THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY

New Zealand Tablet, 27 March 1913, Page 15

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY

A MOST MARVELLOUS fcVEIST Cardinal Gibbons preached at the Cathedral, Baltimore, on the first Sunday in January, and afterwards held his New Year's reception, at which twelve hundred persons, representing practically every walk of 'life, passed in line before nis Eminence and offered their greetings. ' " . : '.fi'U The subject of the Cardinal's discourse in. the morning, which was heard by a congregation that filled the Cathedral, was The Establishment of . Christianity, the Most Momentous and Marvellous Event in Twenty Centuries.' His Eminence said:—The establishment of Christianity is certainly the most important and momentous event that has occurred in the last two thousand years. Of the billion and more human beings on the surface of the earth, five hundred millions profess the Christian religion. And our Christian civilisation exerts to-day a salutary, beneficent, and even a dominating influence upon those' nations and peoples that have not as yet embraced the religion of Christ. The opening of the new year offers an appropriate occasion for inquiring into the beginnings 01"""Christianity, and in the further pursuit of our investigations we may endeavor to ascertain the principal causes which have led to the overthrow of paganism and the erection on its ruins of the religion of Christ. Home at Dawn of Christian Era. Let us transport ourselves in spirit to the dawn of the Christian era, and let us stand in imagination on one of pagan Rome's seven We see at our feet that immense city teeming with a population, according to the estimate of Gibbon, of about three million inhabitants. We observe that metropolis dotted here and there with idolatrous temples and niches to false gods erected in the corners of the streets.. These people are given up to every species of idolatry. They worship the sun and moon and the stars of heaven. ;• The seas and rivers, the mountains and groves have their tutelary divinities. They worship striking object in nature. They worship every being except God only, to Whom alone divine homage is due. In the words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, ' they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the image and likeness'; of corruptible man, and of birds and beasts and. creeping things, and they worshipped and served the creature instead of the Creator, Who is blessed for evermore. Rome was the focus of the idolatry practised throughout the empire. Every divinity that was adored in the vast dominions of Rome had his temple and his shrine in the imperial city. What I say of Rome I might affirm of the Roman Empire, and what I affirm of-the Roman Empire I could assert of the civilised world,, for Rome was mistress of the world. Her empire extended into Europe as far as the River Danube; it extended into." Asia as far as the Tigris and Euphrates, and into Africa as far as Mauritania. The whole world, with the exception' of Palestine, was buried in the darkness of idolatry.. v! Then a Moral Revolution. Such was the condition of society when our Lord appears on the theatre of public life. He calls, around Him twelve insignificant —men without wealth and destitute of human learning, men without the prestige of fame, without political or social* or family influence, men without any of those elements that are considered at all times essential for the success of any great enterprise. He commands them to effect the most mighty moral revolution that has ever occurred in the history of the world. He commands them to uproot idolatry from the face of the earth and to establish in its stead the worship of the one true and living God. He commands them to eradicate the most darling and inveterate passions from the hearts of men and to plant in their stead the peaceful reign of Jesus Christ. Well might the Gospel which these men went forth to propagate be compared to the little grain of mustard seed, small and almost imperceptible in . the beginning, but expanding into a luxuriant tree, spreading its branches

