The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-04-10

early disciples, its comforting dogmss
of repentance and pardon, the resurrection
faithful, its sympathies to the desols,e and
its mereies to the sinner, under the creed that
for slave and master there was but one Jaw,
one hope, one Judge, and but one other world
where we rejoin our dead, the christian doc
trine spread with banysn tree prolifcness'
are records universally known: And how,
with no prescribed forms, nor rules Of dis
clpline, nor bodies Of magistrates armed with
influence, ii established itself by persus-
sion, triumphed by moral efforts. and in
simulated itself by early society organizations
similar to the benevolent associ'
atoms of to-day as well as on
the principle of communism, its germ so de-
veloped in its potency that 1t passed with
hurricane sweep from lis birthplace in
Judea, to Syria, thence through all Asia
Minor, thence to Cyprus, Greece. Italy.
Gaul and Great Britain, over!ursing tho
general poly,heism of the time -are all
events likewise we'll known. There were
natural causes for this anomalous growth Of
christianity besides the general fact just init
mated that its teachings we're in the aggre-
gate the product of the uniform progression
of human opinions. For it must be remem-
berei that the Jews accepted
Jesus as the predicted Messiah, the
delivered who was to restore them and their
fallen country to the ancient splendor; and
80 it was that the first preachers in the Re-
man empire were Jews, the organization of
the first christian churches being modelled
upon that Of the synagogue, James, the
brother of our Lord, being the first head Of
the church, or bishop, and the rites of cir
cumcision, and others of tho Mosaic laws
being conformed to, for half century.
From these humble beginnings, it is like
wise we'll known how the church passed
through gradations despite all opposition
and oppression, into organized power,
theocratic supremacy and political imperial
ism, along with the other fact' of its sabse-
quent conflicts, tyrannies, absurdities, cor
ruptions and final dsintegraton rs body
into diversified and dissatisfied units, until 1t
came to be characterized as at first, clear
and unpolluted stream, fed by secret chan
nels with the dew OF Heaven, but eventually
in its winding, devious course, tinctured with
the poisons of tho various soils through
which 1t passed.
We would like 10 indicate here some OF the
causes most concerned in arresting tho spread
of tho jewish conversion, which, indeed,
had ceased before the reign of Constantine,
because, first, Of the disappointment of the
jews as respects the temporal power Of the
Messiah; and second, the prominence. given
to the doctrine of the Trinity;
and because the rise of gnosticism, a century
after Ohrsls birth which made the Savior
merely IN "emanated intelligence" rs above
stated; and because tho Socinian and Platonic
creeds which later on grew into favor But,
time and space forbidding, We draw the cur
tain of the press, and yield TO tho pulpits of
this Holy day for fuller elaboration, happier
calculation or moro convincing deduction.
Our purpose shall have been accomplished
if we have this morning but melted the
minds of our readers toward further. inquiry
and Information from a source more compe-
tent to respond on so inviting a.theme.