Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-12-25

search for the Holy Grail, met the leper,
who covered beside bin, thing as lone
and white as The ice.islcs Of the northern
sea- in the dcsoatc horror Of his disease,
and asked an aims Of him, p" for C1rist's
sweet sake" Sir Lauufal said
al behold 20 thoe
IA image of lllm wh0 dlod on tho trees
Ihuualsl hast had ihy crown ul thorns,-
Aul 90 thy lo wore not denicd
The Wounds % the hands and feet and sde.n
There was charity, indeed, IN the old
Pagan world, before Christ came. Many
Pagan examples Of charity have come down
to US. The pious sou Of Anchisas and We.
nus bore off his aged father from the flames
Of Troy to the hospitable shores Of Latinus.
Among the Greeks, Epaminondas was wont
to ransom captiyes and collect dowors for
poor girls; Cimon to feed the hungry and
clothe the naked; Bias to emancipate the
captive girls Of Messina Rome in the
reign Of Trajau, supported 5000 poor chill
dren, and at VelIeria are still the ruins of
an imperial orphan asylum. Antoninus
Tent money to the poor at four per cent.
and Marcus Aurelius dedicated to his wife
an institution for the support Of girls.
There can be no question, however, that
neither in practice nor in theory, neither in
the institutions that were founded nor in
the places that was assigned to it in the
scale Of duties, did charity occupy in anti
guilty position at all comparable to that
which it has obtained by Christianity
Nearly all relief was State measure die.
tated more by policy than bcneyolence, and
Vulnerable habits connected with paganism
show that charity was not principle, but
au impulse that it sprang from selfish
ness or osteuiation and not from the char
acter or wants Of the recipient.
But there is no fact more obvious in the
history Of Chrisieudom than the vast and
unostentations movement of Christian char.
| ity. There arc no achievements Of the
Christian church greater than those which
it has effected in the sphere of charity
The spirit, which had its birth into our
world 1872 years ago, has inspired myriads
Of men aud women, to sacrifice all worldly
interests, aud under circumstances Of peril
or evil, consccrate their lives to the single
object Of assuaging the suieriugs of hu.
manity. 1t has covered the globe with
countless institutions Of mercy, absolutely
unknown, before Christ came. 1t has uni.
ted in the minds Of men the idea Of per.
feet goodness and perfect beneicence. II
has placed in every parish or small district
Of the Christian world, minister who find,
in his office, as one Of the legitimate sources
of his power, the superintendent of the
organizations Of charity and benevolcnce
There are two qualifications only to the
brightness Of the history Of Christian char
| ity. One is, that strange madness Of big
otry and intolerance of faith, which wouC
not brook any antagonism Of religion,
opinions aud reegated all hereties and un
believers to the rack, the thumb.screw, the
flames, and the nameess torturos Of the in,
QUESTION. The last and highest lessor
which Christ is teaching this world, is re
ligious and social tolerance. That is the
meridian brightness Of His Gospel BE
nedcence to the poor and the miserable has
been shoru of half its glories by the tor
ments which have been administered, il
the name Of Christ, to those who did no
accept our faith, or worship ia our church
or according to our form. When tn
Christmas festival shall look down on
world that pities unbeief and sin as mucl
as it pities poverty and suffering, aud is a
! tolerant to wrong opinion as it is to wron
) conduct we shall have reached the vest
bule of the millennium. 1t is ecclesastica
bigoiry, aud seetarianism, and excusiv,
ness, that now as ever, mars the beauty 9
5 this Christina Festival.
= The second qualification to the admir-
ton with which we regard the history
Christian charity, is, that the glory Of ii
visible church rather than the benefit
o the sufferer has been sought as the end al
!, object of charity, Ecclesiastical deyotiC
y has been substituted for philanthropy as
Il motive of beneyolence; men have giv'
IS money to the poor for their own spiritu
benefit. They have built churches out
is the sweat and blood Of poverty, and out
s. the extortod legacies Of the rich, they ha
= = endowed monasteries and religious instit
u tions, and instituted orders Of pious me
Of dicants and vagabonds, who in neglect
the primal duties of life, and of the la