The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-13


| myself Of its history and origin. No pheno-
| menon OF our day is more imposing than
| Chrlstcndom. II includes all the great nations
| whose rulers dominate the world. 1t is Russia.
! Great Brituin and ireland. France, Italy, |
| Prussia, Austria, and all that remains OF Eu- |
| rope. 1t is, in addition, the whole continents |
| OF America and Australia, and nearly all the |
| Islands of the globe. 1t has Il local habia-
| tlon and name OF great and growing i'm |
| port in Asia. and also in Africa. |, cmbo |
| dies by far the most earnest, aggressive, per- |
sistcEt. terminating faith known in his
| tory-a faith which can multiply itself only |
| by persuasion, which by its inherent nature |
must necessarily condemn every effort TO
| spread 1t by violence. True, wherever there |
| are Christians there are also skeptlcs, but |
| their opposition serves well to show the pow
| or of the held which Christianity has upon
the reason and the hearts of the many mil
| lions Of civilized mon and those in the high
| eSt positions over them
Now. all Christcndom, collectively. tcsti
| hes that the story of tho Gospels Is historical
and ut least substantially true. and the very
being Of Christendom is presumptivc proof
that Jesus ~ Nazareth. in Palestine, did rise
from the dead in the vicinity of Jerusalem
about eighteen hundred years ago. The re-
ligion which is the soul and life of Chris
tendon Is and all agree that It is. founded
upon the belief that the alleged event of the
Resurrection from the dead did really occur
and is u vcritable fact. II this belief is dClu-
sive, 1t VIII follow that all the great civilized
nations are witnessing to a falsehood AMI
that the most stupendous physical and moral
spectacle ever presented to the student OF
humanity is based upon vanity and leasing
| Trace this phenomenon back to its origin
We are led UP by channels of parental love
and philanthropic zeal to the time OF Angus
tus Caesar or the early part of the era which
in literature takes Its name from that great
man. We ask, why did ancestors. all the way
through the centuries, seek to extend Chris
tianity? Why did they teach and preach, and
spend and labor, and suffer for this creed?
The answer ever is. with only such variation
az human impcrfeCtion neccssitated. because
they believed it to be true, and felt the love
to man and the zeal for Gods glory which II
incuCates. Constantine favored Christianity
for reasons OF ambition and policy, because
he found it already in possession of the great
heart of the Roman Empire, and his favor
| proved to be a hindrance and not help to
its real growth, When the Franks and Goths
and Nandals conquered and shattered the
, sceptre and throne OF the Caesars. they did
, not conquer ChristendOm, but became parts
of il, because they were conquered by Chris
tianity PrOfane history shows us Chrstani-
ty without the support of wealth, or arms
or conventional philosophy, gradually sup
planting the old religion OF the Roman En-
pire, and, notwithstanding the mightiest hui
man opposition, both physical and ntelleCtu-
| al. and also social, becoming the religion of
, the known world. and surviving the demise
OF earthly governments. to display renewed
| vigor ana gain more extensive sovereignty
| Did this religion, which cannot be eXtermi-
|
monarChies and republics and forms Of po-
| lily, which had incorporated ibid this
| ligion, which by mere persuasion has over
$ | come tic strongest prcjudCes and most vlo-
q | lent passions of men and nations: did this
religion. which began in the Augustan age.
Z eighteen hundred years ago and has figured
I almost ever since as the grand central theme
4 Of history; which is more vigorous, preva .
lent, active. aggressive, more liberal in effort
and money and hearts than any other, and
more advanced in all the advantages Of civil
= ization both the material and the moral
y | which holds up to contemplation the sub
-, FINEST phase OF humanity ever presented ,
did this religion originate in lie or a decep-
y tiOn, or in falsehoOd or fiction OF any kind ?
n Whatever may be possible It seems TO my
d mind in very high degree probable that
1t did not. The opinion is certainly rea-
sonable that a belief which has taken and
= kept such hold upon the human heart must
be most highly important and also sub
, stantially true.
- How did this religion originate Natural
ly. we first inquire of the religionists them
l selves These show us the New Testament
n Here. they say, are statements OF cye-wt-
y nesses and OF those who wrote what credible
eye witnesses reported These relate the
! acts, events, and words constituting the his
tory of Jesus and the planting OF His Church
II In some OF the documents which make UT
4, the collection Of writings named. the a,l-
thors speak Of themselves as having been
e companions Of Jesus. in others the authors
Is lead us to regard themselves as coaborers
a and intimate friends OF the former. A third
h class of these tracts contain no allusion tC
their authors. but have from the first been
% | attributed TO men engaged in the first pro-
!. mitigation OF the Gospel. and in relations per
II fectly suited to enable them to know
H. the truth or the falsity OF the
IS tradition as to the time these re.
ri cords were put forth. the reception giver
he them. and the care with which they were dis.
le tinguished and copied is such as to beget tn,
Il | "A mir hat III. nj
l. them in number and the most important OF
? them as regards history, were published
, while contemporaries Of Tiberius Cesar
r. were yet alive; that they were given in goot
a faith and received by the Christians OF tn,
le time with great moral respect and reverence
M Add to this that the books themselves Civ,
| evidence by their inimitable simplicity ant
ID reserve. by their pathetic and earnest APP
peals, and by their doctrine OF God and o.
~ truth. Of holiness and OF sim that they ar,
"a not fraudulent. BE the Epistles Of Paul tru
~ or false as compared with transcendent real
O. ty. ! am constrained to believe that thu
A. man who wrote them believed what he says
by and conscious of supreme devotion Il
nd the glory of God and the salvation OF man
re There must have been a Paul who wrot
s. those letters, and he must have been, as Il
C. the time in which he lived and the state
m Of mind he processes to be conscious OF. an
IS ! tho relations he represents himself sus
tanning to men, just what he says he was.
could mere easily believe with Festus tina
! Paul was mad than with any other that Pau
sh pretended to have lived. in period preCed
ing his birth. and consciously perpetrate
OF deception. Yet. II he was mailman hi
as history proves that sheer insanity Is com
up patihlc with the display OF the grandest pow
in crs Of conception. logic. and rhetoric, eve
~ made by n mere mortal.
rs Besides simple verbal tradition. and thc
an own character, the writings of the New Tcs
ne lament have other proof that they are hsto
&C. rical and connected with the childhood OF III
e church. There are in our libraries man
,e- hooks written in the early centuries OF on
ne era, some written while the contemporaries
OF Nero were vet alive. and more and MOI
- written afterwards extending tn the preser
'ru time. These books make it practically Gel
tain that those documents were in the hanC
se OF Christians. while at least the COntcmpOrG
IRE ros Of Paul and Peter could be made availi
ats BILE as witnesses to prove the fraud OF thes
my prctcnsions If they were really fraudulen
a That the very story Of the Resurrection
od Jesus. and all associated with it, in the san
cS, records. was CXtant in the Augustan age,
"a true beyond reasonable doubt. The cffu