a subterranean stream, hidden from the world by its outward excrescences, but nevertheless sweetening many a life and keeping alive in the world the testimony of God concerning Christ, human sin and the need of salvation through His name. Not a few enlightened minds taught of God, protested against the evils of the times. The Church of God was not extinct in the world. The gates of hades had not prevailed against it. It was a corrupt Church, indeed, and an apostate Church, but it was the only Church God had in the world to bear witness to his name and to promulgate his Gospel. If it had been wholly dead, and wholly corrupt, entirely destitute of truth and spiritual life, there could not have issued from it a reformation to bless the world. That reformation we are now to study more particularly to see what lessons it can teach us on the subject of Christian union.
Endnotes:
13 Prof. Geo. P. Fisher. [back]