The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-02-29

thorns. Shall l replace Jupiter ant
Mars? Paul is a raving maniac!
| An Illustration From "Quo Vadis."
| In 'that thrilling story written by ;
Polish author of recent date, l discOve
splendid illustration of this atti
tude Petronius after listening t.
Pauls sermon sums up his sentiments
NO. thy religion is not for me. Am
to love the Bithynians who carry m.
litter and the Egyptians who heat m!
baths? Am 1 to love Nero? I swear
| that even if l wished to love them
could not In Rome there are 100000
people who have either. crooked shout
ders or big knees or staring eyes OF
| heads that are too large; dOst thOl
command me to love these too? Where
am | 10 find this love, since it is not il
my heart"
! Such being the sentiment of the
| world do we understand now Peter
Paul and John could keep faith anC
| hope and love? That they did moi
throw the musket in the ditch and de-
sert the gospel camp? Surely, they
could not have conquered without con-
victon. Their preaching was moi
based on a few theological theories; or
some shallow opinion: on fad or fash
thai,. inner
! most experience: it was the very
blood OF their hearts The pages which
deal with the early growth of Chris
tianty are written with a bloody pen
How those men suffered. How they
were dragged into the arena! How
they were ridiculed. despised, tortured
crucified, But while they served as
burning torches in the gardens Of Ne
ro they also held the light which il
Illuminated the world. The blood of the
martyrs, became the seed of the
church, Not from the chisel of a
Pheidias. not from the sword of a
Cesar, but from the preaching of fish
ermen the world received its civiliza-
ton.
Mr. Darwin has informed us that
the progress of nature is but to the
survival of the fttest; that it is an
unerrng law which forces inferior
types into the rear and pushes the
higher to the front. May we not APP
ply this law to the triumphs of Christ
ianity? The gospel of Jesus, has it not
survived in spite of Jews and Cen
tiles? Could it have survived were it
mere falsehood? Would not persecution
have stamped it out?'It is unfair to re-
fer to Mohammedanism The religion
of Islam succeeded by killing its OPP
ponents: the Christians succeeded by
being killed alexander, Cesar and
myself" said the great Napoleon
have based our empires upon power;
but Jesus based his empire upon love
and even today there are millions ready
to die for Him"
DR.. Catras commenting on this fact
exclaims: 1T was the saying of Vol
taire that Christianity would not sur
vive the nineteenth century. But what
has the nineteenth century done for
Christianity? 1t has sent the gOSpe
anew into all the world. 1t has gath
| cred in the islands of the south, anC
| shaken the mighty pagan faiths of In
dia, China and Japan. 1t has stirred
up it's missionaries from the far west
! in Palestine. and where the disciples
| first received the Christian name. L
has devoted it's noblest children to face
death for Christ in the depths OF
! Africa. which Noltaire never heard OF
ana it has even employed the pres
iii F'erney that printed his own works
to publish in new tongues the true
oracles of God, Il have now says
Thomas Paine. at the end of the frs
part of his Age of Reason, writer
about 4 hundred years ago. gone
through the Bible as a man would &c
| through wood with an axe on hi:
shoulder and fell trees. Here they lie
ard the priests may. if they can. re
plant them. They may perhaps sticl
them in the ground, but they will neve
make them grow Some time ago
wanted a copy OF this work from which
this abstract is taken | had Difficult
ty in finding one in the capital o
Scotland, While it is not too much t,
say that for every Bible that was II
Scotland a century ago, there are nov
twenty
Let the Christian be of good cheer il
this age of faith and fashions "Ou
faith is still the victory that over
cometh the world" AS in the days o
Paul SO in our time we can find
smart set who object to the democrac,
of Christianity or Gentiles who objec
to the showlessness of the gospel. F.
we also find Christian men and re.:.,.