Origins of the Roman Catholic church

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Origins of the Roman Catholic church
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 9 (No. 5) May 1929
Year: 1929
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Fulltext: 22 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1929 ORIGINS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (Gibbon: Continued from April) The ancient Christians were animated by a contempt for their present existence, and by a just confidence of immortality, of which the doubtful and imperfect faith of modern ages cannot give us any adequate notion. In the primitive church the influence of truth was very powerfully strengthen ed by an opinion which, however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, has not been found agreeable to experience. It was universally believed that the end of the world, and the kingdom of heaven, were at hand. The near approach of this wonderful event had been predicted by the apostles; the tradition of it was preserved by their earliest disciples, and those who understood in their literal sense the dis courses of Christ himself were obliged to expect the second and glorious coming of the Son of Man in the clouds, before that generation was totally extinguished which had beheld his humble condition upon earth, and which might still be witness of the calamities of the Jews under Ves pasian or Hadrian. The revolution of seventeen centuries has instructed us not to press too closely the mysterious language of prophecy and revelation; but as long as, for wise purposes, this error was permitted to subsist in the church, it was productive of the most salutary effects on the faith and practice of Christians, who lived in the awful expectation of that moment when the globe itself, and all the various race of man kind, should tremble at the appearance of their divine Judge. The ancient and popular doctrine of the Mil lennium was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ. As the works of the creation had been finished in six days, their dura tion in their present state, according to a tradi tion which was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed to six thousand years. By the same analogy it was inferred that this long period of labor and contention, which was now almost elapsed, would be succeeded by a joyful Sabbath of a thousand years; and that Christ, with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death, or who had been miraculously revived, would reign upon earth till the time appointed for the last and general resurrection. So pleasing was this hope to the mind of believers, that the New Jerusalem, the seat of this bliss ful kingdom, was quickly adorned with all the gayest colors of the imagination. A felicity consisting only of pure and spiritual pleasure would have appeared too refined for its inhabit ants, who were still supposed to possess their human nature and senses. A garden of Eden, with the amusements of the pastoral life, was no longer suited to the advanced state of society which prevailed under the Roman empire. A city was therefore erected of gold and precious stones, and a supernatural plenty of corn and wine was bestowed on the adjacent territory; in the free enjoyment of whose spontaneous pro ductions the happy and benevolent people was never to be restrained by any jealous laws of exclusive property. The assurance of such a Millennium was carefully inculcated by a suc cession of fathers from Justin Martyr and Ire naeus, who conversed with the immediate dis ciples of the apostles, down to Lactantius, who was preceptor to the son of Constantine. Though it might not be universally received, it appears to have been the reigning sentiment of the ortho dox believers; and it seems so well adapted to the desires and apprehensions of mankind, that it must have contributed in a very considerable degree to the progress of the Christian faith. But when the edifice of the church was almost completed, the temporary support was laid aside. The doctrine of Christ’s reign upon earth was at first treated as a profound allegory, was con sidered by degrees as a doubtful and useless opinion, and was at length rejected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism. A myste rious prophecy, which still forms a part of the sacred canon, but which was thought to favor the exploded sentiment, has very narrowly escaped the proscription of the church Whilst the happiness and glory of a temporal reign were promised to the disciples of Christ, the most dreadful calamities were denounced against an unbelieving world. The edification of the new Jerusalem was to advance by equal steps with the destruction of the mystic Babylon; and as long as the emperors who reigned before Con stantine persisted in the profession of idolatry, the epithet of Babylon was applied to the city and to the empire of Rome. A regular series was prepared of all the moral and physical evils which can afflict a flourishing nation; intestine discord, and the invasion of the fiercest barba rians from the unknown regions of the North; pestilence and famine, comets and eclipses, earthquakes and inundations. All these were only so many preparatory and alarming signs of the great catastrophe of Rome, when the country of the Scipios and Caesars should be consumed by a flame from Heaven, and the city of the seven hills, with her palaces, her temples, and her triumphal arches, should be buried in a vast lake of fire and brimstone. It might, however, afford some consolation to Roman vanity, that the period of their empire would be that of the world itself; which, as it had once perished by the element of water, was destined to experience a second and speedy destruction from the element of fire. In the opinion of a general con flagration the faith of the Christian very happily coincided with the tradition of the East, the philosophy of the Stoics, and the analogy of Nature; and even the country, which, from religious motives, had been chosen for the origin and principal scene of the conflagration, was the best adapted for that purpose by natural and physical causes; by its deep caverns, beds of sulphur, and numerous volcanoes, of which those of .