Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-09-07
The Leaven OF Christianity.

Reflect what kind of world this was
when the disciples of Christ undertook to
reform it, and compare it with the condition
in which their teachings have put it. In
its mighty metropolis the center of its intel
ectual aud political power, the best men
were addicted TO vices so debasing that !
could not even allude TO them without soil
ing the paper / write upon. All manner of
unprincipled wickedness was practiced in
the private life of the whole population
without concealment or shame, and the mag
istrates were thoroughly and universally
corrupt. Benevoence in any shape was
altogether unknown. The helpless and the
weak got neither justice nor mercy. There
was no relief for the poor, no succor for the
sick, no refuge for the unfortunate. In all
pagandom there was not hospital asylum,
almshouse, or organized charity of any sort
The indifference to human life was literally
frightful. The order of successful leader
to assassnate his opponents was always
| obeyed by his followers with the utmost
alacrity and pleasure. 1t was a special
amusement of the populace to witness the
shows at which men were compelled to kill
one another, to be torn in pieces by wild
beasts, or otherwise "butchered, to make a
Roman holiday" In every province pagan
ism enacted the same cold-blooded cruelties
oppression and robbery ruled supreme
murder went rampaging and red over all the
earth. The church came, and her light
penetrated this moral darkness like new
sun. She covered the globe with instruc-
tions of mercy, and thousands upon thous-
ands of her disciples devoted themselves ex-
clusively to works of charity at the sacrifice
Of every earthly interest. Her earliest
| oil +o
beheaded, crucified, sawn asuuder, thrown to
the beasts, or covered with pitch, piled up in
great heaps and slowly burnt to death. But
her faith was made perfect through suffering
and the law of love rose in triumph from the
ashes of her martyrs. This religion has
come down to us through the ages, attended
all the way by righteousness, justice, TEN.
perance, mercy, transparent truthfulness
exulting hope and white-winged charity
Never was its influence for good more
plainly perceptible than now. 1t has not
converted, purified and reformed all men
for its first principle is the freedom of the
human will, and there are those who choose
to reject it. But to the mass of mankind
directly and indirectly, it has brought un.
counted benefits and blessings. Abolish it
take away the restraints which it imposes
on evil passions silence the admonitions oi
its preachers; let all Christians cease theil
labors of charity blot out from history the
records of its heroic benevolence; repeal the
laws it has enacted and the institutions il
has built up; let its moral principles be
abandoned and all its miracles of light bt
extinguished, what would we come to?
need not answer this question the expert
ment has been partially tried The French
nation formally renounced Christianity, de
MED the existence of the Supreme Being
and so satisfied the hunger of the infde
heart for time. What followed Uni
versal depravity, garments rolled in blood
fantastic crimes unimagined before, which
startled the earth with their sublime atroc
ity. The American people have aud ought tc
have no special desire to follow that terrible
example of guilt and misery. S. Black.