ITS DAY.

I.

OR a thousand years Christianity reigned over Europe with undisputed sway. That may be called its Day. What power the Christian Hierarchy held may be partly estimated by comparison with the supremacy of our Courts of Law. The Holy Trinity in Heaven was the symbol and authority of a mighty engine of ecclesiastical power on earth, which brought its force and its sanctions to bear on every nation, throne, home, and on every man, woman, and child. The statutes of this religious Empire consisted of the Bible as codified in creeds, arbitrarily interpreted by Pope and prelates, and applied by a priesthood armed with the strength of kings and nobles, armies and navies. That which Tacitus sneered at as a "detestable superstition," had gained such ascendancy that the world saw the last of the Cæsars holding the stirrup by which a Christian Pontiff mounted his horse-an incident which signalled the conquest of what is now called Christendom.

It is sometimes claimed by theologians that this spreading of Christianity far and wide is in itself a proof of its

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divine origin, and of the providence that attended it. But on this it must be remarked that its spread has been stpassed by several rival religions. Mahommedanism,wielding the same powers that Christianity wielded. the sword and authority of princes,-has, in a far shorter time, gained numbers as great of people much more united and earnest in their faith. Buddhism, without aid of the sword, in far less time had almost doubled Christianity in numbers, Only a hundred years ago the Wesleyan movement was a despised revival going on in the streets of English cities and towns; now it is not only a very large sect in England, but the largest in the United States. Any one who has observed the contemporary agitation called "Spiritualism," may see how such movements are spread. Spiritualism in a few years has run up to millions, where in the same length of time the Christian revival had not won a thousand adherents; and the propagandists of Spiritualism, having to run the gauntlet of a shrewd sceptical age, without the power of life and death over gainsayers, have exceeded the numerical triumphs of Christianity during a corresponding length of time after it possessed that power. So, the theory that the spread of Christianity is evidence of its divine origin, proves too much one way, for it would show a greater providential favour attending other religions; and it proves too little in another way, for it leaves us to ask why Providence has not enabled it to swallow up its rivals.

It has also been said that the trials and martyrdom of the early followers of the crucified teacher, and those who subsequently believed in him, are proof of the truth of

that in which they believed. We are asked whether it is possible men would undergo such sufferings for a falsehood. To this my reply is, that most of those martyrdoms took place before there was any system rightly called Christianity in the world. In those primitive days, before Christianity ascended the throne of Europe, the believers were humble people who were confronting proud established religions, such as Christianity itself afterwards became. They did then have truth with them—at least far higher truth than was embodied in the pagan systems against which they were rebelling. That truth sustained them, filled them with enthusiasm. It does not, however, prove that there was not with their truth much admixture of error. When Christianity afterwards spread through Germany and Britain, it had to propagate itself with fire and sword; and many thousands in these Northern nations were found as ready as the early believers in Christ to undergo martyrdom for the sake of their gods and goddesses-a fact which raised an inscrutable problem before the early Christian zealots themselves. Our ancestors had to confront the alternatives, "Be baptised or burnt;" and though many were baptised many others were burnt, or slain by such refinements of torture as having vipers thrust down their throats. But all that does not prove that the pagan martyrs died for the truth. Nor does Christian martyrdom prove that the beliefs of the sufferers were true..

Christianity never numbered a fourth as many martyrs as were sacrificed by itself when it came into power. These martyrs were not only pagans but heretics from its

own ranks. Indeed, its constitution from a society ot voluntary adherents into a great compulsory authority, denotes the fact that it gained and preserved its long day of rule only against the protest of many honest minds, which it was necessary to crush.

II.

Nevertheless, Christianity did prevail, and it is now open to us to analyse the sources from which its power was fed.

1. Popular Ignorance. There was no printing-press, no school: the masses could not read. The few books in existence were monopolised by the priests. For untold ages the training of the people had been in gross superstition, an endless instruction to make themselves as blind as possible, and to follow priestly guides implicitly, under temporal and eternal penalties. Even here, in this comparatively enlightened country, how few are they who personally study the laws under which they live! How naturally we trust all that to judges and lawyers! How few, again, study the laws of health, or investigate their own frames! The great mass trust themselves entirely to the doctors. In those early days the people surrendered themselves even more unquestioningly to the priestly barristers of heaven and physicians of the soul. When Christ appealed to the people in Jerusalem, he was met with the cry-" Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him? But this multitude that knows not the law are accursed." The great crime of Christ was,

"He stirreth up the people." Every such effort to induce the masses to think for themselves was sure to be crushed. Since the day when the man, woman and serpent were said to have been all cursed by Jehovah for a joint conspiracy to learn something, every priesthood has hated all real education of the masses; and though in some countries they have had to yield to the popular hunger for knowledge, they still insist that it shall not be had except as adulterated with such drugs of superstition as shall paralyse, so far as possible, their ability to use it. 2. Celibacy. Abstention from marriage, though it originated in mere asceticism, was retained among the priesthood because it was found to be one of the inost potent means of preserving the Church as a compact centralised system. One can hardly repress a smile on observing how simple to Père Hyacinthe appears his violation of Catholic law in this particular, and how easy he seems to think it would be for the Church of Rome to relax its rule. The fact is, the Church began by holding the celibacy of its priesthood in a lax way, and its whole progress has gone hand-in-hand with increased strictness in that law. The chief reason why the Western Church so far surpassed the Eastern in power and influence was because the latter did not preserve a celibate priesthood. Lord Bacon said, "He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune." It is certainly true. The man of family has given hostages to his own state, to his community. He has not his whole stake in a Church. The Pope cannot say to that man who has an interest in