Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/338

 shaking to the foundation all those mistakes which councils have forced upon the Church, and which have paralysed the progress of religious thought. It is striving to place spiritual truth upon the pedestal of enlightened reason, and to rescue liberty from the bonds by which she has been surrounded. The greatest minds in all the Churches are ranging beyond the limits which they have prescribed; they are endeavouring to break through the barriers which ecclesiastical authority has erected, and are making efforts to obtain for themselves a platform for the freer utterance of advancing thought. A decided movement of this description is felt throughout the whole of Christendom, and multitudes sympathise with it as a desirable thing. All have not the courage to speak out; many suppose that they are not in circumstances to do so with usefulness and prudence; others are silent, either because they are not willing to be considered as disturbers, or think themselves without influence in so serious an affair. But there are some who have resolution for the work. These set conscience above policy; they give utterance to their critical investigations; their conclusions may not always be correct, but it is plain that they have been searching after truth, and that, for the most part, they have conducted their inquiries with honesty and learning. At this the bigots and the placemen of the Church are alarmed. They do not fairly enter the field of biblical criticism. They throw epithets at the inquirers, and strive to put them down, not by argument, but by authority. They take those bold thinkers into ecclesiastical courts, try them by antiquated laws, and get a verdict, which however is soon reversed by an appeal to another tribunal more influenced by the light and liberty of the new age in which we live.