The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-06-15

teach all nations" the mandate OF
the Master was slowly but surely full
filled and as the cross had conquered
in decide Jerusalem, so was 1t to
subdue blood-thirsty Rome.
AS a prelate OF the east has SO
beautifully stated, Christ, latter the
contamination Of Calvary, passed
through the darkness OF the grave
only to rise triumphant over death on
! the third day, so His cross after
three centuries Of entombment rises
| glorious and resplendent.''
This was brought about by the vic
/! tory of Constantine over Maxentius
on the Milvian bridge, where Constan,
/ tine beheld in the heavens a lumin-
GUS cross surrounded by the words,
"In hoe signo vinces." Marvellous, in,
! deed was this victory of forty thou
1 sand men over hundred and eighty
! thousand.
| Although in the eyes OF modern his.
| torians, the battle Of the Milvian
bridge does not rank with Water
| loo, Hastings or Gettysburg, still
| 1t was the decisive battle for chris
/ tianity, it was, as noted writer says,
the triumph of the church Of God
| over the prosecuting Roman empire.
of the symbol of our salvation over
| the worlds standard of materialism,
OF the followers of the lowly Nazarene
over the legions of the mighty Gaze
sars"
So 1t was, that the time honored
eagle was replaced by the famous
"Labarum" with its victorious inscrip-
I, ton, SIN this sign shalt thou con-
tquer." The cross was to be no longer
"a sign OF degradation. but OF triumph
an antidote against all evil" har-
binger of peace and holiness. Hard In
. deed. was the task it undertook, not
/, only to evangelize the nations, but
also to impress upon their rugged
, natures the beauty Of christian char
| ity.
Some hundreds of years later, the
enemy of christianity, paganism, was
again overcome in the person of At
| tia, the "scourge of God" When this
fierce barbarian came in sight Of
! Rome, Pope Leo l. met him near the
outskirts of the city, and for Sec
ond time, the cross was victorious.
One man alone was able to compel
the savage host to fee. Why? Be.
cause he had the cross as his stand
ard. God as his protector faith as his
| armor.
Even at the present day, the cross
is victorious in every cline. One of
the Catholic hierarchy OF America
| has remarked, Missionaries can be
i found everywhere. in all nations and
centuries, for the charity of Christ
weapons that are not carnal, and
4 they conquer in the sign of the cross.
Thus over the worlds stormy wat
i ers, through pagan denial and infii-
del doubt Ger the sweeping pillows
4 of time, the sea Of centuries" comes
the majestic appartion. Blow and in,
suit met 1t on every side, but still II
triumphed, winning victorious laurels
in its conlbats with paganism and
heresy, till at last, in the words of a
splendid orator, when we gaze over
the vast expanse of tempest-tossed
history, we recognize that we are face
to face with the supernatural"
Therefore, let US, too, overcome the
world by the cross; let us, too, follow
, the single light that has burned amsf
4 the nerils of the world for hundreds
of years. the effulgent pole-star guild
ing our fragile crafts. and pointing oui
the read tc heaven and eternal happi
ness.
When DER the sea our barks are cast
0 Cross of Christ.
Be thou our guide!
When our short lives are done at last
Resplendent Cross,
| With Us abide!