The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-07-31
CHRISTIAN CHARITY.

CHRISTIAN CHARITY.
One of the Earliest and NobIest Out
growths of Gospel Teachings and Prac-
tices.
There is certainly no othe, 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. Tho eptaphs
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 ol the first changes that was mani
ines and the frightful distress caused
by the transition from slavery to free
dom, were met by the most boundless,
the most lavish, beneyolence. The
Fathers were ceaselessly eXhortng 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 ceasclessly de-
nounced, but the affection with which
they were regarded by the people long
resisted the efforts OF the phllanthro-
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 I'm adversary. Julian
eXerted all his energies to produce u
charitable movement among til. Pa.
gans, ''for it is 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
ef1iorescence of charity which marked
the first ages of Christianity, it is inn
possible to avoid rejecting upon the
strange destiny which has consigned
almost all its authors to obscurity, while
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
scaled their testimony with blood; of
courageous missionaries, who planted
she standard of the Cross among saw
age nations and in pestilential olimes;
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
frat time in the history of humanity,
made pain and disease the objects of
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, it 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 admiration than the macera-
ton of an anchOrite or the proselytiz-
ing zeal of a sectarian. FaDiola, that
Roman lady who seems to have done
more than any other single individual
in the creation OF the ilrst hospitals;
st. Landry, the great apostle of chari-
ty in Franco, even Telemachus 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 from recollection. 1t was not
till the seventeenth century, when
modern habits of thought were widely
diffused, that st. Vincent de Paul
arose, and furnished an example of a
saint who is profoundly and univer-
sally revered, and who owes that
reverence to the splendor of his char
ity.
But, although it is true that during
many centuries the philanthropist was
placed upon IL far lower level than at
| present, it is not the less true that
charity was one of the earliest, as it
was one of the nOblcst, creations of
Christianity, and that, Independently
| of the incalculable 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 i'm
portant elements of our civilization.
The precepts and examples of the Cos
pei struck chord of pathos which the
AooAcoV PHhosoPnicS VI antiquity ndO
never reached. For the first time the
aureole of sanctity encircled the brow
of sorrow and invested it with mys-
terious charm. 1t is related of an old
Catholic saint that, at the evening of a
laborious and well-spent life, Christ
appeared to him as man of sorrows.
and, commencing his past exertions.
asked him what reward he would de-
sire. Fame, and wealth, and earthly
pleasures had no attractions to one
who had long been weaned from the
things of sense; yet the prospect OF
other and spiritual blessings for mo-
ment thrilled the saint with joy; but
when he looked upon the sacred brow,
still shadowed as with the anguish of
Gethsemane, every selfish wish was
forgotten, and, with voice of inefia-
bio love, he answered: ''Lord, that
might suffer most!'-Cor. International
Record.