far and wide, so that the nations of the earth might be sheltered beneath its ample foliage and be nourished by its perennial fruit. And well might these apostles be likened to twelve little streams, deepening and broadening as they advanced and not inundating the earth, as of old, with the waters of destruction, but refreshing it.with the rivers of eternal life. Apostles Had Implicit Faith. •' The apostles had implicit faith in their Divine Master when He commanded them to preach the Gospel to all nations. They knew He was God. They knew that His word was truth, that His word was power and omnipotence. They had been witnesses of His miracles. They knew that He Who said in the beginning, Let there be light, and there was light'; Let the' earth bring forth fruit,' and it came forth—they knew that He would now, through their instrumentality, cause the light of faith to shine on the darkened intellects of men and the fruits of sanctification to grow abundantly in their hearts. And therefore they go forth, nothing hesitating and resolved to communicate the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to every portion of the Roman dominions. They parcel out the Roman Empire among themselves. Their only weapon is the Cross, their only credential the Gospel of Christ. St. Peter commences his apostolic ministry in Jerusalem, where his first sermon is followed by the conversion of three thousand souls, some of whom had, no doubt, witnessed the crucifixion of our Saviour, and perhaps even had a hand in His death. Ho afterwards establishes his see in Antioch, and finally suffers martyrdom m Rome. Undertook Herculean Task. St. Paul, the indefatigable teacher of the Gentiles, traverses parts of Europe and Asia, everywhere bearing the torch of faith. St. Andrew preaches in Syria and Greece. St. John evangelises Ephesus and Asia Minor. St. James announces the glad tidings in Judea and Galilee. St. Thomas carries the light of the Gospel t 6 the remote Indies, and traces of the Christianity that he there established were discovered by St. Francis Xavier when he visited that country in the sixteenth century. And so on with the other apostles. In the words of the prophet, as applied bv St. Paul, 'their sound hath gone forth to all the earth, and their words to the end of the whole world.' But if we are amazed at what I might call the pious audacity of ■ the apostles and their immediate successors in undertaking the herculean task of converting the nations, we are still more astonished when we contemplate the result of their labors ' St Paul about thirty years after our Lord's crucifixion, writes these words to the Romans: ' I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ, because your faith is spoken throughout the whole world,' and, of course, spoken ot by men who were in sympathy and communion with the faith of Rome. The religion of Christ had not only spread among the people of Rome, but neophytes were found even in the palace of Nero. Gospel to Every Race. St. Justin, whoso martyrdom occurred sixty-six years after the death of St. John the Evangelist, says: There is no race of people, whether Greeks or barbarians, among whom prayers and the Eucharist are not offered to God, the Father and Maker of all things in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified.' Tertullian who was born about the year 160 of the Christian era, does not hesitate to address these words to the Roman Emperor: We are but of yesterday, and we have filled your empire. Your cities, your towns, your islands, your forts, your army, your Senate, your palace and forum swarm with Christians. We have left nothing to you except your empty temples.' St Irenaeus who lived in the same century, bears witness also to the marvellous growth of the Gospel in his day, and he is careful to tell us that the faith of those times was everywhere identical. 'As the light,' he savs, which illumines this world, is everywhere the same, because it proceeds 'from the same great luminary of day, so is the light of faith that shines on the intellects of men everywhere identical, because it proceeds from Jesus Christ, the eternal sun of justice '