¿Etna, of Vesuvius, and of Lipari, exhibit a very imperfect representation. The calmest and most intrepid sceptic could not refuse to acknowledge that the destruction of the present system of the world by fire was in itself extremely probable. The Christian, who founded his belief much less on the fallacious arguments of reason than on the authority of tradition and the interpretation of Scripture, expected it with terror and confidence as a certain and approach ing event; and as his mind was perpetually filled with the solemn idea, he considered every disas ter that happened to the empire as an infallible symptom of an expiring world. The condemnation of the wisest and most virtuous of the Pagans, on account of their ignor ance or disbelief of the divine truth, seems to Hartley Embrey Sherman has fur nished the Journal some important notes about the merits of bananas which should lead to revision of cer tain popular notions regarding them: Mrs. Sherman says the regular eating of ripe bananas, and they are ripe when dark spots appear on the skins, will prevent beriberi, scurvy and kindred deficiency diseases in children and adults. They are good for children six months old and up, and when generously eaten by expectant mothers will reduce the number of children born predisposed to contract beriberi. Ripe bananas are easily digested by children. Bananas are naturally sealed against germs, as are oranges, and like the orange they burn to a slightly alkaline base—the normal condition of the blood and digestive tract. They con tain vitamins A, B and C; although the quantities of these vitamins are not as great as those in some other foods, they are sufficient. Bananas are al ways plentiful and cheap. Unripe bananas are not digestible and should be cooked before being eaten. It is the opposite of economy and wholesome advice to Filipinos, to discourage the use as food of bananas. Tomato juice, too, strained to eliminate the seeds and pulp, serves every purpose of orange juice and supplies all the neces sary vitamins. offend the reason and the humanity of the pres ent age. But the primitive church, whose faith was of a much firmer consistence, delivered over, without hesitation, to eternal torture, the far greater part of the human species. A charitable hope might perhaps be indulged in favor of Socrates, or some other sages of antiquity, who had consulted the light of reason before that of the gospel had arisen. But it was unanimously affirmed that those who, since the birth or the death of Christ, had obstinately persisted in the worship of the daemons, neither deserved nor could expect a pardon from the irritated justice of the Deity. These rigid sentiments, which had been unknown to the ancient world, appear to have infused a spirit of bitterness into a sys tem of love and harmony. The ties of blood and friendship were frequently torn asunder by the difference of religious faith; and the Chris tians, who, in this world, found themselves oppressed by the power of the Pagans, were sometimes seduced by resentment and spiritual pride to delight in the prospect of their future triumph. “You are fond of spectacles,” ex claims the stern Tertullian; “expect the greatest of all spectacles, the last and eternal judgment of the universe. How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many proud monarchs, and fancied gods, groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness; so many magis trates, who persecuted the name of the Lord, liquefying in fiercer fires than they ever kindled against the Christians; so many sage philosophers blushing in red-hot flames with their deluded scholars; so many celebrated poets trembling before the tribunal, not of Minos, but of Christ; so many tragedians, more tuneful in the expres sion of their own sufferings; so many dancers.” But the humanity of the reader will permit me to draw a veil over the rest of this infernal de scription, which the zealous African pursues in a long variety of affected and unfeeling witticisms. Doubtless there were many among the prim itive Christians of a temper more suitable to the meekness and charity of their profession. There were many who felt a sincere compassion for the danger of their friends and countrymen, and who exerted the most benevolent zeal to save them from the impending destruction. The careless Polytheist, assailed by new and unexpected terrors, against which neither his priests nor his philosophers could afford him any certain pro tection, was very frequently terrified and sub dued by the menace of eternal tortures. His fears might assist the progress of his faith and reason; and if he could once persuade himself to suspect that the Christian religion might possibly be true, it became an easy task to convince him that it was the safest and most prudent party that he could possibly embrace. (Continued in June) Used to It A fellow died and went to h—, Which he didn’t mind, of course, For in Manila, truth to tell, He had been on the force! Unpublished Order Arrest any man you see doing wrong, A doctor, a sage, a sawyer; But your place on the force won’t last very long If you ever arrest a lawyer! Reform A chief of police had a lot of authority And didn’t know how to use it, He reduced the force to a kind of sorority Where the password was “Excuse it!” Motto If you’ve got a good detective And he proves himself a man, You must act quick, to save the force, And give the rogue the can!