National Republican., 1874-05-14
ATCONSTITUTES TRUTH.
FATHER RYAN, THE PoET-PRIEsr,
AT LIEC0LE HALL.

THE NATURE OF TRUTH-Irs RELATIONS
TO MANKIND-THE SUPERNATURAL, THE
CONTROLLING ELEMENT THE DIVINE
ATTRIBUTE As IT AFFECTS RELIeIoN.
SCIENCE, LITERATURE AND ART
Public expectancy, which for several wcsks
past has been on the tiptoe to hear the cole
orated poet and orator, Father Ryan, was
gratihedTuesday night BY the appearance ofthat
reverend gentleman on the platform Of Lincoln
nan, In presence Of q very large and Intelligent
sssemblage Of ladies' and gentlemen.
rather Ryan, accompanied by Fathers Ksans,
Brouillet, and De Wolf, and Messrs. ]. z.
Mallet and ]. Carroll Brent, made his sppsar
ance upon the platform at $40 O'Clock, and
was received with storm Of applause.
THE LECTURE. -..
Father Ryan commenced, BY remarkinp that
he would, in the manner Of ladies, who Some
times excused themselves for not singing, apoI
ogize for not having lectured at the time first
announced. He was unable to do so on ac-
count of illness, and had been admonishsd By
his physician to give up preaching and lecsur-
ing altogether.
He then read the Scripture account Of the
trial Of Jesus before Plate, and proceeded to
say that he (Pilate) never forgot the pale face
OF that prisouer-neyer forgot the low whispers
Of his answers. They haunted him TO the last.
He then drew vivid picture of the scene
between Christ, the meek criminal, and PLATE,
the naughty judge. The Kingdom Of Christ
was not OF this world. He came that he might
give testimony of the truth. Out Of all this
came the question,
WHAT is TRUTH
It was the old question. and the world had
never answered it. Men looked up to Heaven,
and the blue lips of the sky failed to answer
the question. They asked each other and
failed to get an answer. Yet from every gene
ration came the thought that man wants the
truth as the earth wants the sun.
Poets wrote about il In clouds, and philoso-
pliers tried to find It in human fancies: and all
their thoughts and theories upon the subject
were concreted In the question ofPIate, "What
Is truth" The answer stood before him IN the
person of Jesus. One year before he was
talking to the people; the multitudes were
there, and he stepped outside the line of hu-
manity. He knew what they needed-lass,
love, light, mercy, truth-and he uttered these
memorable words-the words of mad nan
or Of God-'I am truth" Plate had asked
this man, "What Is truthP' and the answer
stood before him.
The lecturer said he knew there were excep-
tional minds that thought they could live with
out truth. But the lives of such men were the
shallowest of the shallow, and minds were the
klOSb bupCAHClaA Ludb LTuIu was ART
cial. 1t was the old truth, exempliied in
Christ as he stood before the world. Truth
was not the mere thought or fancy of man, for
the merely human could not guide the human.
Truth was born before US Il was graded be-
fore the earth; It existed long before man,
and he could not tear It into shreds, cut IL up
TO suit himself. II was superior to man, and
he could not drag 1t down any more than he
could drag down the stars. The man who
antagonizes truth violates the inner laws Of his
own intellect. Truth, having been born before
US, was intolerant.
He knew the boastful nineteenth century did
not like this idea, for this the age of tolera-
tion- But there was no such thing as tolera-
tlon of truth. Two and two cannot make five;
light will not coalesce with darkness.
TIE TRUTH OF CHRIST
was intolerant of all error. There was no
s!may-be," no "perhaps" In It. What, then,
was trutha Not opinion, not sentiment, not
fancy; truth was higher, greater, deeper, wider,
brighter than all these. It was robed in the
glory of God. There were many truths; but
anything that Is truth is absolutely true.
There were social, political, philosophic, and
scientific truths; but the supernatural was
above and governed all.
The nineteenth century was wise in its own
conceits, and some of It's supreme minds, in
stead of tracing the origin Of man to the heart
of God, instead of ascending, descend, and
claim that our est-grandmother
sprang from oyster shells. Losing sight of
the divine origin of man, they place him on an
equality with the brute Of the field.
Why, asked the lecturer, had science so sig
nally failedl If the sailor was not guided by his
chart, he could not securely sail; and If man
does not lift up his mind to God, he will ineVi-
tably fail, because everything good In human
ity was but a reflex of the divine order. In the
political order, generations of men often go
astray. In our own age we talk Of human
rights, but we forget human duties. Look at
Europe. OF course everything in our own Gov
ernment was good, and we take It for granted,
because it Is our country, that everything Is
right. (Applause.l But look over Europe.
He would not signalize instances, because
they all read the newspapers, and they always
told the truth. Laughter. But
HOW WAS IT IN EURoPEl
In the political order there was lack oftruth;
men had compromised, temporized, and seemed
to have minds and eonsciences of India
rubber. But truth could never compromise.
Truth by its essence was inexorable. II was
either an eternal Eyes" or an eternal "no."
What was government Twas manifestation
under various forms Of political truth. Ifgov-
ernments were controlled by political truth,
there would be more or less Of human happi-
ness; but if they were guided by error, the
people would be the sufferers. Yet high above
personality.
BY his Church, This was the expression Of
Christ through all time; and where 10 Christi
where are these men.-where Is Hts Churchi
The reverend lecturer then alluded to the
various denominations of Christians, all claim
ing to have Christ with them, and inquired
how many Christs there werei The world was
ina maze of mystery; but the everiastingnesb
Of Christ's personality was copnected with the
everlastingness OF the men that were with him
when He founded His Church. Find them and
you find Christ; find Christ, and you find
truth.
The lecturer loved and rsvered the Bible.
But as 1t was read, see what variety OF re-
| ligious creeds were founded upon it. One
minister called one way, another called another
| way, and IL was no wonder that, amid these
| conflicting interpretations, men were In doubt
and groped in
INTELLECTUAL EcLPsEs.
But mere opinion was not truth. Celebrating
these thoughts, Father Ryan proceeded 10 say
that the man-Christ Of Palestine was the
Church-Christ of all ages, and that when he
was nailed to the cross Il was thought by his
enemies that bis name would be but memory,
but they never thought that they had nailed
him to the hearts OF men forever. This man
| had broadened out into q Church reaching
| from the foot of the cross to the end Of time.
| If Church claim to have Christ, IL must
possess his powers. His person without his
power Is nothing. he must be the same al
ways, because truth never changes, and they
who claim TO represent him mast be like him.
The lecturer said be was not trying to prove
anything. He was only leading his hearers into
the path of truth that they might discover other
| truths He wanted them to hnd out the men
who exercised the royal powers Of Christ, and
there they would find the truth. Here, IN this
beautiful city-the capital Of the greatest re-
public on earth-he did not know how many
| churches or how msnR ministers there were.
But he had heard there were various denomfna-
| tions. What a pity there were not more
Christs But from one Calvary there could be
but one atonement, and from one Gospel there
could be but one religion. Some there were
who did not believe in purgatory, which was
HOT PLAcEl
Others there were who did not like hell, which
was hotter yet; and many there were who did
not like any particular form Of church govern
ment, because they wanted religion served to
their tastes just as cooks serve their dinnersl
What pity wrong was not right But right
was right, and wrong was wrong, and both
would so continue. II was not for him 10 say
where were the men that Christ came to stay
with, bat wherever they were, there would be
found the truth. These men do not compro-
mise with error. Even in this enlightened
nineteenth century-in which the devil often
holds the torch that 0iyes the lipht-yOu will