Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1878-02-03

iud glueut 80 the opposing bFUDt
O their slow wisdom
Faith t. be stable and abidJr must be I'M
questionable: and to deny the infalLbility OF
the Head Of the Church is to deny the sover-
eighty Of the successor of st. Peter. No cause
however strong, can afford to admit away any
part of its case. Qui s'excuse s'accuse. To
admit any doubt is to admit the entering
wedge which riyes asunder the stoutest creeds.
So with a wisdom which is absolute and per
feet the Church stops discussion upon her
outer threshold. To admit morals to an
equality with religion is to admit that which
Is purely human to an equality with that
which is wholly divine. We do not mean to
say that we believe that the Church sanctions
immortality. We are by no means prepared
~ believe what is implied by the satirical poet
when he puts into the mouth of a prelate the
words
Il know these hot desires will sometimes prove
Too strong The Church takes Of that,
And with its veil Of silence what
Il knows weak men will have
But we cannot fail to discern the logic of
the assumption that religion and morals are
10 more related than religion and matters of
taste The Church claims all men as her SONS.
Her creed never loses any function or phase
Of its catholicity. 1t is made for all mankind.
The loyalty OF the Mother toward her child
rem is to that degree that she prefers her
humbleSt child, no matter how low, vicious or
degraded, to the highest, most exemplary and
most influential of heretics This entities her
ltNri
turn. We are simply stating facts, not yield
ing our assent 10 the faith and practices of the
Roman Church Neither are we protesting
any allegiance to it when say that we be-
lieve it to he the most admirable piece of or
.,amization the religious world has ever seen.
We regard it simply from the standpoint of a
spectator Still we cannot but admit, with
Mr. Ever, that Rationalism is the inevitable
resultant of Professionalism. To protest aganst
any part of the creed is to set atioat such
fleet of doubts as will bring confusion dismay
and destruction Far be it from us to stimu-
late any doubt i'll the mind of any of our read
ers So blessed Il comfort as that of a well
grounded faith may not be disturbed by any
profane hands We say this while yet recog
nizin.. all the wicked and cruel things done in
the name Of religion; we say it while being
reminded of the inspiration of those wild pat
riots Of the French Revolution, who, though
theOha trampled into scorn the faith i'll an
immortal life in which they would be rewarded
for what they were suffering, went to their
graves as beds, for the dream of peoples
liberty. But we find we are drifting away
from our subject, that of morals and religion.
And yet all we can say further is to add that
We could wish that the constant tendency of
religion might be toward higher and purer
lie. But will it have that tendency so long
a. the so-callcd scheme of salvation holds out
with one hand bride and with the other
menace!
We cannot do better, i'll bringing this, our
short sermon to close, than to quote as fol
lows from Mr. James Anthony Froude ADM
rable essay on The Book of job. Says that
gifted writer and profound scholar;
Such is the theory of life which is to be
found in the Book of Job; u faith which has
flashed up in all times and all lands, wherever |
high minded men were to be found, and which |
passed in Christianity into the acknowledged |
creed Of half the world. The cross was the |
new symbol, the Divine Sufferer the great ex-
ample; and mankind answered to the call, be
cause the appeal was not to what poor and |
selfish in them, but to whatever of best and |
bravest was in their nature The law of reward |
and punishment was superseded by the law OF
love Thou shalt love God and thou shalt
love man: and that was not love men knew
it at oncc-which WAS bought by the prospect
Of reward Times are changed with us now.
Thou shalt love G'd and thou shalt love man,
in the hands of Paley. found to mean no
more than, Thou shalt love thysef after an
enlightened manner. And the same base tone
has saturated not only our common feelings,
hut our Christian theologies and our Anti
christian philosophers. \ prudent regard to
our future interests; an abstinence from pres
ent unlawful pleasures, because they will en-
tail the loss of greater pleasures by and by, or
perhaps he paid for with pain, this is called
virtue now; and the belief that such beings as
men can be influenced by any more elevated
feelings, is smiled at rs the dream of enthusi-
asts whose hearts have outrun their under
standings. Indeed, he were but a poor lover
whose devotion to his mistress lay resting on
the feeling that ID marriage with her would
conduce t. his Own comforts, That were a