The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-10-25
\ PARABLz 1ol TIE P1orzs1AHr eHuRsHzs

In our last number We published an arti-
Gle based on = sermon recently delivered
by the Rev. DR.. Ever, entitled Protest
antism Failure" The New York World,
Of Sunday week, has an editorial with the
caption ut the head Of this article, which
has attracted no small amount Of attention
from the position held by the editor in the
Protestant and political world:
Now that the preachers have taken up
their parable against the churches, men
who are not preachers may venture to speak
with freedom concerning the religious Or
CARNATIONS of<the day, without fear Of be-
ing cl:sssed with those who sit in the seat of
the scornful. In his remarkable sermons
upon " The Evident and Disastrous Failure
of Professionalism as Religious System"
the Rev. DR.. Ever framed a formidable in
dictment against all the Protestant church,
es. 1t is not our province to sit in .judg-
ment on the case. Every man who has
eyes to see and ears to hear can decide for
himself whether it be true that the Protest
ant Church no longer retains its hold upon
the intellect OF the cultivated classes, or the
affections of the masses. 81 know thy
works, that thou hast o name, that thou
Invest and art dead )" was the accusation sent
to the angel of the church in Sardis 81
know thy works, that thou art neither cold
nor hot because thou sayest, am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of
nothing and knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked," was the condemnation
pronounced against the Church of the Lao
diceans. The Rev. DR.. Ever rolls these &C
cusations into one, adds to them heavy
charges Of his own, and arraigns the Pro-
testant Churches before the world to an
swer the Indictment. There are, certainly,
some who will accuse Dr.. Ever of having
colored his picture too darby there are,
doubtless, many who will hesitate to accept
the remedy which he somewhat vaguely
suggests as the cure for the evils which he
SO wildly describes. There may be two
opinions concerning the alleged tendency Of
Professionalism to degenerate into infidelity;
but there can be but one opinion as to the
accusation that the Protestant churches
have become the churches of the rich, and
that to the poor the gospel no longer is
preached from Protestant prrlpits. Dr.
Ewer's figures are conclusive upon this
point-although no figures were needed to
convince any one who had given to the
subject the slightest thought Three hun
dred places of worship, holding at the ut
most 250,OOO people in a population of
million of souls-this is what the churches
have accomplished in New York. Here is
q solid fact-a fact more valuable than a
folio of theories. 1t may or may not be
true that there are countless thousands
testantism," but it is unquestionably true
that there are 100000 people in this me-
tropolis alone who have no opportunity to
hear the gospel from Protestant pulpits
DIR. Ever may exaggerate, or he may simply
state the truth, when he declares that of the
men and women who do attend Protestant
churches, there are but few "who really
believe Christianity as presented by Pro-
testantism )" but there is no exaggeration
in saying that, so far as the churches are in
strumental in the matter, there are three
quarters of a million of people in New York
who are as completely shut out from all re-
ligious instruction as are the subjects Of the
King of Dahomey. Were it true that Pro-
testantism ends in infdelity, we should be
driven to Rome or to Oxford for refuge !;
but if Professionalism be still vital as o reli-
gion, is there not u way open for it to gain
what it has lost, and to gather into its folds
these sheep without a shepherds DR.. Ever
proclaims that Professionalism must be aban-
dOned-not for Rome, but for the Anglican
branch of the one great Catholic Church -