The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-11-18
Monday. November 81, 1870,
Bishop Rosencrans, Lecture.

Bishop Rosencrans' Lecture.
On Monday morning, telegram was
received by James Balm, of this place,
stating that Bishop Rosencrans, who
was on his way here to dedicate the
Saints James & Patrick Catholic
Church, would deliver a lecture here
on the evening of the same day. Post-
ers were got out announcing she fact
and at Z o'clock, P. NJ, Shepard's Hall
was filed with auditors of all denomi-
nations. The substance of the Bish-
ops remarks were as follows:
There exists three tiers of religion
lists that claim to be the true Church
Of Christ. First, those who are con
verted by the workings or moviugs of
the Spirit; Second, those who take the
Bible. read it, and build up a religion
of their own; Third, those who are
converted by the oral teachings of the
Apostles, and afterward read the Bible
for instruction in their path of Chris
tan duty.
The first tier above mentioned, is the
denomination of Friends, more com
monty known as Quakers and their
position is impracticable and absurd
because of the fact that no certainty
can be had relative to 8 religion that
allows its individual adherents to sep
arately proclaim the teachings of God,
as each one may conceive the Spirit 10
instruct him, because, thereby, two of.
the same flock may claim to be instruc-
ted in such a manne az TO be entirely
antagonistic in their tenets.
The second tier, those who take the
Bible, read it, and form a religion of.
their own, labor under a similar diff
Guilty of impracticability and absurdi-
ty, and are of all those who are not
Anabaptists or Roman Catholics. By
the very terms of such s belief no one
who preclaims a belief, formed by an
honest investigation or reading of the
Bible, and who lives up to his religion
thus formed, can be said to be in error
in his belief and thus we see great
numbers of sects scattered over the
world at sntagonism with each other
relative to vital matters of belief, all
claiming their teuets to be the truth I;
and, yet, strange to say, presenting
that most fudicrous of paradoxical alb
s1rdities of truth confronting truth.
The third tier is that of the Roman
Catholic Church, which holds that its
Clergy, With st. Peter, or his represent
tative the Pope of Rome, at their head,
are the Apostles of the Lord and Sa-
Fior, Jesus Christ, specially empower
ed to go out into the world and preach
the gospel to all the people of the
world. Willie the Church believes in
dissemination of the Bible throughout
the world, and while it has printed
more editions of the Bible under its
auspices than al other denominations
put together ; yet, it holds that the
Bible is especially entrusted to the
care of The Apostles, snd that the in
the Church gives to the
Bible is not TO be gsinsaid ; in other
words, that in such matters the Church,
with the Pope at its head, is infallible.
While it is not contended but that the
T'ope, or any Bishop, or other Clergy
man of the Church may sin while it
is not argued that the Catholic clergy
are unlike other mortals relative TO
the sinful p~ropensities of the flesh
while we recognize that the seeds of
ambition, of ayarice. of passion, and
other vices, are in US as they are in all
mortals and while we, in common
with the rest of mankind, are beset by
temptations on all sides yet, in Spir-
itual matters, we claim the Church to
be infallible as a body, and the Pope,
the mouth-piece ofGod on earth,
as not to be gainsaid il such matters.
This infallibility of the Church gives
certainty and uniformity to the beliefs
Of man, and places the truths of Gods
revealed will above the chickering's of
frail and self-suficient men.
Which of these three tiers is the true
Church ? This question may be easily
answered by the citing the date of the
of their existence. While
the Catholic Church can date back to
the time of Christ, giving the time of
the death of all its Popes from Pope
Plus the TX, to st. Peter, showing a
connecting and continuous history
back to the time when Christ empow-
cred the Apostles to 60 forth and
the gospel, the other two tiers
can only show an antiquity dating
back to the sixteenth century. The
Catholic Church had been in exist
ence about fifteen hundred years be-
fore Martin Luther was born.
In closing, the Bishop alluded to
many things that he claimed were
charged against the catho-
ic Church. as q Church. He admitted
;bat Catholic Kings and Princes, and
had done highly censura-
BILE and damnable things, but he con-
tended that such crimes should not be
against the Church, holding
that a whole family should not be con-
demned for the per6dy of one or two
Of its members.
We have not space for a further TO-
lice of the Bishops remarks. What
ne have given, although in our own
language, is as neal the substance of
Ehat he said, on the points mention
ID, as NE can remember.