The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1910-12-31

ing in all parts of the so-called civil
lied or the Christian world, are in
the midst Of the holiday season for
this coming Sunday, Dec. 18th, Is
Christmas. and with joyful hearts and
good feeling, many of them will cele-
brate Christmastide in honor Of the
birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who WAS
born in the land Of Judea more than
nineteen centuries ago.
From mis- great contemporaries,
Philo and Josephus, we learn that Jo-
seph,, his father, and Mary, his mo-
ther, who was also the mother OF
three or four other children aside
from Jesus, that they were extremely
poor, and were unable to give him
any educational advantages, that all
but eighteen months Of his life was
devoted to working at his trade, that
OF a carpenter" Consequently Jesus
grew up to manhood totally unacQuaint-
ed with any Of the rudiments pei.
tanning to an education, that he was
simply human and was subject to
all the diseases which have and which
will continue to effect all the sons and
daughters OF humanity, that ne came
] into this breathing and living world
! in the natural course Of events and
left 1t in the same manner; It is true
that when he began to preach the
people were attracted to him by tho
wonderful amount Of magnetism
which he possessed and the bold
stand he assumed against the priest
hood, for be It remembered that Jesus
was the greatest socialist or anarchist
or infdel OF his day and generation.
It is also true that Jesus was un-
like Moses, Buddha, Zeno, Mahomet,
Confucius or Socrates, for all Of those
great moral teachers or philosophers
were the founders Of new religious
systems or doctrines, but Jesus did
not give expression to one single new
thought or truth during the eighteen
months Of his ministry.
Even the golden rule which his fol-
lowers claim he was the author Of
was promulgated by Colfucius. the
great Chinese lawgiyer or philoso-
pher, more than five hundred years
before the Christian era; It was the
mission of the meek and lowly Jesus
to re-clothe and re-voice those touch
ing and enobling sentiments which
had become dim in the hearts Of the
multitude at the time he walked and
talked to those who had gathered
around him.
What Jesus desired principally to
do was to reform the Jewish priest
hood, and for endeavoring to perform
that act the Jewish people finally sue
ceeded in persuading the Roman au-
thorities to arrest Jesus, for violat-
ing the Roman laws. He was tried,
found guilty, according to the Roman
and Jewish laws and customs, and
forty days after his death upon the
cross the Church Of Christ was estab-
Iished in the holy city Of Jerusalem,
and the elders Of that church were
all circumcized Jews. That new sect
did not progress very rapidly, and 1T /
the end of two hundred years 1t had
almost become extinct Its adherents
were at first meek and humble, they
were very careful to refrain from i'm
pressing their religious ideas upon the
gentiles and the pagans, but as time
went by Constantine, the Great En-
peror Of Rome, who ruthlessly muir
dered his wife and children, became a
convert to- the teachings Of the reli- |
gion Of the cross, and he adopted II |
as the religion OF Rome; then its ad-
herents became bold, dogmatic and
extremely revengeful to those who
refused to march under its banner.
Tertullisn, one Of the Latin fathers
Of the church at that time and a de-
voted follower Of the sainted Constan.
tine, exclaimed, Il expect the greatest
Of all spectacles. the last the eter-
nal judgment Of the universe. How
shall I admire, how laugh, how re-
joice, how exult, when I behold 90 |
many proud monarchs and fancied
gods, groaning IN the lowest abyss
Of darkness; 80 many magistrates who |
prosecuted the name Of the Lord; n
outlying in hercer fires than they ever
kindled against the followers Of j.
sus: 20 many sage philosophers blush |