The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-07-26
WILMINGTON. n. G..
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1898.
RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS FOR
SUNDAY

ian Religion. While still such aw-
full ~barbarities can be perpetrated as
those that occurred in the loss of the
great French steamer a few days ago,
and mans inhumanity to man" still
"makes countless millions mourn" it
is true that the world is far better off
now than it was in ancient times, and
men as a whole are far more humane,
old nations were. The barbarians be-
longing to civilized countries are the
exceptions most fortunately. The
standard Of mercy and chivalry
among men is far above anything
the aesthetic and artistic Greeks ever
dreamt Of or practiced, or the great
warning, nation-building Latins of
Rome ever knew. Reading a portion
of an address recently that was deliver
ed in the north by Rev. DR.. N. D.
Hills, an able Presbyterian, we found
this:
II socrates SneefeO at the S1leT or
n mother weeping for her babe, if
Plato suggested that every town or
city shoulI select some distant hilltop
and there build a pen for the exposure
Of unwelcome children; if Aristotle
urged laws making the drowning of
weak babes compulsory upon parents:
if Seneca said, Why Stay the worn
out OK and ho1se, and it is not wrath
but reason that separates weak chill
Grpn from ciynnD - in striking con-
trast herewith, Jesus Christ took a
child in His arms. and in it's trust,
t~eachablenesS and purity, discovered
forces that threatened thrones and
made the might of kings ridiculous"
Mark you, the two first named
we've the two greatest of all Greek
philosophers, and Plato was beyond
fair doubt the greatest, purest intel
lect his land or any other nation of
antiquity ever produced, unless we
may possibly except Sophocles and
Leschylus, the two foremost dramatic
poets, and the immortal author of the
"Iliad." Less a poet than they but a
greater thinker, possibly Plato stands
first in purely intellectual power. You
see what? You see what Seneca,
the Roman Stole philosopher held,
and he lived in the time of the Sa-
viour. The records of Seven Great
MOnarchies If the ancient world re-
cal conditions in life vastly below
that Of modern civilized nations. 1t
: is owing to a very great extent-this
great advance in b~enevolence, in
charity, in ideal chivalry, in the high
courtesies, amenities and moralities
of life, in all that truly magnifies and
uplifts md adorns great civilizations
to the most gracious, ~benignant,
pure, holy, lovely, attractive princi-
pies, fundamentals and examples OF
the Christian religion as set forth in
the Holy Scriptures Of Almighty in
SEPARATION. The war now upon us
has already given to the world more
than one high, inspiring example of
the purifying, softening influence
upon the life Of great sea captains.
The Greek and the Roman were so far
below any standard of living now al
lowed or sought in our time among the
great nations, that a study of the life
Of many Of the representative men of
those foremost nations may send a
SILVER of surprise and disgust through
any unsophisticated person reading
of them for the first time. 1t is a
pity the false, frivilous, exciting novels
OF the day have driven out solid
books. 1t would be edifying for v
ell readers to take up Plutarch's i'm
mortal Lives and read them care
fully and diligently. The influence
of the Christian Religion upon the
modern world can only be understood
and appreciated by a painstaklng
study of the ancient world-of all
that was lone nationally as we'll as
in individual life. One of the best,
most convincing evidences OF the
truth of the Bible and the divine
character of what the Christ taught is
to be seen in the great changes
wrought in the life and character of
nations. Another powerful argument
in favor of the divinity, the inspira-
ton OF the Christian Scriptures is
found in the fact that while pagan
systems have eecome obsolete, have
really ceased to be factors among
men, the Christian teachings have
gradually changed the nations that
have received them, and with the
change there came not to the New
Testament the mildew Of death, or
the shadow OF obsolescence, but with