Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-05

90 buIlC Cuo eternal ECHTB IN sOrTOW b NlRQC,
The deepest gloom but serves to bring their
blessed light;
Take courage, then-look up-oh heart that
most has bled,
Gods stars of hope are shining overhead.
-Atss Anna Gordon, in Union Signal.
SOME OF THE RESULTS OF CHRIS.
TIANITY.
No stronger witness to Christianity
can be needed than the amazing re-
suits which it has wrought in the social
condition of the world, especially dur
ing the first three Christian centuries;
and for the sake of strengthening our
faith, it is worth while recapitulating
some of these results as they are pre-
scented by Mr.. Charles L. Brace, in his
recent publication-"Gesta Christi"
At the time of the coming of Christ
the Roman world was fast hurrying to
moral and spiritual decay. The evils
by which it was afflicted and against
which the first chapter of Romans
brings so terrible an indictment were
not unheeded by the philosophers of the
time, but even the most sanguine could
suggest no relief. Plato, writing as
early as three hundred years before
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day, and thoughhe conceived a remedy,
he did not imagine it practicable. The
evils might be broken up,he believed, by
the operation of three principles ormoral
forces; first, that of piety or love to
a. Divine person; second, the desire for
honor and the respect of the good; and
thirdly, the love Of moral beauty, that
not of the body but of the soul. 'These
be, perhaps, romantic ASPIRATIONS"
Plato declares, ''but they are the no.
blest of aspirations if they could only
be realized. "Matters have now come
to such a pass" he confessed, 'that
the enactment of such laws Gas might
proceed from these sentiments) seems
to be impossible, and never likely to
take place" This vas a gloomy out
look, but it was not unwarranted by the
signs of the times. Plato's lack OF faith
was not remarkable; it is only surpris-
ing that his diagnosis was so correct,
and his idea of the remedy so clear.
For as a matter of fact it was that
remedy which Christianity afterward
administered, and which proved effect
ual in arresting the progress of decay.
''The three forces Of which Plato
spoke" a Mr.. Brace were espe-
cially thrown into the world by Jesus"
The ideal for which the philosopher
longed, but which he regarded as Wis
ionary and unattainable, became a mat
ter of reality through Christ.
Indeed, when these forces began to
operate in mems hearts it was impossi-
BILE that the old vices should go on. All
that was corrupt, sensual, oppressive,
inhuman, found itself ~antagonized by
the spirit of the Master, and as His
spirit spread and the community be-
came leavened, the corruption, sensu-
atty, oppression were put away. The
regeneration did not occur in q year
or in a century. But little by little
licentious and barbarous practices were
stopped, gladatorial shows sunk in public
esteem, the position of woman became
elevated, public charities were intro
duced, and the evils Of slavery were
mitigated; until, when three hundred
years had passed and Christianity had
reached the throne itself, it was posi-
BILE to do what Plato had fancied could
never be done, and enact the new senti-
ment on these points into law.
Now, for the first time, was the son
protected in his rights of life and prop
erty, while the rights of the daughter
also began to receive recognition. The
marriage tie was strengthened and d.
vorce less easy. Against unnatural
crimes the laws became vigorously Sc
we're. In legislation relating to slavery
the new spirit was manifest. Hitherto
masters had had the lives of their slaves
in their W hands. Plutarch relates
how. Flaminius put a slave to death
merely to afford a spectacle to a guest
who had never seen a man die. Under
the new laws, to poison slave or cause
him to be torn by wild beasts, or brand
ed, was a homicidal act; liberty was de-
clared to be a right which could not be
taken away; and sixty years of captivity
could not deprive the free born of the
right OF demanding liberty. Con-
%stantine himself writes: s.It has
pleased me for a long time to
establish that in the Christian
church masters a give liberty to their
slaves provided they do it in the pres
ence OF all the people, and with the as
sistance Of Christian priests,n etc.
while each new ruler, following Con-
stantine, enacted some measure which
made emancipation easier. 1t was
under Constantine, also, that the first
authoritative expression was heard
against g%ladiatorial shows, while the
month OF December, which had been
the especial month in which such spec
tacles were provided by the rich for the
poor in memory Of the dead, then .:be-
came the month of Offering for the poor
and suffering, in memory of Him Who
had died for all" The duty of the
church toward its poor, indeed, had
been recognized from the start, but now
charities began to be organized on a
large scale, hospitals were built. and
that great system of philanthropic ef-
fort instituted, which is bearing its rich
est fruit in our W time.
These, however, are only a few illus
trations of the way in which Christian
sentiment operated at first for the re-
formation of society, and in which it has
been operative ever since. The yicto-
ries which Christianity O in the first
three centuries have been repeated dur
ring fifteen hundred years where the
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