The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-18

tho WOTu OF uOu, anu meuo bACFOuh ~ bhiu
ing on all men, under all circumstances and for
all time. Fortunately these replies were compar-
ntively few in number, but, unfortunately, the
results were most disastrous precisely where
the replies were most simple and Ingenious and
most in harmony with the spirit OF jesus. The
teaching OF Jesus, we must bear in mind. nj.
though as applicable, in the long run, as 1t Is MIR.
Crozicr's purpose to demonstrate, TO society as
to the individual. was. in tho first instance. a
gospel OF personal and not OF social or national
salvation or regeneration 1t was intended not
so much to put national society right, for this
was believed to have but a few years to last, as TO
give to individuals on certain conditions pass
ports which would admit them, perhaps In their
own lifetime, into tho Kingdom OF God. Hence
It was that Jesus preached n communism,
which could only have been possible among
little bands Of men wandering about and
preaching from place to place during tho
comparatively short interval that must clapso
before the second coming OF Christ in His king.
dom. Were there nothing else, indeed, TO provo
that tho Gospel was not intended by Jesus
either for society rs q whole or for after ages OF
the world, our author suggests that His COM
munistic views would, Of themselves, be sufi-
Gent. For. when once Jesus had gone from
among them and the time of His coming began
to loom vague and uncertain in the minds of the
carly converts. many of whom had already died
without seeing the glorious day of the Lord, St
Paul. setting aside the question Of the second
coming, although not doubling its reality, con-
ceived the great design of meantime making
the spirit Of Christ a gospel of salvation for the
whole Roman world; from that time forward
we hear no moro Of communism. Conversions
were now to be made on the great scale, and.
with this object in view, the labors Of the
Church were to be restricted entirely to the
work of securing personal salvation to the
individual, politics being left entirely alone;
all the moro SO. indeed, as the high ideal
morality Of Jesus, in accordance with which.
IL stricken upon one cheek. you were to
turn the other cheek also, could DO obtained
with as much case under one form OF political
or social institutions as under another. as easily
under the lash Of the slave driver as under the
full liberty of Roman citizenship. The conse-
quence was that, when asked by the faithful as
to what they were to do under this or that
political or social regime. as. for example,
! undor slavery, the reply of the teacher or
apostle was quite straightforward and I'M
embarrassed. They were to accept tho
existing social and political situation in all hui
mility. and without murmuring or complaint,
their sole concern being to do their duty in it in
the spirit Of Christ. In a word, they were in all
ways, except in matters OF faith and belief, to
endeavor not to ~overturn institutions but to
moralize them. 1t was not until tho State
united itself with the Church under Constan.
tine that the Church. except in the thoughts of
some Of the Apologists, SO much as dreamed of
interfering with the institutions of the State.
What was the effect OF this tolerance Of the
apostles for tho political institutions of the time.
this non'interference Of the Church with the
affairs OF State, when once the letters or speeches
Of the apostles were bound up in the New Tesla
ment canon as parts Of the Word of Godi The
effect was this: that political or social insti.
tutions which had hitherto been merely tolerated,
because Of the inexpediency of trying to remove
them, were now legitimized for all countries and
all times. When st. Paul, for instance. who had
grasped the spirit OF Jesus more fully than any
of the other apostles. gave his countenance to
tho slave system which lay at tho base
of the Roman State, and which could
not have been abolished without shaking
society to its foundation; when st. Paul
insisted only that the relation Of master
and slave should be moralized on both sides in
the spirit Of Christ, his words, from the time
that they were made part of the divine revela-
ton, gave the world liberty and authority to
perpetuate slavery through all time. What q
curse this became in other epochs and other
social conditions the great war Of liberation in
the United States, when slavery was defended
by the ministers Of the South from the mouth of
st. Paul himself. bears conclusive witnesa-
Much the same thing may be said Of the prohi-
bition Of the practice of usury, which Chris
tianity took over from the Old Testament, but
which, If it could have been enforced. would
have destroyed the nascent industries OF the
world and put back the progress of civilization
for a thousand years. 1t was the sam even in
personal matters. When St. Paul, speaking
from his own private predictions, en-
Joined the state of celibacy as preferable to
that OF marriage, he little thought Of the conse-
quences to civilization that hung ON his words.
Yet what results Tor good or evil flowed from
them! What retreats, on the one hand, for the
pious and contemplative; what asylums for the
oppressed in ages Of violence; on the other, what
haunts Of vice. g%luttony. corruption. and all un.
clcanness. Instances of the kind might be null.
tiplicd, but those named suffice to show what a
dangerous experiment II is to fasten on the neck
OF civilization obiter dictd like these which, I'M.
der the wing OF religion. are made authoritative
and final az divine revelations. and which
thenceforth are stereotyped and made sacred
for all time.
With the exception Of obite- dicta like those
enumerated. dicta called forth by the necessities
of the early Church, our author repeats that
Christianity was. in its essence, a religion of tho
spirit, and not of the letter; moreover, 1t is be-
cause this was true and because the masses have
always assimilated tho spirit of religion moro
than its dogmas that Christianity has offered no
obstacle to the open and direct preaching Of
social and moral reforms for themselves alone
ouo ny ulrcct appear 10 experience, knowledge,
and science. instead OF. as in ancient times, by
the appeal to fixed dogmas. made sacred and
binding through the supernatural authority of
religion.
VII.
Lot US recur, lastly. to the chapter on pagan
ism and Christianity, and inquire why 1t was
impossible that tho religions of Greece and
Rome should do for civilization what Christiani-
ty has done. and why 1t was absolutely needful
that Greek and Roman society should be i'm.
pregnated from without. This question Mr..
Crozier undertakes to answer by asking what
was the soul or essential spirit OF paganism on
the one hand and of Christianity on the otherf
The essential spirit OF Christianity we know;
for, alike in its creed. its institutions, its pre-
cepts and laws. in the nature Of God and of