The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-10-28
Lay Preaching.

but Moodyism lives. The telegraph no
longer vibrates with the weight of Moody
and sankey. Profane allusions to those
apostles as ''played out" parties have found
circulation, and another nine days wonder
was thought to be shelved. But unless we
are quite mistaken this conclusion was
too comprehensive.
In fact We regard Moody as a result, not
as a cause as an outgrowth rather than an
origination. Protestantism is essentially
Democratic, and has by consequence per
sistent tendency to develop into the Sim
plest and most natural modes of popular
manifestation. 1t is based on the idea of
individual iHfslAbility and individual indie
pendence. The Church as q corporation with
rights of it's own derived otherwise than by
the consent of its members, the Church as
an institution organized by the Saviour, en-
dowed by him with power over its members
and vested with iufatlibe truth of doctrine
such a Church is unknown to them. The
Church being iguored, there ia no priest
hood there is only a ministry. This min
istry at the outset of Professionalism very
impudently arrogated to itself certain
amount OF authority. That authority,
though vague aud shadowy in its title, was
at first exceedingly arbitrary in it's exac-
tiops. Men submitted to this usurpation,
not because it was logical, but because they
could not realize the full meaning of their
own revolt against authority.
The times have changed very materially,
however, since the days of Knox and
Cromwell, and the spirit of enquiry has
of late been rummaging among venerable
frauds in quite an irreverent style. 1t
naturally asks: where do these "minsters"
get the exclusive right to teach or preach 7
Who gave it to them In fact, what is the
right to teach, if every man must read and
judge for himself, if every man is necessa-
rily his own teacherf They have no right
then, except to preach, and to preach in
that sense is merely to exhort. But every
man ought to exhort his neighbor to do
right, if the neighbor will listen; it re-
quires no minister for that. This is the line
J OF thought into which even the most timid
investigation of the subject is sure to lead
a man; and the natural conclusion is-"lsy
preaching"
"SiiJ JIG tHeuIJ vi l"g pIeaCninS uSloS
once broached and received, Moody sprouts
up as naturally as a mushroom on a dung
heap in the dark. And, so, Moodyiem is
only an outgrowth of that spirit of enquiry
which is prying around and asking the
wherefore of customs that had imagined
themselves secure by prescription.
What is strange about tho development,
10 that tha EniacDpaliarS are
taking it up while the Presby terians frown
it down as worldly innovation. Now the
Church of EngIapd, OR Episcopal Church
ss it is called in this country, does claim
to have a priesthood and certain limited
kind OF authority. Its clergy claim TO
have orders from the apostles through
regular succession of bishops, while Presby-
terians scoff at Apostolic orders and Church
authority independent of lay consent. The
other day in Kentucky q presbytery refus
ed to recoguize lay preacher as working
in their interest, while still later the Epis-
copaliane IN convention at Boston have
ENTHUSIASTICALLY endorsed the Moody and
Sankey system.
Wepredict that Presbyterianiem will hold
out longer aud more bitterly than any
other sect against the innovation, because
it is the stronghold of Protestantism, the
very core of modern heresy. But the end
cometh all the same, and if Calvin were
alive himself he could not defer it single
day. Lay preaching must pervade the
whole heresy it is the dry rot that will
3 eat out it's heart. It will supersede the
ministry and destroy every Vestige of hier-
archy. It's Democracy in religion pushed
to it's lsst conclusion aud the next steI
after it can be nothing but individualism
or the disappearance of all organization.
| Democracy is just principle in politics
d but it will not do in religion. Religion
d muet be Theocratic. 1t must be organize
II and controlled immediately and coutinu
=, ousIy by divine power, or it will be, lik
g any purely human institution, subject
q change, decay aud dissolution. The Catl
B. olic Church claims to be purely Thee
i Ia-i