Political Science Of The State

442 POLITICAL SCIENCE.
There is another point in which the monotheistic religions
differ from others, and in which Christianity stands foremost
among them ; it is the profound conviction, which those have
who receive them, of their being true revelations. They
claimed to be true, and they satisfied believers in them in
regard to their relations to God and the universe. Judaism
was introductory and propaedeutic; Mohammedanism bor-
rowed from it, with some adaptations and variations. But
Christianity professes to rest on a historical basis vouched for
by original witnesses, and to be the final word from heaven
concerning sin, redemption, a perfect rule of life and a life
hereafter. Being intensely moral by its hold on the con-
science, it leads men to withstand all wrong laws, to oppose
institutions that are opposed to its spirit, and with equal
firmness to contend for whatever is true or believed to be true,
and to accept of death rather than be disloyal to truth.
Thus Christians may come into contact with state law, and
either persecution must arise or law be modified. But beyond
this Christianity has been exposed to various corruptions in
outward form or in doctrine, and the essential truth has carried
over into the form or into the unessential doctrine the sanc-
tity and divine authority of revelation, so that sects arising
within this simple religion . have claimed exclusive right to
represent it in a given age or country. Thus, an outward in-
stitution, especially if intended to secure the unity of the
Christian religion, claims exclusive right to exist, and by its
influence on the state seeks to destroy all others. There are
indeed a few phenomena like this in the history of other
religions; thus, Brahmanism expelled Buddhism from India
in an immense conflict; the traditions produced divisions in
Judaism, the Sonnites and Shiites break Islamism in twain;
but the phenomenon is of more frequent recurrence within
the Christian pale, because it quickens thought into new vigor,
and makes the conscience more imperial than any other reli-
gion. For these and other reasons the relations of states to
religion, the encroachments of religion on states, the diffi-
culties of rival sects with each other and the law, have