g to the secular power
in support of the gospel of Him who declared, "My kingdom is not of this
world."(449) The union of the church with the state, be the degree never
so slight, while it may appear to bring the world nearer to the church,
does in reality but bring the church nearer to the world.

The great principle so nobly advocated by Robinson and Roger Williams,
that truth is progressive, that Christians should stand ready to accept
all the light which may shine from God's holy word, was lost sight of by
their descendants. The Protestant churches of America--and those of Europe
as well--so highly favored in receiving the blessings of the Reformation,
failed to press forward in the path of reform. Though a few faithful men
arose, from time to time, to proclaim new truth and expose long-cherished
error, the majority, like the Jews in Christ's day or the papists in the
time of Luther, were content to believe as their fathers had believed, and
to live as they had lived. Therefore religion again degenerated into
formalism; and errors and superstitions which would have been cast aside
had the church continued to walk in the light of God's word, were retained
and cherished. Thus the spirit inspired by the Reformation gradually died
out, until there was almost as great need of reform in the Protestant
churches as in the Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same
worldliness and spiritual stupor, a similar reverence for the opinions of
men, and substitution of human theories for the teachings of God's word.

The wide circulation of the Bible in the early part of the nineteenth
century, and the great light thus shed upon the world, was not followed by
a corresponding advance in knowledge of revealed truth, or in experimental
religion. Satan could not, as in former ages, keep God's word from the
people; it had been placed within the reach of all; but in order still to
accomplish his object, he led many to value it but lightly. Men neglected
to search the Scriptures, and thus they continued to accept false
interpretations, and to cherish doctrines which had no foundation in the
Bible.

Seeing the failure of his efforts to crush out the truth by persecution,
Satan had again resorted to the plan of compromise which led to the great
apostasy and the formation of the Church of Rome. He had induced
Christians to ally themselves, not now with pagans, but with those who, by
their devotion to the things of this world, ha