olatrous. Only a small group of Jews professed belief in the oneness of
God and they were wretched outcasts. These holy Christian souls now stood
up to promulgate a Cause which was diametrically opposed and repugnant to
the beliefs of the entire human race. The kings of four out of the world's
five continents inexorably resolved to wipe out the followers of Christ,
and nevertheless in the end most of them set about promoting the Faith of
God with their whole hearts; all the nations of Europe, many of the
peoples of Asia and Africa, and some of the inhabitants of the islands of
the Pacific, were gathered into the shelter of the oneness of God.

Consider whether there exists anywhere in creation a principle mightier in
every sense than religion, or whether any conceivable power is more
pervasive than the various Divine Faiths, or whether any agency can bring
about real love and fellowship and union among all peoples as can belief
in an almighty and all-knowing God, or whether except for the laws of God
there has been any evidence of an instrumentality for educating all
mankind in every phase of righteousness.

Those qualities which the philosophers attained when they had reached the
very heights of their wisdom, those noble human attributes which
characterized them at the peak of their perfection, would be exemplified
by the believers as soon as they accepted the Faith. Observe how those
souls who drank the living waters of redemption at the gracious hands of
Jesus, the Spirit of God, and came into the sheltering shade of the
Gospel, attained to such a high plane of moral conduct that Galen, the
celebrated physician, although not himself a Christian, in his summary of
Plato's Republic extolled their actions. A literal translation of his
words is as follows:

"The generality of mankind are unable to grasp a sequence of logical
arguments. For this reason they stand in need of symbols and parables
telling of rewards and punishments in the next world. A confirmatory
evidence of this is that today we observe a people called Christians, who
believe devoutly in rewards and punishments in a future state. This group
show forth excellent actions, similar to the actions of an individual who
is a true philosopher. For example, we all see with our own eyes that they
have no fear of death, and their passion for justice and fair-dealing is
so great that they should be considered true philosophers."(55)

The station of a philosopher, i