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description= Thoughts and Observations on the Fall and Rise of Western and Christian Civilization;
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sustains to that church in order to ascertain if he be right in presenting his claims or the western powers of europe right in the resistance they have offered to his claims so presented the greek church and the roman catholic church were originally one in the fourth century when constantine assumed the imperial purple he fixed his royal residence at byzantium instead of rome which city he enlarged and called constantinople which means the city of constantine rome had hitherto been the imperial city and for ages had given laws to the world but it now had a rival in consequence of which it began to decline while constantinople became the capital of the greek empire the bishop of rome had hitherto claimed a superiority over all other churches but in this claim the bishop of constantinople was his constant and invincible opponent this rivalry between the bishop of rome and the bishop of constantinople continued for several centuries but towards the close of the ninth century it terminated by a formal division into the eastern or greek church and the latin or the western church the latin or western church is governed by the pope but the greek church is governed by patriarchs of whom there are four in turkey and egypt namely at constantinople jerusalem antioch and alexandria and there are also four patriarchates in russia petersburg kiev kazan and tobolsk the russian church was not the mother church but the daughter church as she received her form of christianity from constantinople and she can prefer no reasonable claim whatever to govern the church from which she herself has descended there has however in general existed a good feeling between the russian church and the greek church of the south of whom it is said there are twelve millions of members within the turkish empire the greek church has suffered much from the tyranny of the turks in past times the patriarch of constantinople although duly elected by the authorities of his church yet could not enter upon the duties of his office until he had obtained the approval of the sultan which required large presents to effect and when effected there was no security for the sultan exercised the right of deposition at pleasure the greeks were for a long time not allowed to build any new churches and had to pay dearly for permission to repair their old ones they were not allowed to have bells or steeples to their churches and often had to perform religious services in the night they were not allowed to wear the turkish dress they had to pay taxes from which the turks were exempt and many other indignities and cruelties they had to endure one of the most extraordinary and barbarous of which was their males after fifteen years of age had to pay a heavy poll tax under the name of exemption from beheading these persecutions have produced a feeling of deep commiseration throughout the christian world on behalf of the suffering greeks in turkey in which feeling the russians had largely participated and they have by treaties with the turkish government secured many privileges to the greek subjects of the empire for which they deserve all honor a misconstruction however of these treaties has given rise to the present war between russia and turkey the present claim of the emperor of russia to the protectorate of the greek church in turkey rests on a treaty of perpetual peace and friendship between russia and turkey signed at kutschouc kainardgi upon the right bank of the danube and is dated july 21 1774 from this treaty we shall make the following extracts article vii the sublime porte promises to protect constantly the christian religion and its churches and it allows the ministers of the imperial court of russia to make upon all occasions representations as well in favor of the new church at constantinople article viii provides that russian subjects shall have full liberty to visit jerusalem and no contribution or tax shall be exacted from these pilgrims and travellers but they shall be provided with such passports and firmans as are given to other friendly powers article xiv permission is given to the high court of russia in addition to the chapel built in the minister s residence to erect in one of the quarters of galata in the street called bey oglu a public church of the greek ritual which shall always be under the protection of the ministers of that empire and secure from all coercion and outrage article xvi the porte likewise permits that according as the circumstances of these two principalities wallachia and moldavia may require the ministers of the imperial court of russia resident at constantinople may remonstrate in their favor and he promises to listen to them with all the attention which is due to friendly and respected powers article xvii russia restores the islands of the archipelago to the sublime porte and the sublime porte promises to observe religiously with respect to the inhabitants of these islands the amnesty stipulated in article i that the christian religion should not be exposed to the least oppression any more than its churches and that no obstacle should be opposed to the erection or repair of them and also that the officiating ministers should neither be oppressed nor insulted the reader will have observed that in article xvi the principalities of wallachia and moldavia are particularly referred to the reason is they are peculiarly governed the area of the two principalities is about equal to the kingdom of portugal the inhabitants are the subjects of the sultan and they are under the protection of russia still they have governors called hospodars which are chosen from among themselves those countries are a half neutral ground it must also be stated that russia is the lawful protector of the principalities by a subsequent treaty signed at balta liman in the year 1840 in the above treaties 1st are secured certain privileges to the members of the greek church in the turkish empire 2d the protectorate of the principalities is given to russia but nothing further russia ever grasping for more territory because the treaty of balta liman acknowledges her as the protector of the principalities which border on her own country she most illogically concludes she therefore must be the guardian of all and claims the protectorate of all the greeks in the turkish empire a demand to which turkey could not succumb without becoming the vassal of the czar at the commencement of the present quarrel the sultan by a firman granted to all the christian subjects of his empire full religious liberty enlarging their previous rights and immunities and guaranteeing to them all unrestricted freedom of worship and to the greeks the election of their own patriarch without requiring that the person elected should have the approval of their mohammedan rulers the reply of the sultan to the demand of russia will set this clearly before the reader it reads thus as far as regards the religious privileges granted to all the christian subjects of the porte and especially to the greeks by the predecessors of the sultan on the maintenance of which russia appears to have some doubts not only has the sultan abdul medjid never thought of withdrawing or restricting them but their maintenance and development at present and for the future have been and always will be the object of his constant solicitude at the same time he cannot conclude any treaty with any foreign