342 



UKIS- KKLlGItirs Lir.KIlTY. 



Catholic Synod at Cologne in 1ST.! Reinkcns was 

 elected bishop, and was consecrated on AIIHUM 11, at 

 Rotterdam, by tin- Janscliist bi.-hop lleykamp of 



'r He WM Mlraoviadfad l>y Pre- 

 aii'l Hesse, and made llonn his see. His oratorical 

 ability was employed in i \; t nding the movement for 

 some time with marked success. In September, 1876, 

 he consecrated Itishop llcrzog in Switzerland. Anmne 

 bin publications may IK' noted Jfi-i-nliitinn mill Kir<-hr 

 (|s7n ; l'.l*-r f.'infifit </<T Knthnlifchni A'irclii- (1877). 

 He also published some treatises on ('Inmnt <if AlfX- 

 (in,iri,t (1*57), Rroapim (I. -.''.). Hilary of fbic&n 

 (I8M), Martin of l<n,rt (iN'.ti). Arigtotle on Art 

 (INTO), Louiie Jffiurl (1877), Letting on Toleration 

 ( 



KKIS. riHMPP (1834-1874), a German physicist, 

 regarded by some as the inventor of the telephone, 

 was l*>rn at Gclnhauscn, Jan. 7, 1834. He was edu- 

 cated at Frankfort and was employed in a color-factory 

 there, lint pursued with ardor mathematical and sci- 

 entific studies. In 18. f >8 he became a teacher in an 

 institute at llomburg. and there constructed an in.-tru- 

 mcnt by which sound could he transmitted to a dis- 

 tance. This has been called the first .telephone, though 

 ,'"] not use the name, nor did his contrivance 

 transniit speech. Keis died Jan. 14. 1874, before any 

 public interest was shown in his work. For a full ac- 

 count of his career and invention see the 1'ojiulnr 

 t\ijfin-f Mmithhi. August. lss;i, and lltilipp Jteis, by 

 8. P. Thompson (London. 1S83). 



RELIGIOUS LIBERTY is a special application 

 of the general law of personal liberty, which affirms 

 the right of every man to exert his powers freely at 

 the dictate of his own sense of duty or self-interest. 

 restrained only by regard for the rights and just 

 claims of others. As applied to mental action, the 

 principle demands freedom of thought and of expres- 

 sion by speech or writing; and in the sphere of rc- 

 li.L'ion, freedom of opinion, of leaching, and of woiship. 

 implying the right, as before the law. to K 1 of any or 

 of no religion. But as religion has regard to men's 

 supreme duty and interest, calling into exercise the 

 dci pest sense of obligation, religious lil>erty is the 

 highest and most sacred form of personal liberty. ( >ut 

 of the recognition of personal religions liU-rty grows 

 by a natural evolution the right of association. \\ :- 

 Buns of the same religious faith unite to form a church. 

 Complete spiritual freedom includes the freedom of 

 churches not only to maintain public worship but to 

 es.taLli.~h terms 01 membership and rules of discipline. 

 For the state to intermeddle with or impede the ad- 

 ministration of church discipline would l>e a depriva- 

 tion of the just liberties of its mental. EWigions 

 liberty differs from toleration, with which it is often 

 confounded. The jmwcr to grant toleration implies 

 the power to refuse it. Thus the English Tolention 

 Act. as originally framed. refused toleration to Roman 

 Catholics and to 1'nitarians, and it was not till a re- 

 cent period that those exceptions were removed. It is 

 also to ! distinguished from religious equality. To es- 

 tablish by law and maintain by general taxation any 

 form of rcli</ion--so l"ii" us the free exercise of other 

 religious forms is permitted violates equality but is 

 no invasion of religious liberty. In these definitions 

 and distinctions, it may be necessary to state, liberty is 

 las the alternative of restraint imposed under 

 forms of law. There are moral restraints which in- 

 fringe no man's rights. One who adroette* unpopular 

 opinions must run the risk of becoming personally un- 

 tiopular, involving various degrees of social I.-olat ion. 

 This, however unpleasant to bear, is not per.-ecniion. 

 Nr is it rn infringement of any one's liberty to sub- 

 ject him toeccloiastical censure according to the rules 

 of the denomination to whi"h he belongs by vol- 

 untary adhesion. But penally, privation, or civil 

 disqualification inflicted by law for the profession of 

 any form of religion is a denial of religious liberty. 



