The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-02-25
The Mission.

Rev. Archbishop graced the opening exsr-
cises with his presence and benediction.
The three sermons Of~each day-at3 ana
81 o'clock Masses and at u o'clock +. M
have drawn uniformly large concourses OF
ladies'. the exercises of the fret week being
devoted to them.
We had the good fortune to hear Father
Danen's celebrated lecture on the "kuIe OF
I Faith which he delivered last Thursday
evening. This lecture has been the occa-
sion. ne Father Damon said, Of the conver-
sion of some eight thousand Protestants
and has attained great celebrity. On one
occasion il wa taken down IN short hand
hy Scotch rrerby teIlan reporter, VIII"
himself afterwards hucame CathoH".
From his notes it was printed and struck
OFT in pamphlet form, cop'es oi wl'eh can
bu had at the parochiul residence OF st.
Patrlch's parish:
1t would be impossible for US, in the
abort space st oar command, to give a sat
isfactory idea of this exceedingly important
lccture or diecourse. Its Importance may
be estimated i'll view of the fact that 1T
covers the fu n damental ground of all dissent
from the Catholic Church, whether III the
Protestant form of heresy or any other. And
instead of being dry theological discus
sion, as might readily be supposed, = is ex-
tremely en- tertain n as delivered and will no
doubt atl'srd most interesting reading mat
ter. We concur with Rev. Father DImen
in urging CRth"lics to purchas" Vt for cur
culatirn among their Protestant friends.
Father Damcn sets out with text taken
f,om the .lG h chapter If St Mark, 1C.h
verso. which inculcatca the absulntn ne
cr.sitv of Faith, hrir Ftectar>'i that they
who fail to accept it shall b" damned. This
doctrine may sound harsh in the EMS Of
somu OF our fastIdiUns friends, but Father
Dlmcn is not respoD Sibie for IL. Taking Il
as a basis, the superstructure of logic
which ho erects upon it seems impregna
bic.
They who believed the GOepel were to
be saved and they who believed not should
he damned. If salvation depended on be
lieving the Gospel truths, how immensely
important that they Should be known.
Therefore, also, the equal Importance of the
question, how they were to be known. In
other words, what was to be the rule of
faith3 How were people to know beyond
doubt what was the truthH
Father Damen said that there were two
answers to this question. Catholics say
that the Church is to day as much com
missiaurd to teach the necessary truth as
it was lSi4 years ago when Chrst said to
-. f,n inf Isi, Al
and preach the gospel 10 every creature: he
that bvicveth and is baptized shall be
saved but he that bclievcth not shall be
cendemurd." Protestants, on the other
hand, hold that this teaching power was
limited to the Apostles personally and is
now unknown; that consequently a man can
now know the truth only by studying the
Bible carefully and interpretipgi it for him
self These are the two Roles of Faith.
The Protestant Rule Father Damen said, ,
ia arueuahle to vast number of objections
to it. Inthc first place, the New T. stnment
was not completed for sixty five years after
the CruciGxion and it wns sixty. three years
after the game event before the last G"sn'.l
waa written. In the mean time the APOSTLE
were trw IN uumhcr. indeed, all OF them
were dead, save S.. j hin, long before he
wrote hI4 Gospel The Bible, then, being
Incomplete what was the rule OF faith
Was it st. } ohm only and exclusively for all
the millions of perishing souls in the
| universe, or had the bishops and priests oI
that day power to teach which they lost
as soon IA St. John finished the Apo
! calypso nr "Reveiations
Then, again For the first three hundred
years there were many spurious gospels
until, after the lapse of that time, the Pop,
of Rome expurgatod them and fixed tht
New Testament as it has ever since stood
Durirg those 300 years where was thv Pro
! testant ruio of faith. or rather where
would it have been had there been any Pro
testautsR
Again The New Testament being fiuail,
settled upon, how conld the Bible be tn
rule of faith during the first fourteen hun
drcd years of the Christian erai After tina
lapse of time the art of printing came t
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