Conquered by Peace! ' ' " ; What a contrast presents itself to our minds between the peaceful conquests of the apostles and their successors on the one hand and the bloody victories achieved by the great generals of antiquity on the other, whether we consider the weapons with which they fought, the battles which they won, or the duration of their victories. Alexander the Great, who may be considered one of the greatest generals of ancient times, subdued nations by wading < through the blood of his fellow-beings. By the sword/he conquered, and by the sword he kept his subjects :in bondage, ;• But scarcely was he consigned to .the grave when his, empire was dismembered and his subjects shook off the. yoke that had been imposed upon them. The apostles conquered kingdoms to their Divine Master by force, but by persuasion ; not by the material sword, but by 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God'; not by shedding the blood of others, but by the voluntary shedding of their own blood ; not by enslaving the bodies of men, but by rescuing their ; souls from the slavery of sin. And the spiritual republic which they founded exists unto this day, is constantly extending its lines, and is consolidated not by frowning fortifications and standing armies, but by the divine influence of religious and moral sanctions. What does this prove? It proves that the pen and the voice are mightier than the sword. It proves that ' peace hath her victories no less renowned than war'; aye, victories more substantial and more - enduring. It proves that all schemes . conceived ,in passion and fomented by lawless ambition are doomed, like the mountain torrent, to carry before them and to leave ruin and desolation after them, while the mission of men laboring in the name and under the inspiration of heaven is destined, like the gentle dew of heaven, to shed silent blessings around them and to bring forth abundant fruit in due season. Stamp of Divinity. No rational or dispassionate mind can review the history of the infant Church without discerning the stamp of divinity impressed upon, her -brow. When we consider the rapid growth of the Christian religion and the feeble instruments that were employed to produce such results, when we consider the hostility the apostles encountered in the whole course of their ministry, when we contemplate the opposition they met with from the learned and from the populace, from the priests of the pagan superstition and from the established government itself—above all, when we reflect on the sublime and austere moral code which they proclaimed to a people whose religion tolerated and even sanctioned the most dissolute morals, we are forced to admit that Christianity is divine and miraculous in its origin. Well did St. Paul sound this keynote when he exclaimed: ' The foolish things of the world hath God chosen that He might confound the wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen that He might confound the strong, and the things that are contemptible and the things that are not that He might bring to- naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His sight.'' Not the Work of Man. And indeed the wisdom of God is specially manifested in the adoption of means utterly disproportioned to the end to be attained, so that the world might be convinced that Christianity is the work not,of man, but of God, and that, all the glory should redound'to Him. For if Christ had appeared in all the pomp and splendor of a temporal sovereign, if He had associated with Him the power of Caesar, if He had impressed into His service the armies of imperial Rome, the world would justly exclaim : ' There is no miracle here, for Christianity was propagated not by the finger of God, but by the arms of the flesh.' Or if our Lord had employed in the service of His religion the poets and orators, the historians and literary men of His age; if He had inspired a Virgil and an Ovid, a Cicero and a Tacitus to wield their pen and raise their voice in attestation of the new religion, then the world would cry out: There is no miracle here, for the Christian religion was propagated not by the folly of the Cross, but by the persuasive words of human wisdom.' ; : ,

Or if our Saviour had appeared as the possessor and distributer of immense wealth; if He had lavished bribes and bounties to induce men to embrace His doctrines, then the world would say: ' There is no miracle here, for men were drawn to the Christian faith not by ' the pearl of great price,' but by the gold which glitters.' But when we behold the religion of Christ established by the weapons of weakness, humility, and poverty, we are forced to exclaim: ' The finger of God is here.' Replies to Gibbon. The historian Gibbon was obliged to omit the wonderful growth of the Christian religion in the first three centuries. But he endeavored to explain the phenomenon on purely natural grounds. He ascribes the spread of Christianity to these five great causes: First, the indomitable zeal of the primitive Christians; second, their pure and blameless lives; third, their unshaken belief in the immortality of the soul; fourth, their alleged power of working miracles; fifth, their admirable organisation. There is no doubt, indeed, that these causes exerted a powerful influence on the propagation of Christianity, but I maintain that they were secondary and not primary causes. They were the effects of a great cause. If you behold a beautiful, placid lake in your travels through Switzerland or the Adirondack Mountains, your curiosity may lead you to discover the streams which feed it. Your investigation is rewarded by finding five rivulets flowing into it. In pursuing your investigation still further, you find that these streams have their source in the snowcapped mountain in the distance. Let us apply this illustration to the subject before us. Who Inspired Them? Who inspired the primitive Christians with their unquenchable zeal and enthusiasm— enthusiasm enduring for centuries and extending over the known world an enthusiasm in an unpopular and hated cause? Who raised them to that high plane of moral rectitude? Who impressed them with that unclouded faith in the- immortality of the soul and in a future destiny? Who imparted to them the power of working miracles ? Who gave them that indissoluble organisation cemented not by force, but formed by the golden bonds of love? Who was it but the Lord of Hosts ? It was He Who said: 'Go teach all nations, and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.' ■' Pear not, I have conquered the world.' It was He Who said: 'The race is not

to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.' It was He Who said: 'Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain.' 'My brethren, imitate your forefathers in the faith by your unclouded belief in an immortal destiny. Imitate them by the rectitude of your lives and by your zeal for the honor of God and His Church. Imitate them, above all, by working miracles of grace and mercy, by your charity and compassion for the sufferings of your fellow-beings.'