The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-11-08
Breaking up.

=
Breaking up.
Day BY day evidence multiplies in proof
Of the assertion that Protestantism.has long
since passed the climax Of its vigor, that
decay has seized upon It, and that II win
soon DO among tho other dead heresies
which from time to time, have shaken the
Christian world with. their audacity.
The latest straw upon this ebbing cur
rent that has foated under our obser walton,
is sermon recently preached in New York
by the Rev. DR.. Ever, an Episcopalian cler-
gyman. The thesis sustained in the dis
course is that Professionalism has been . de-
cided failure. The orator acknowledges
that the poor are not reached, and asks:
"What 10 it that hath left ministers strand
ed upon the high rocks Of life, preaching to
the select rich n
The Rev. DR.. says that Professionalism
does not know how to reach the masses
that in every country where 1t predomi-
mates, it is merely q fraction Of THO people
that participate in it's public worship he
divides the disaffected into two classes
first, those who have rejected Christianity
il. toto, and make religion Of being good
men; and secondly, those who occasionally
attend church, but reject many portions o.
Christian doctrine.
Of-the first class he says:
49, remark, first, that in THU
city thereare three hundred churches, some q
them large, most Of them comparatively snail al
They win hold, when all full, say about SOOO O(
persons-can It 25O,O 600 Where are tho othel
three-quarters of million of people in this city
| every Sundayf COmpare-nay, contrast the
| immense church attendance OF the population
| in Roman and Greek Catholic countries, with
| the attendance of the mere fragment OF the
population Protestant landa.- My friends
have you over thought of the fact that Their
| are countless thousands all over this land, IL
| say nothing Of Germany and other countries
| that have rejected Protestantismf / do mo-
mean to say they have taken to Rome, but they
have, at any rate, abandoned Professionalism o.
religious system. These men and women are
| rearing children; and the latter are, by exam
pie, by casual domestic remark, and by care
lcssness of their parents, inheriting simiial
abandonment
Of the second class he says:
| "Now rise grade above this class, and tax
How many of them are there that really believ
Christianity as presented by Protestantism
Some of its dogmas they believe from habit
from early prejudice, or they scarcely knos
L
| the rest form very large element of ever
| Protestant congregation. This is q fact whicl
the clergy may not wish to contemplate. Blu
! it is a fact. Here we see, not total abandon
ement, but that process of abandonment in pro
| gress which has been working much more thai
o century"
The following sentences, also, arc full Q
significance
The two basis ideas of Professionalism are first
q the Bible and the Bible only for Christians
secondly. g each man practically lis own inter
prefer
In consequence of which,
Professionalism has not fostered humility, bu
Preiestan tism has wrecked the communit
on the rocks of individualism.
He exclaims:
Professionalism, give us back our fathers, OF
: children, our husbands, that are lost in the TO
i | ests of skepticism!
Il 1t must be admitted that after all thi
one would expect to see the candid Doct'
recanting his error, and seeking the fold
the true church. Not SO, however. He SCI
another way out of the abyss. The Churt
g LOT England is the guide destined to teat
i the poor and heal the sick, In true cha
: acter, according to DR.. Ever, that church
It not Protestant but Catholic. How it CT
" escape the " rocks of individualism 2" wit
;. out infallibility Is not explained, and tn
= it could be infallible is utterly inconsiste
"a with the assertion that it is " reform
4 body.n and that " it has been worked
J. Protestant principles "
20 There is much of truth, however, in
,e selections above given. Professionalism