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Show j ' A UNITARIAN'S TRIBUTE. illere is something out of the ordinary a magnificent mag-nificent appreciation of our historic church pro-s pro-s r ix'unced by the eloquent Vnitarian preacher, 1 . James A. Martineau, who diel in London, Eng- -.1, ' land, twelve years ago. In sublimity of language in felicity of expression, and in the exalted terms ' ( of Martineau's admiration of the glorious Church . : : of God, this passage ought to live in history. This tribute is equal to Macaulay's famoug paragraph in his brilliant essay on "Von lianke." When ignor--it ance and bigotry assail the Catholic Church, ti is consoling to be able to meet their attacks with am-! am-! munition sent to us from the camps of our Protcst- ' ajit aggressors. Here is Martineau's panegyric: I " ' ''Long and far wa this church the sole vehicle ' ... i of Christianity, that bore it on over the storms of ' jiges. and sheltered it amid the clash of nations. I It evangelized the philosophy of the east, and gave I some sobriety lo its wild and vtduptuous dreams. I ! . It received into its bosom the savage conquerors of i , . the north, and nursed them sueeesssively out of utter barabrism. It stood by the desert fountain, from which all modern history flows, and drops into the sweetening branch of Christian truth and peace. It presided at the birth of art, and liberally gave its traditions into the young hands of color .and design. Traces of its labors, and of its versatile power over the human mind -are scattered throughout through-out the globe. It has consecrated the memory ot the lost cities of Africa, and given to Carthage n Christian, as well as a classic, renown. The mountains moun-tains of Switzerland have heard its Vespers mingling with the cry of liberty, and its Requiem eung over patriot graves. The convulsions of Asiatic history have failed to overthrow it; on the heights of Lebanon, on the plains of Armenia, in the provinces of China, either in the seclusion of the convent or the stir of population the names of Jesus and ilary still ascend. It is not difficult to understand the enthusiasm which this ancient and picturesque religion kindles in its disciples. To th: poor peasant who knows no other digntiy it must be a proud thing to feel himself a member of a vast community that spreads from Andes to tht Indus; that has bid defiance to the vicissitudes of fifteen centuries and adorned itself with the geuiue and virtues of th?m all; that beheld the transition from ancient to modern civilization, and itself forms the connecting link between the Old World in Europe and the new; the missionary of the nations, na-tions, the associate of history, the patron of art, the vanquisher of the sword.'' |