power on a question which exclusively belongs to the internal administration of the empire to do so would be to sacrifice his rights of sovereignty and independence the religious rights and privileges of all christians in turkey were thus secured and solemnly pledged and therefore invasion on that ground was absurd and unjust but the czar in his manifesto of february 9th according to the russian calendar old style but february 21st according to our calendar declares his purpose of a crusade against the mohammedans in which he dares to accuse both england and france with opposing christianity because they will not unite with him in his base designs upon turkey his words are thus england and france have sided with the enemies of christianity against russia combatting for the orthodox faith may the almighty assist us to prove this by our deeds with this hope combatting for our persecuted brethren followers of the faith of christ with one accord let all russia exclaim o lord our redeemer whom shall we fear may god be glorified and his enemies be scattered with such sentiments and with such language does this autocrat of all the russias commence a scene of war and bloodshed which is likely to be terrible beyond all precedent and what if russia were to succeed in her present designs would the cause of civil liberty be thereby promoted or the hope of the christian church be raised as to her extension and future triumphs ah no but judging from past facts we may be satisfied that the very reverse of this would be the case and this same emperor nicholas that presumes to take the sacred name into his lips and that appeals to the deity to defend his rights what has he done to promote the cause of christianity and the liberties of mankind alas we shall look into his history in vain for instances of christian philanthropy or enlarged views of civil liberty while opposition the most decided and cruel to the development of every evangelical sentiment and every attempt at improvement in either the religious or civil condition of his subjects have been constantly prominent in all his acts from the day he assumed the czarship of russia until the present moment alexander the brother and immediate predecessor of the emperor nicholas was a man of enlightened judgment and liberal policy he promoted the circulation of the sacred scriptures very extensively in his own empire and introduced improvements in various ways which had they been carried out would have raised all russia from barbarism and have placed her in a distinguished position among civilized and enlightened nations the present emperor is a man of different views and from the first he determined to reign with despotic authority he commenced his imperial reign by issuing an ukase against the bible society which his brother had established in which document while the future operations of the society are interdicted his majesty this boasting champion of christianity against mohammedan fanaticism graciously condescends to give utterance to the following words the sale of the holy scriptures already printed in slavonian and russian as also in other languages in use among the inhabitants of the russian empire i permit to be continued at the fixed prices the earl of shaftsbury in his speech in the house of lords on the ninth of last months march observed the emperor nicholas had undone all the wise policy of the emperor alexander had effected for the promotion of christianity the same noble lord informs us no association is allowed in russia for religious purposes no printing presses for printing the bible in modern russ and no versions of the scriptures are allowed to be imported into russia except those that are in english french italian and german the northern bear the most disagreeable of all known bears not a single copy of the bible in modern russ the only language which the people understand is allowed to be in circulation this is forbidden under the severest penalties and it is believed that not a copy of the scriptures has been printed in russia in the language of the people since 1823 there are two millions of jews in russia and the present emperor will not allow a single copy of the hebrew bible to pass his frontiers even for these unfortunate exiles the clergy of russia are as tyrannical as their master the moravians for many years had a mission among the calmuc tartars between the black and the caspian seas which they were obliged to abandon being forbidden to baptize their converts on the ground of an old russian law which enacted that no heathen under russian sway shall be converted to christianity and baptized but by the russian clergy in 1802 the scottish missionary society began a mission in russian tartary but were also compelled to abandon it after twenty years labor and expense the basle missionary society after ten years labor resolved to leave the mission by orders from the russian government the london missionary society established a mission in siberia which was sanctioned by the emperor alexander and was joined by several russian missionaries but in the year 1841 after twenty years this flourishing mission had likewise to be discontinued by an order from the russian synod the reason assigned was the mission in relation to that form of christianity established in the russian empire did not coincide with the views of the church and the government an enemy foul and fatal to the circulation of the holy scriptures a destroyer of christian missions an opposer of evangelical christianity and who prevents by all means in his power the extension of knowledge among the masses of his own people as well as their elevation in both civil freedom and religious liberty are the features most distinguished in the emperor nicholas ever since the diadem of the russian empire encircled his brow or the sceptre of power was placed in his unworthy hands such is the man and such is the monarch who has drawn the sword in defence of the orthodox faith and who will now deluge europe in blood in order as he basely says to protect the rights of christians under mussulman rule but what of turkey is it not the same with her to this we at once answer no turkey has indeed cruelly oppressed and persecuted christians and christianity in every form in bygone years but her opposition has now ceased and it is nothing to the point to say by what means that change has been effected no doubt but the christianity of great britain has had the influence in the councils of the sublime porte so as to produce this change but changed she is and by the providence of god this change will most assuredly soon produce a mighty influence on the moral aspect of the world at present throughout the turkish dominions christianity is both tolerated and protected and there are now more than fifty places where protestants hold public worship under the protection of the government the bible is freely circulated christians have equal privileges with mohammedans and numerous facilities are now afforded in turkey for spreading truth and for extensively diffusing knowledge through that land so long closed to christian enterprise and missionary zeal by adherence to the doctrines of the false prophet the declaration of the czar that his motive for his present aggressive acts is the protection of religion is a gross attempt at imposition on a credulous world the impiety of the emperor of russia is referred to in chap 39 v 7 and i will not let them pollute my holy name any more gog or russia has long had a form of christianity but it was cor...
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