The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-17
What the Christian
0mes to the Jem.

/ and walk humbly before their God"
under Christian influence than under
the influence Of heathenisna. the crown
Of glory must be placed upon the
Christian brow and heathenism de-
clared an evil of the past.
Here is a word picture of the condi-
| tons existing under heathenism, paint
ed by a modern writer in the North
British Review:
The corrupting influence OF paganism
! met man in every incident of life = in
business, in pleasure, in literature, in
politics, in the armies, in the theaters.
| in the streets, in the baths. at the
games, in the decorations of his home,
in the ornaments and service Of his
table; in the very conditions and the
physical phenomena of nature. 1t is
not easy to call up as a reality the in
tending sinner addressing to the deified
vice which he contemplates prayer
for the success of his design; the
adulteress inploring Of Venus the favors
of her paramount; the harlot praying
for an increase of her sinful gains; the
pander begging the. protection of the
thief praying to Hermes Dolios for aid
in his enterprises or offering up to him
the first fruits of his plumber; young
maidens dedicating their girdles to
Athene Apaturia; youths entreating
| Hercules to expedite the death of
rich uncle. And yet these things, and
far worse than these, meet us over and
over again in every writer who has left
| a picture Of Roman manners in the
| later republic and under the beginning
of the Empire
| Referring to the morality and the
| philosophy taught by the heather
stoics. Froude declares: ut carried nc
consolation to the hearts of suffering
millions who were in no danger of being
| led away by luxury, because their
whole lives were passed in poverty and
| wretchedness. 1t was not missionary
| The stole declared no active war against
corruption. He stood alone, protesting
| scornfully in silent example against
evils which he was without power to
cure. Like Caesar, he folded himself
in his mantle. The world might do its
worst. He would keep his own soul
unstained."
| George LOrimer Ito whose work on
'The Argument for Christianity 1 am
deeply indebted for many facts present
| ed in this address) calls attention to the
fact that the foremost heather stole
| philosophers felt little or no moral i'm
| pulse from their own teachings, as wit
messed in their lives. Cato, the elder,
| was notorious for his cruelty to his
| slaves. Brutus was guilty of continued
and merciless usury. The name OF
Sallust was a by-word for contempt
BILE righteousness. And Seneca, the Ro-
| man moralist, has not been entirely ex-
| culpated from the responsibility for
some Of the crimes Of his royal pupil.
Nero"
| The condition Of women and children
under heather civilization was far be-
| low that accorded them under Chris
tianity. The heather regarded woman
as his inferior. In cultured Greece
woman'S only avenue to higher educa-
ton was through harlotry. In the time
of Socrates only public women enjoyed
| intellectual advantages, and during the
imperial age of Rome the condition OF
woman fell to low degree
A writer, describing society under the
| Caesars, says: I'VE are assured by
| Seneca that there were women in Rome
who counted their age, not by the con-
| suls, but by their husbands, and by
| Jurence that one had married eight
| husbands in five years. Divorce was
resolved upon on the slightest pretext.
| Cicero put away Terentia apparently
| because he had a rich ward whose for
tune he coveted. Many separated mere
ly for love of change, disdaining to give
any reason-like Emilius Pallus, who
! told his friends that he knew best
where the shoe pinched him."
| AS against these pictures, let us look
upon others presenting an opposite
| view.
| Lorimer, in speaking of the Christian
missionaries who traverse the globe Ito
save in time for eternity the low
browed animalistic, benighted masses
Of alien lands, to save from disgusting
wizardry of groveling superstition the
receptions of lying oracles and the base
rites of idol service, the ambassadors
and soldiers of Christianity plunge into
| the pestiferouS wilderness, wade
through malarious swamps, penetrate
regions scorched by tropic heat, or
/ blghted by winters cold, and separted
from friends and exposed to enemies.
endure revolving sights, brave the as
sassin's knife and the tyrant's dungeon.
and pass through suffering the most
| excruciating to mind and body
Let US now ask, of what moral value
to the world is all this Christian mis-
sionary work, and is it worth the cost:
Sir Bartle Frere, when Governor OF
Bombay, wrote regarding the beneh-
cent influence of missionaries: II speak
simply as to matter of experience and
observation, just as a Roman protect
| might have reported to Trajan or the
Antofnines; and l assure you that,
whatever may be told to the contrary.
the teachings of Christianity among a
hundred and sixty millions of civilized,
industrious Hindoos and Mohammedans
in India are effecting changes, moral,
social and political, which, for extent
and rapidity of effect, are far more ex-
traordinary than anything you or your
fathers have witnessed in modern Eu-
rope
| DR.. Clafford, in his book on "Inspira
ton" relates the following story:
Il would that I could take you to a
little village near my station, where
they had embraced Christianity in
body but eight months before, and
where the high priest of the temple near
by came secretly to me in my tent
and asked:
Sir, will you please impart to me
| - II t.