DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13852#0016
INTRODUCTION.
VII
and more penetrating reality came through his teachings. The blending of
the visible with the invisible appealed to the higher intelligence in man, as
the righteousness of his doctrine embraced the whole of humanity, inspiring
it with love, faith and fellowship.
So appealing was the message, that all manner of men felt a respond-
ing sympathy from the depth of their souls. Kings and rulers, the rich and
the poor, the labourer and the slave, the sick and the blind, all turned towards
this divine Messenger and Poet, whose teachings rang out with a human
appeal so full of deep philosophy and spiritual comfort, so righteous in its
simplicity, so comprehensible to all mankind that each ideal which he created
was at once graven on the heart and mind of man. A song of praise and of
thanksgiving to God was whispered in secret caves under the ground in
imperial Rome. Despite indescribable tortures the divine spark could not be
extinguished. Human cries, though suffocated by imperial command, moved
men to compassion and shame. Slowly arising from darksome caverns comes
the voice of prayer, penetrating the soul of man ever more fully and deeply;
higher and higher it ascends, and grander and more glorious becomes the
response, until there rise with celestial grandeur, domes and spires high
into the heavens, and the whole world is embraced and overshadowed bv the
golden wings of divine justice.
Thus we find another world centralisation of human aspiration, created
to embrace the whole civilised world, established upon the solid foundation
of divinity. We find the very structures of imperial Rome torn down and the
stones and columns of her magnificent edifices used to enclose and protect
sacred symbols and to serve as temples of worship and prayer.
Rome, the imperial centre of the world, verged to her end, and crumbled
into dust, but only to rise with renewed strength and magnificence as the
ecclesiastical centre, from which Christianity with its divine mission and
immortal symbols, soon spread over the world. It touched a deeper chord
in the heart and conscience of man and brought him to a full sense of the
divine meaning and value of his soul.
Thus history enables us to retrace the progress of humanitv and witness
the rise and fall of human aspirations and kingdoms and we stand marvel-
ling at their evolutionary magnificence : and from their majestic power we
see them fall only to be carried yet higher by renewed strength and invi-
sible forces. We are assured that however much the blackness of the storm
may for a time blot out the horizon, calm will return. We are aware that
man has ever been striving to attain centralisation. We know that humanity,
like the ocean waves, falls only to rise again in constant rhythmic change.
We see that human centralisation is prompted bv a growing sense of justice,
combined with higher spiritual needs; these latter are inspired by ever
broader motives, illuminated by ever clearer and more penetrating lights.
Christ gave the light that leads humanity through righteousness and purity
* ■
VII
and more penetrating reality came through his teachings. The blending of
the visible with the invisible appealed to the higher intelligence in man, as
the righteousness of his doctrine embraced the whole of humanity, inspiring
it with love, faith and fellowship.
So appealing was the message, that all manner of men felt a respond-
ing sympathy from the depth of their souls. Kings and rulers, the rich and
the poor, the labourer and the slave, the sick and the blind, all turned towards
this divine Messenger and Poet, whose teachings rang out with a human
appeal so full of deep philosophy and spiritual comfort, so righteous in its
simplicity, so comprehensible to all mankind that each ideal which he created
was at once graven on the heart and mind of man. A song of praise and of
thanksgiving to God was whispered in secret caves under the ground in
imperial Rome. Despite indescribable tortures the divine spark could not be
extinguished. Human cries, though suffocated by imperial command, moved
men to compassion and shame. Slowly arising from darksome caverns comes
the voice of prayer, penetrating the soul of man ever more fully and deeply;
higher and higher it ascends, and grander and more glorious becomes the
response, until there rise with celestial grandeur, domes and spires high
into the heavens, and the whole world is embraced and overshadowed bv the
golden wings of divine justice.
Thus we find another world centralisation of human aspiration, created
to embrace the whole civilised world, established upon the solid foundation
of divinity. We find the very structures of imperial Rome torn down and the
stones and columns of her magnificent edifices used to enclose and protect
sacred symbols and to serve as temples of worship and prayer.
Rome, the imperial centre of the world, verged to her end, and crumbled
into dust, but only to rise with renewed strength and magnificence as the
ecclesiastical centre, from which Christianity with its divine mission and
immortal symbols, soon spread over the world. It touched a deeper chord
in the heart and conscience of man and brought him to a full sense of the
divine meaning and value of his soul.
Thus history enables us to retrace the progress of humanitv and witness
the rise and fall of human aspirations and kingdoms and we stand marvel-
ling at their evolutionary magnificence : and from their majestic power we
see them fall only to be carried yet higher by renewed strength and invi-
sible forces. We are assured that however much the blackness of the storm
may for a time blot out the horizon, calm will return. We are aware that
man has ever been striving to attain centralisation. We know that humanity,
like the ocean waves, falls only to rise again in constant rhythmic change.
We see that human centralisation is prompted bv a growing sense of justice,
combined with higher spiritual needs; these latter are inspired by ever
broader motives, illuminated by ever clearer and more penetrating lights.
Christ gave the light that leads humanity through righteousness and purity
* ■