The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1903-12-26
The NdZdrene
BY Harry H. Brown.

Religion is the arbiter of progress. Ma
tions never rise higher than their gods.
The Christian portion OF the race yes
terday celebrated the birthday of one
Jesus, a Galileean, whom the enlightened
world elects as the greatest prodigy that
has appeared among men.
Nothing more clearly demonstrates the
common origin of humanity than the in
herent racial craving to worship Deity.
Wherever man goes, be he barbarous or
cultured, white or black, yellow or brown,
he carries his gods and builds affairs and
temples. Tamper with his liberties at
your peril, but tamper with his religion
and blood begins to flow.
Christ was the sequence of pre-mundane
prophecy. His specific mission was not
to die for men nor to save men, but to do
on earth the will of Almighty God. In
doing this, his death, the redemption of
mankind, the overturning of existent sys-
TENS of philosophy and religion, the hitting
of nations out of savagery and the reign
of love over hate were all involved.
Recreant humanity, willing to justify it.
self, one by one tears down triuInphal
columns and halls of fame, jeers at the
epitaphs on monuments, makes light of
martyrs, decries our leaders and leaves in
ruins the regulations of the great. But
| in the presence of the Nazarene every
tongue is stilled.
kven those denying His divinity do so
reverently. Witness Ernest Rehan, the
French savant. At the close of his Life
| of Christ, disputing the divinity of the
| Lord, he says: Humanity presents con-
| fused mass. One man is a little higher
than another, but among them all .L1st
is a little higher than any other
The function of religion is not only TO
save men, but to lead men in their walk
on earth. Christ is the safest leader the
| world has seen. The closer His teachings
are followed, the more sane men become.
The less force is required to govern. Vic
lence ceases. Property is safe. Society il
safe. The destinies of the race are safe.
Men have confidence in the present. hope
| in the future
Contrast the religion of the Nazarene
with other great religions of the earth
The Hindoo religion teaches that the
| highest goal of man is the oblivion of
NirVana: to be absorbed back into form
| less, insensate infinite from which we
. sprung, Esteeming all conscious life pain
and travail, it courts the life of torpor,
introspection and inacton.
For centuries Confucianism has taught
| its votaries to walk in the trodden
paths" and today China is worshipping its
ancestors and following the primal rules
of conduct that obtained in the remotest
antiquity. Through changeless centuries its
civilization has shown no more develop
ment, no more fexibility, than the turgid
caste system of the Hindoo. There is as
much difference between our civilization
and yours" said Lii Hung Chang, speaking
of the Christian nations, as there is be-
tween heaven and earth"
There is no god but God, and Mahomst
is His prophet" calculates the pious Mos
lem. Nevertheless this same religion is
built on violence, ignorance, lust, hypocrisy
and rapacity, Having no souls and there
fore no chance for immortality, according
to the teachings of their religion, the wo-
men are beasts of burden, chattels and
scapegoats. Browbeaten, the victims of
the whim and caprice of their brutal
lords, they mother the nation, bringing
forth the mongrel Turk.
Where is the contrast between any ON
these abortive growths of alleged ethicsN
and the white light of enlightenment
emanating from the shores of Galilee?
Without controversy Christ's religion is
the only kind the earth affords, the fruits
of which would indicate to sane mind
divine origin.