The New era. [volume] ([Portsmouth, Va.]) 1845-1847, 1846-03-05

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past Z, we believe, that being, at all ev.n,s :,
usual hour Tor such meetings but. al,houuh ,'
mousse was crammed full, they were kept for mo-
than half an hour beyond that time. in w,,,;n o'e
AT about 8 O'Clock. Mr. Bruwnson comm.,
by saying II confess that it is with somn u'
luciance that present myself before SO aruo
audience, for fear shall not be able at III u"
meet your expectations. | feel that relin;..'
discussion belongs to others, whose Office So
them better for II. formerly supposed thai ,hs
Church was the mere xponent of the r.lin;a'o
principle OF man, and not that it was diyineI, us
pointed for man. This supposed of the CathoT.
Church-that for 1000 years it had answered ,hO
wants oil the world but that it had ou,grown i,
and like nursery clothes, should be cast off p",'
IN studying the past and looking below tho en-
face, found some doubts as to the facts of mo,
progress, and that even acknowledging this. m,n
could create no more than man. The rou
Chnrch that hoped 10 see, could be no bioho.
than man. ] was forced TO the conclusion ih.,
religion only could effect good i'm man or soo;a,
no mere doctrine or speculative truth. discon'
necied from Church, ever gave men power :,
DO good TO themselves or others. Many of Tho
Christian doctrines had been taught before br
they had fallen lfeless upon the world RI,
suddenly one came, who embodied these tru,bs
and fixed them in an institution, and the Who'll
world changed before it, | concluded that tho
doctrine of progress, which [ had preached 81
earnestly, was mere shine 1t asserted
that the imperfect had the power to perfect itself
most absurd proposition. The principle of
mechanics tell u.s. that in order to raise a bodr
we must have lever placed on some BODY sen,.
rate from the first. The principle of Droorsss
asserts that man can raise himself, as it were bv
his Wristbands | was forced TO conclude thai
there was divinely instituted Church, which
h,tnl nl ITO
last found myself in the Church, and there aIso
found all | wished. The question in regard to
the infalibility of the Church. is: Has our
Saviour Instituted Church. with authority 10
teach III this were admitted, there would he
but little difficulty in deciding which this Church
WAS. Every body would acknowledge it to he
the Roman Catholic Church 1t is fair to pro-
sumo that if the Saviour founded Church he
would found II in his own time, and it would be
fact easily traceable in history. But there is
no such Church bnt the Roman Catholic. The
oldest of the Protestant Churches is at least fifteen
hundred years too young to be the Church of
Christ. Beside, none of the Protestant Churches
are teachers-.none of them believe alike There
is no one OF them which can say what is Gods
revelation, and what is not. Again-it cannot
be any OF the Protestant sects, because none
OF them claim g lnfalIibiliiy." They NAV be
wrong, and If so, they cannot have been commits
stoned by Christ to teach The Protestants all
oppose the Catholic Church on the ground of no.
'chnrchsm-that is, that Christ never established
a Church with authority to teach But the
Catholic Church claims to be such Church, and
presents itself great historical fact, which for
eighteen centuries has been considered as such by
! the great mass OF Christians. They are not
merely to prove that there is no such Church, but
that the Catholic Church is not such Church.
Before you can prove that there is no sun in the
| heavens, you must prove that what has always
| been considered a sun is not one. 1t will not do
TO merely assert it, For the Catholics assertion
TO the contrary is quite good as the Proles-
ants. Moreover the Protestant Church does
not claim infabity, and may be wrong.
WaIving then the claim of infalliby of the
church, we are still on the same footng-one as
sertlon Is as good as the Other. If you say the
Bible says that Christ founded no church. we
must even deny that authority, for although we
consider the Bible as authority, when interpreted
| by taIible men it is,no higher authority than the
interpreter There are only two modes of prov
| ing The Catholic church not to be the one estab-
lIshed by Christ. That is, that she has taught
opposing doctrines a different times, and secondly,
that she teaches doctrines in which she contra
| diets heself. Neither of these have ever been
proved. Then if it is not possible to convict the
catholic Church of usurpatloD, you must receive
her. 30, 1t this age would successfully oppose the
church, 1t must oppose it, rot on the mere ground
OF no chuTchIsm, but upon the principles of no re-
| lIgIon-of lnfdelity And this is what the age
Is approaching to. But we are led to hope that a
new era Will spring up, in which the church will
be received, as she really is, the Church Of
Christ.