The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-09-22
Cardinal Manning on RATIONAL
ism,

| 'IN"NN NAAt SAhtNh W SF shA6h"fshS
Manchester, which has been undergoing
repairs and decoration. In the course Of
q sermon on "Jesus Christ and Him Cru
Gifted" as the central doctrine Of the
Catholic faith, he maintained that the
Catholic Church was the one universal
church which was to give "iaith by hear
ing" to the world, and in proof that this
was the true church hs pointed to'the con-
fusion, the COntentiOnr the contradiction,
the wasting and psFiShing Of everything
separate ofIVm thai, rpnG church, liz
begged his hearers to notice how other
teachers, having lost their inference il
il unity and submission 70 Divine Rul.
IhOrity were tossed TO and fro with eyory
wind Of mans doctrine until al last they
were losing the truth Of Christ and Him
CFuCiied. Germany, he said, was the
country from which the Reformation
came. England was the disciple Of Ger
many. How Jared II with the teacher,
and how was II fating with the learner
In Germany there had been three periods
or states Of Christian belief in the last
300 years. In tue beginning Lutheranism
had set itself up a. pure and primitive
Christianity In opposition to the CathO-
lie fuitll, 10 highly dOgmatiC and doGtri.
nal. Il belieycd IN substantiation and in
absOluliOn, and In q multitude Of other
doctrines which it did not as yet reject.
Little by little men found II impossible
for beads to hang together without 0
thread, and having denied the Divine au.
thorily upon which hlltruth rested, hay-
ing broken the thread upon (which all
these juwelH Of Divine truth were strung,
having denied the Divine authority Idi
the Church, they began to lose and lEe.
ect doctrine after doctrine, and men
were criticising these doctrines, denounc-
ing dOgmatlsm rs the authority Of men,
aud describing dogma as the impodnghT.
on one man by the authority Of another
what he Ia 10 believe in Divine thinga.
The SECOND period on WHICH they entered
was characterized by state Of what was
called Pietism. Men began TO toss away
doctrine. They kept Jesus Christ and
Him Cruclied as the central and only
truth. After u limo OF an interior piety
and an excitement Of devotion, with less
and less Of positive belief, there arose
mp another people called Rational
lists. They said, with great Justice, "YOu
have rejected dogma, and We reject your
emotions and your devotiOns and your
Pietism, which has no other foundation
than YOUR feelings. You feel this hut !
don't you believe 1t, | don't believe It,"
This was the beginning Of the third
period Of Ratiohalism, which meant
nothing more nor less than that men took
their own reason and made II q teal Of
truth, even in reVelation--n measure by
which the doctrines Of Christianity are 10
be- tested 10 that what il received will be
received, and what L does not recetYC will
DO rejected. Finally, the reason oisman
was made the source and foundation Of
everything. That evil Of liationalisn
prevailed in Germany at this moment.
Throughout the whole Of what was called
the Reformation is.had tleVoured and ex-
tinguished Christian faith in tho great
multitude Of the Prussian nation, aid the
other States in which the Reformation es-
Lablished itself, to so great an extent that
we we're told that not two per cent Of
the population Of Berlin ever get their
feet In n place Of worship. What had
happened to the teacher he feared might
happen to the learner, and what had be.
gun in Germany might pass over into
England, unless men had the humility
and the faith to- become the disci.
pies OF the DiyineJfeaCher. Tired hum
dred years ago, Parliament, by royal an.
thoriiy, set up a religion by law which
was highly tloCtrlnal and highly dOgnat.
ic in EpiscopacS and the Sacramento,
differing from the Catholic Church In as
few things as possible, but being TORN
from the unity OF the Christian world and
from the authority Of the Vicar Of Jesus
Christ. For one hundred years that dog.
matte religion continued. Then came
piclisul or PurilaniSm, nm interior re.
iigi6n, resting Upon the feelings Of the
heart. lie spoke not diSparagingly Of
that time. He respected the PuritAns,
Because they were In earnest and because
they revoliel against empty and dead
iOrms-against keeping up the belief 10
the Sacramento when the grabe 81 the
Sacramento was denied, and because
they rejected the imitation Of the mass
when the belief In the Real Presence was
denied, aud for burning coniesSiunalS
when belief In nbsOlution had ceased. lie
respected that thorough, reSOlute temper
and spirit Of those men who believed that
religion consisted in communion with
Cod and ia beliei Of Divine Master; but
what had followed7 We likewise had
entered into a period Of Rationnlisnl.
lie did not know to what extent II had
spread among tie Nonconformists Of this
country. Some OF their own members
had assured him that among their youth
II was spreading fast by means Of Ger.
man literature. But he did not know
how far II was spreading in the Church
Of England, and how II had made The
University Of Oxford almost liz own. On
every side there were books, written pro.
iessedly on Christianity, penetrated
through and through with RatiOhalism,
and that by members Of the Church Of
England. 4 high authority, at least IN
Manchester, had said the other day. the
foundation Of all reasonable faith seemed
to be In danger, and, in illustrating his re.
mark, stated that the Vatican Council had
invested the hend Of the Church with de
vine attributes, and had practically laid
II down that the mind Of the Church,
and not Holy Scripture, was the word Of
God. This was Rationalism Of the high.
est order. II was not necessarily a Di.
vine attribute fOt man as the head Of
the Church 10 be preserved from error,
or that he should receive perpetual assist.
nncc from the Spirit Of Truth according
to the promise Of God, whereby his
Church should never err from that truth
delivered to II. This talk about Divine
authority came from purely Rational.
islic conception Of the nature Of Chris.
tianily. To absolve sin was an act oil
Divine authority, and yet the Church Of
England, in the service for the visitation
Of the sick, said our lord left power with
his Church to forgive sin. Would this
authority, on turning to his hook oil
Prayer, say whether his Church was in.
vested with Divine attributes2 And as
for the mind Of the Church, that certain.
~ was a scriptute-the living intelligence
Of the whole mystical body fJesus Christ
on which on the day Of Fentccost The
Holy Ghost inscribed the whole revela,