The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-08-02
CHRISTIAN CHARITY.

One ~ the Earliest and Noblest Out
growths Ut 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 tho early church. Long
before the era of persecution had closed.
the hospital and the xcnodochion, or
refuge for strangers, were known
among the Christians. The cpitaphs
in the catacombs abundantly prove the
multitude of foundlings that were sus-
tanned by their charity; and when
Christianity became the dominant re-
ligion, the protection Of infants was
one of the first changes. that was mani
tested In tho 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, bencvolence. The
Fathers were ceaselessly exhorting to
charity, and In language 10 emphatic
that 1t seemed sometimes almost TO ig-
moro the rights Of property, and to
verge upon absolute communism. The
gladatorial games were ccaselessly 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 cx-
tent and catholicity Of Christian charity
was furnished by IN adversary. Julian
exerted all his energies to produce a
charitable movement among the Pa.
gans, for il is a scandal. y he said,
THAT the Galilcans should support the
destitute, not only Of their religion, but
of ours
In reading the history of that noble
efflorescence of charity which marked
the first ages of Christianity, 1t is i'm
possible to avoid rejecting upon the
strange destiny which has consigned
almost all its authors to obscurity, W lille
the names 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 Cross among saw
age nations and in presidential climcs;
but we hear little of that heroism of
charity which. with no precedent to
guide it, and with every early habit to
oppose 1t. confronted the most loath-
some forms of suffering, and, for the
first time in the history of humanity,
made pain and disease the objects of a
reverential affection. In the intellect.
ualcondition OF by-gonc centuries. it
was impossible that these things should
be appreciated as they deserved. Char
ity was practiccd, indeed, nobly and
constantly, but it did not strike the
Imagination, it did not elicit the
homage of mankind. 1t was regarded
| BY the masses rs an entirely subor-
dinatc department of virtue; and the
noblest efforts Of philanthropy excited
far less admiration than the maccra-
ton of an anchorite or the prosclytiz-
ing zeal of a scctarian. Fabiola. that
Roman lady who seems to have done
more than any other single individual
in the creation of the first hospitals;
st. Landry. the great apostle of chart
ty in Franco, even Telemachus him
self. are all obscure names in history.
The men who organized that vast net
work in hospitals that oversprcad En-.
rope after the Crusades have passed al
together from recollection. TWAS no,
till the seventeenth century. wher
modern habits of thought were widely
dilfused. that ST. Vincent de Pau
arose, and furnished an example of !:
saint who is profoundly and miver
sally reyered, and who owes thai
reverence to the splendor of his char
ity.
But. although ii is true that during
many centuries the philanthropist wa
placed upon far lower level than a
present. it is not the less true tina
charity was one of the earliest. as il
was one of the noblest, creations o
Christianity, and that, independent,
of the incalculable mass of sufferin.
it has assuaged, the influence it has ex
ercised in softening and purifying tn
character. in restraining the passions
and enlarging the sympathies of man
kind. has made it one of the most i'm
portant clements of our civilization
The precepts and examples of the Cos
pei struck chord of pathos which tn
noblest PHILOSOPHERS of antiquity ha'
never reached. For the first time tn