Personal liberty iu all its forms, icgardvd us the . 



' right of every m.in. in essentially a modern idea, and 

 its recognition is still far from l>cing world-wide. In 

 the ancient civilisations all rights of the individual 

 were held mbordinate to the prcrogatiw- of the state. 

 It was found that the absolutism of a popular assem- 

 bly could be as oppressive as that ot an empiror. 

 Against the absolute state, whether republican or im- 

 perial, the individual had no rights. Christianity by 

 its doctrine of iH-rsonal duty, ot 'personal redemption, 

 and of personal responsibility to the divine judgment, 

 attached an infinite value and dignity to every human 

 soul, from which the acknowledgment of p. 

 rights was a necessary though not an immediate infer- 

 ence. The hierarchical organization of the church, and 

 its alliance with the empire, tended again to suNn-di- 

 nate the individual to the catholic whole. Augustine 

 cave the weight of his authority in favor of treating 

 heresy as a crime against the state. The fatal prece- 

 dent bore its fruit in making spiritual despotism the 

 jaw of Catholic Europe. The Reformation carried in 

 its bosom the spirit of revolt against ecclesiastical 

 authority, but not positive faith in the freedom of the 

 soul. The Reformed Churches, in close alliance with 

 I lie state, continued the rule of intolerance, which was 

 affirmed in their confessions of faith. The Formula 

 of Concord, for example, declares concerning the Ana- 

 baptists that they "are divided into many sects, of 

 which some maintain more, some fewer errors. Nev- 

 ertheless, in a general way, they all profess such adoc- 

 trinc as can be tolerated neither in the church, nor by 

 the police, nor in daily life (ncqiic in ccte.*in, iirijur in 

 /iii/i/in. tn'iiiif in iifiiiiiiiiiiii tii/irm-i /infest). The First 

 and Second Helvetic Confessions fulminate in like man- 

 ner against ail who brine in or follow "strange doc- 

 trines." The French and HclgicCoiil. Dually 

 explicit; the Scotch Confession of 1500 goes so far 

 as to affirm that to kings, princes, rulers, and magis- 

 trates i-hii-jli/ <ind]>ri>ic!pnlly pertains the conservation 

 and purgation of religion, and that they arc appointed 

 tnr the maintenance of tnie religion and for suppres- 

 sion of idolatry and superstition. The M i.-tminstt r 

 Confession, with its characteristic fulness of thought 

 and terseness of expression, declares that "the magis- 

 trate hath authority and it is his duty to take order 

 that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that 

 the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all 

 blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, :1 H corruption 

 and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or re- 

 formed, and all the ordinances of (Jod duly settled, 

 administered, and observed." The 1'resbytcrian 

 Church in the United States has not received ibis arti- 

 cle of the Confession of Faith, but substituted lor it 

 another, more in harmony with the spirit of the later 

 age. The Church of England was a persecuting 

 church, with rare intenals. for three hundred years. 



From the bosom of the English church came forth 

 bodies of dissenters, now numerously represented 

 among the popular forms of ecclesiastical life. The 



adents (or CoiiLMVirationalists) protested vigor- 

 ously against the intolerance of the Established 

 Church. AVhen, in consequence of the Parliamentary 

 \\ ar. Episcopacy was suppressed and the Wotminsli-r 

 Assembly w;us called to frame a newccclc.-i.isiical consti- 

 tution for Great Britain, their Confession of Faith and 

 Form of Government were summarily set aside by the 

 Independents, aided by the weight of Oliver Crom- 

 well's sword. Yet. iinilcr the Protectorate, 'hough 

 there was a general toleration, there were significant 

 exceptions. Tim lenity of the government did not ex- 

 tend to Roman ( 'at holies or 1'nil.irians. Nor was llii.s 



a matter of civil regulation. The Indepen- 

 dents had no idea of countenancing any doctrine of 

 complete religions freedom. John Robinson haS*l>ecn 

 canoni/ed by the descendanls of the Puritans 08 a 

 LiU'ral born out of due time. Yet John Robinson, 



nil publications, in.-i.-lcd :>n the duty of the, 

 magistrate to maintain true religion and put down re- 

 ligious error. "lie may" sucb is his reiuarkubio 



