The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-10-12
CHRISTIANITY.
Extract from Father Malone's lecture,
christianity VS.. Infdelity'O

f Christianity VS.. Infidelity.')
+ Christianity needs no apologists. Its
glorious work for mankind in all ages
i cannot be belittled by all the sophistry,
: ealUmny and faIsehood that infidelity,
ancient or modern, may or can invent.
/ Infdelity, in all ages, has ever raised
2 its hideous head and called upon man
kind to forsale their religion their mo-
= rality and everything dear to the hu-
, man mind. Christianity is the only re-
ligiOn in the worlds history which mas
successfully battled, century after CEN
fury; the demon of atheism. Her in
: vincible arguments have ever caused
this ruthless destroyer of virtue and
hope to flee to the FOUL dens of iniquity
from which it originated. So today
Christianity bids defiance to this mon
ster and brings hope and solace to the
human heart.
Great as the disbelief of the infidel is
so bold. however it may be, none VIII
he found so bold as to deny the fact of
Christianity; in other words, that
Christianity is: and not only that it is,
but that it is the greatest factor today
in the civilized world. 1t permeates
the life of peoples and shapes their des-
TIMES 1t has been doing this for 1000
years. The fact of infidelity and its
protests are substantial proof of the
potency of Christianity.
From the point of view of the Chris
tan whatever there is of true enlight-
EN- ment. true science and true art is
found within the pale where Christiani
! ty exercises it's influence. This is like
wise true from the view point of fact.
| Christianity sets the throne of the
eternal as the sun of the moral heav-
ems, to which
As to their fountain other stars
Repairing, in their golden urns draw light;
light in all it's beams and many colored
glory; light that is the life and growth
of the spirit in all it's faculties; as that
of the sky is of all things in nature"
Christianity has from the moment
that it's 1ustre first banished the dark |
ness from a forsaken world, been a
universal and infallible remedy for the
woes of man. 1t was ever the light |
midst encircling gloom; it was the light |
to- guide his feet into the paths of peace. |
1t was ever the light piercing densest
darkness. not only guiding him safely |
but unfolding new charms even in the /
darkness, so that he might exclaim
with Dante:
o! sun! who healest all imperfect sight.
Thou so content'st me. when thou solvst
my doubt,
That ignorance not less than knowledge
charms.
And even the world beyond the pale
of Christianity feels it's effect and in
luence. So potent, indeed, are Chris
tan teachings that their influence is
circumscribed only by the limits of
world. It's work is no less powerful in
pagan than in Christian countries.
China, Japan, India, Turkey, all pay
homage to Christian methods and are
important and successful only in pro-
portion as they adopt the same. China,
with its untold millions of people, when
it commits an offense against a Chris
tian nation, must bow in humble sub
while whatever of genuine
worth is to be had within it's confines
must be attributed to the influences of
Christianity. Japan, that has suddenly
raised up among the nations of the
earth, has been so elevated because it
has adopted Christion methods. India,
the cradle of the race, is, as a matter ,
of fact, dominated by Christian peo-
pie. The Turk, once so powerful that =
his armies terrified Europe, has been
stripped of his power and today sur
wives only by permission of Christian ,
nations. Africa, too, is being invaded ,
and settled and the fate of the differ
emit tribes depends solely on the will of {
the Christian nations of the earth !
The greatest minds that the world +
has seen. have recognized the all :
powerful workings of Christianity; they
nave gazed in wonderment and awe
upon the effects of power which they I
'elt was more than human and neces- t
;arily supernatural a
1t is a fixed principle, recognized by n
that the cause must t
De adequate to the effect, so that the n
,ause being given, the effect may be U
measured; the effect being given. the 6
,ause is known. n
Viewing the effects that 1 have just ,
;iven, their magnitude and import 9
nee, let us strive to measure the cause.
This cause we find in Christianity
he fact with which 1 began. :,
Nothing but a supernatural cause
an produce a supernatural effect. And .
hat the effects of Christianity are su- -
infdels themselves ac- -
when, they confess that they =,
re incomprehensible, affirming that .,
hey are due to natural causes, while :.
onfessing their inability to demon .,
trate the proposition. Compared with p
the effects produced in
he world by other so-called religions m
re as the tiny rivulet to the roaring W
torrent. IN
The religion of Confucius, of Zoras- II
ar. of Lao Tsue and others has had o,
o effect in the grand upbuilding of the VI
ace Look at the civilization of China in
nd India, where the benign influence az
f Christianity has never shed it's -
eneficent rays. There, progress is I'M dc
nown because the divine stimulus of
hrlstianity is wanting; the people are +o
OF imbued with the energy of a Chris
an people and are wanting in the fire
lat permeates Christian civilization. co
turkey today is at the mercy of Chris of
an nations and only exists because pc
hristian people cannot agree as to tn
lie manner of dividing it. But in all en-
nds, among whatever peoples the
,irft of Christianity is found, the same ca
divine supernatural effects sp
e produced. JIG
LAS the silent dews of night fall upon sIl