The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-05-22
Continued from page ~
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
Equality of the Early Christians.

Equality of the Early Christians.
All Christians endowed with the
sevenfold gifts of the Holy Ghost are
in certain sense equal in Christ.
Blessed are they, who hear the word
of God and keep it." They are, al.
though the degrees of holiness may
vary, all copies of the Incarnate Son
of God. This dignity is supreme.
There can be no apprehension. But
the copy may vary either as it repre-
sents Christ absolutely, or as He was
worker among men. Now Christ
/ exercised certain Offices towards men.
He preached and ministered to them,
| and He appointed Others to do the
same; He changed bread and wine
| into His body and blood for their bene-
| tit, aad charged others to do what He
had done; He governed His followers
and led them in the path of holiness
and truth, and, as the Father had
sent Him, He sent others with the
same mission. He gave these offices
OF mlnistering, consecrating and gov
erning to the same persons But of
fees, which are given at different
times, are by their nature separable
Hence, as need arose, the Apostles
ordained deacons, priests, and bishops
These names, being words in common
use, were for while used indiscrim.
inately. But gradually usage limited
them to the holders of those three
Offices respectively. From the begin
ming, therefore, in the organization of
the Church there was inequality
among the members in such a strict
sense, that one could not usurp the
office Of the other without a denial
of Christian principles. Socialism,
on the contrary, demands perfect
equality. Some Socialists push this
demand to extremes According to
their principles the weak would have
the same burden as the strong, the
robust the same as the decrepit, the
child the same as the adult In the
rotation of work, men would have to
become knitters, housekeepers, mil
liners; women would have to become
masons, miners, blacksmiths, and all
professions beyond the capacity OF
the generality would have to be sup
pressed. Such a state of society
would be neither Christian nor civil.
lied. The first Christians never
dreamed of such nonsense. They pro-
fessed that in Jesus Christ there is
neither male nor female, neither bond
i ho
barian; they demanded equal justice
before the law; they looked forward
to the same reward in Heaven. But
the natural and civil inequalities they
left as they found them, while under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they
conferred various unequal offices for
the benefit of all.
Jewish History Opposed to the Theo.
ries of Socialism.
Lastly, the first Christians were
Jews and their history is a complete
refutation of the materialistic concep-
ton of history, viz,sof the theory that
history arises chiefly from struggle OF
classes. For that matter all history
is protest against this new inVen-
ton of Socialism. When we consider
the great ocean currents, we must
overlook the single drops of water and
the many eddies, although each one
plays it's part. Glass grievances and
class struggles are everywhere and al.
ways have been in history. But the
/ &c, ~
but from great unifying forces
Among the national forces working
everywhere are precisely those antag-
onized by the Socialist,-the instinct
for ownership, for the family, for the
nation, for religion. Within separate
fury seen at work and eliminating in
our day, great leading forces entirely
| independent of classes. Such have
been at home Devotion to the Union,
and abroad, the Right of Home Gov
eminent, Imperialism, Pan-German-
ism, and Pan-SIavism. The Italian
Labriola wrote the classic work on
the materialistic conception of history.
| ''The Example of Italy," he says in it,
lis instructive" 1t is, but it shows
clearly that the decisive factor of his
tory is not the economic factor. Six
| ty years ago there were Italians but
no Italy. Had Plus TX been oblivious
of the claims of justice and of the
baseness of intrigue, he might have
headed a united Italy. The popular
aspirations for a united country were
ready to set toward any popular
leader, and Plus TX was the most popu-
lar ruler in the peninsula. The
Pope failing, the people turned ire
Vocably to the King of Sardinia, who
was made of sterner stuff. The
sweep toward unity began and still
continues under full sail, the one
justifying reason for the annulling of
all ancient prescriptive rights being
the aspirations of the people. And
now who are threatening to stand in
the way? The very men, who think
that the economic is the decisive fac
tor in history, namely, the Socialists.
The history, therefore, which is be-
fore our eyes in the making, is being
made by ideals. IL was an ideal, also,
which made Jewish history. In sue
cessive waves Egyptians, Assyrians,
Babylonians, Greeks and Romans,
swept over the land of the Jews, but
the Jew emerged as he was before.
He was sent info cartiyifv or forced