The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10

the mission of the Son Of Mary contem-
plated anything more than reformation
Of the Jewish church. hence, when the
time came for extending its benefits TO the
gentiles, IL required a special command to
induce Peter to go TO the house of Cor
nelius, gentle, and great was his sur
prise to learn that God was no respecter
of persons, and that TO the gentiles also
the gospel was to go.
Then came the first difficult problem:
''Shall we demand of these gentle converts
the observance of all our ceremonial law?
The conclusion was adverse to the sugges-
ton. but believing Jews never abandoned
any of the ceremonies of their church, OBJ
serving in Jerusalem, until the temple was
destroyed by the Romans thirty-six years
later, all the ceremonies and even the sac
rifices of the old law. Only one thing was
demanded alike of Jew and gentile-that
they abstain from idolatry and live lives Of
personal purity.
Thus the church continued not only dur
ing the lives of the apostles. but for nearly
three hundred years later, until Constan-
tine, an ambitious Roman emperor, seeing
a political force in adopting this growing
faith as a state religion. so proclaimed 1t,
with no personal interest in nor care for 1t,
except as it might promote his ambitious
ends. Meanwhile. those who had accepted
the Christ as their Messiah, both of the
Jews and those coming into the reformed
church from without, were called Chris
tians, just as the communicates In the
Church Of England who accepted the vital
izing teachings of the Wesleys were called
Wesleyans, though none of them separated
themselves from the church of their IA
theirs. Mr.. Wesley himself remained in fell
lowship with the church until his death,
observing all its ceremonies and exhorting
all his preachers and members to do the
same. A separate church organization. was
the farthest possible from his thought; so
far that he would not tolerate separate
organization in America even until after
the independence of the States was accom-
plished. There was no such a thing as
Christian Church organization all those
centuries as anything distinct from the
church as it was in apostolic times, except
by so much as the destruction OF the tenn
pie and the dispensing of the Jews had
made a church center impossible. and there
could be no recognition of the Jewish
church, but In all organizations the moral
law as given by Moses was made the basis
of Christian morals. and many of the
fasts and feasts of the Jews were retained
and are yet generally observed by Chris
tians.
This political stroke of this ambitious en-
peror introduced a new era into Christian
ity. He soon called together leading bish-
ND inc nfod W 10
himself presided frequently, whose duty
1t was to fabricate a creed, and then
began the era of creed building.
which lasted more than thousand years.
resulting in a collection of most abhorrent
dogmas, not only at war with everything
taught by the Christ and His apostles, but
especially abhorrent to every Jew then liv-
ing and retaining reverence for the teach
ings of Moses and the prophets. The
monks and friars of that period seem to
have had nothing to do but to rack their
brains in formulating creed. the bases of
which were the vagaries of the heather
world In all ages with the least possible
intermixture of the teachings of Moses or
of the Christ. They fabricated a material
heaven, consisting of green fields, abound
ing with delicious fruit. or in gorgeous
city with gold-paved streets and jasper
walls. with choirs of instrumental and
vocal music, and whatever else might APP
peal to mans sensuous instincts, into
which the good might go If his last mo-
ments were attended by a priest to adj
minister extreme JUNCTION or to exhibit to
the glazed eyes Of the dying man cruel
fix, and from which the vilest wretch would
not be excluded If these last rites were
duly administered: and on the same au-
thority they fabricated a sensuous hell.
peopled with harpies and furies who were
suffering eternal burnings to which good
and bad were alike to go, unless prevented
by priestly dissolution and interposition,
and infants were not excepted from this
fate. To these cruel mockings were added
the ,vagaries of the mystics concerning the
attributes of God, and the Christ and the
Holy Spirit, contradicting almost every
thing revealed in the Bible, and believed
by the prophets and the early church
and making religion to consist in some
'indelible impress, some mystical trans
formation of the soul coming from with
out. and as necessary to the infant as to
the adult, instead Of the sublime morality
of Moses expressed in the few words. do
ing justly, loving mercy and walking
humbly with God;" and the shorter char
acterization given by the Christ, Loving
God, and loving Others" or by Jesus doing
good and living an unspotted nfe-in all
of which the individual is the active agent
not merely the passive subject.
Meanwhile. the remnant Of the Jews that
did not receive the Christ as their Messiah
had become an outcast race. They had no
national home anywhere. yet they every
where retained their racial distinction; for
generations they were everywhere despised
and they are yet in every land except in
the United States and England, where
merit gives those who deserve them a
social and a political standing that is un-
affected by the accident of race. Yet, with
no home. nc temple. no high priest. these
social outcasts have everywhere and al
ways. with occasional individual exceptions,
maintained the high standard OF morality
taught by Moses and the prophets and in
49,