Sinope degenerated into a stronghold of deceit and bloodshed, of the
basest superstition, the pleasures of the flesh, and abominations that
cried to Heaven. Learning, to be sure, was still cherished in the halls
of the Serapeum; but its disciples turned with hardened hearts from the
truth which was sent into the world by the grace of God, and they
remained the prophets of error. The doctrines which the sages had
associated with the idea of Serapis, debased and degraded by the most
contemptible trivialities; lost all their worth and dignity; and after
the great Apostle to whom this basilica is dedicated, had brought the
gospel to Alexandria, the idol's throne began to totter, and the tidings
of salvation shook its foundations and brought it to the verge of
destruction in spite of the persecutions, in spite of the edicts of the
apostate Julian, in spite of the desperate efforts of the philosophers,
sophists, and heathen--for our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, has given
certainty and actuality to the fleeting shadow of half-divined truth
which lies in the core of the worship of Serapis. The pure and radiant
star of Christian love has risen in the place of the dim nebulous mist of
Serapis; and just as the moon pales when the sun appears triumphant, the
worship of Serapis has died away in a thousand places where the gospel
has been received. Even here, in Alexandria, its feeble flame is kept
alive only by infinite care, and if the might of our pious and Christian
Emperor makes itself felt-tomorrow, or next day--then, my beloved, it
will vanish in smoke, and no power on earth can fan it into life again.
Not our grandsons, no, but our own children will ask: Who--what was
Serapis? For he who shall be overthrown is no longer a mighty god but
an idol bereft of his splendor and his dignity. This is no struggle of
might against might; it is the death-stroke given to a wounded and
vanquished foe. The tree is rotten to the core and can crush no one in
its fall, but it will cover all who stand near it with dust and rubbish.
The sovereign has outlived his dominion, and when his fingers drop the