Thomas County cat., 1886-08-05
CHRISTIAN CHARITY.
One of the Earliest and Noblest Out
growths Of Gospel Teachings and Prac.

STANio IIAN S0AnII l.
growths of Gospel Teachings and Prac-
tices.
There is certainly no other feature of
the old civilization so repulsive as the
Indifference to suffering that it dis
played. Very different was the aspect
presented by the early church. Long
before the era of persecution had closed,
the hospital and the xenodochion, or
refuge for strangers, were known
among the Christians. The epitaphs
in the eatacombs abundantly prove the
multitude of foundlings that were sus-
tanned by their charity; and when
Christianity became the dominant re-
igion, the protection of infants was
one of the first changes that was mani
Tested in the laws. The frequent fam
ines and the frightful distress caused
by the invasion of the barbarians and
by the transition from slavery to free
dom, were met by the most boundless,
the most lavish, benevolence. The
Fathers were ceaselessly exhorting to
charity, and in language SO emphatic
that it seemed sometimes almost to ig-
more the rights of property. and to
verge upon absolute communism. The
gladatorial games were ceaselessly de-
nounced, but the affection with which
they were regarded by the people long
resisted the efforts of the philanthro-
pists, till, in the midst of the spectacle,
the monk Telemachus rushed between
the cOmbatants, and his blood was the
last that stained the arena But per-
haps the noblest testimony to the eX-
tent and catholicity of Christian charity
was furnished by an adversary. Julian
eXerted all his energies to produce a
charitable movement among the Pa.
gans, ..for it is a scandal" he said,
'''that the Galileans should support the
destitute, not only of their religion, but
of ours"
In reading the history of that noble
efliOrescence of charity which marked
the first ages of Christianity, it is i'm;
possible to avoid rejecting upon the
strange destiny which has consigned
almost all its authors to obscurity, while
the nance of those who took any con-
spicuous part in sectarian history have
become household words among man.
kind. We hear much of martyrs who
sealed their testimony with blood: of
courageous missionaries, who planted
the standard of the Gross among saw
age nations and in pestilential ciimes;
but we hear little of that heroism of
charity which, with no precedent to
guide it. and with every early habit to
oppose it, confronted the most loath-
some forms of suffering, and, for the
made pain and disease the objects of a
reverential affection. In the intellect
ual condition of by-gone centuries. it
was impossible that these things should
be appreciated ;as they deserved. Char
ity was practiced, indeed, nobly and
constantly, but it did not strike the
imagination, il did not elicit the
homage of mankind. 1t was regarded
by the masses as an entirely subor-
dinate department of virtue; and the
noblest efforts of philanthropy excited
far less admiratian than the macera-
ton of an anchOrite or the proseiytiz-
ing zeal of sectarian. Fabiola. that
Roman lady who seems to have done
more THAI any o.Ssc single individual
il the creation of the FIRST hoSp:sSi.s
st. Landry. the great apostle of chsri-
.ty in Franca, even TelemachIs HIM
self, are all obscure names in history.
The men who organized that vast net
work in hospitals that overspread Eu-
rope after the Crusades have passed al
together frcm recollection. twas not
till the seventeenth century, when
modern habits of thought were widely
.diffused, thas st. Vincent de Paul
arose, and furnished an example of a
saint who is profoundly and uniyer-
sally revered, and who owes that
reverence to the splendor Of his char
ity.
Bat, although it is true that during
many centuries tire philanthropist was
placed upon far lower level than at
present, il is not the less true that
charity was one of the earliest, as it
was one of the noblest, creations OF
Christianity. and that, Independently
of the incaleulable mass of suffering
it has assuaged. the influence it has ex-
ercised in softening and purifying the
character. in restraining the passions,
and enlarging the sympathies of man.
kind, has made it one of the most inn
yortant elements of our civilization.
The precepts and examples Of the Cos
pei struck chord of pathos which the
nobiest PHILOSOPHERS of antiquity had
peyer reached. For the first time the