Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1878-02-24
SUNDAY READING.


better or worse, good bad, ennoblng or
debasing (and who shall telD, has made Chris
endOm what it is. If the Athenean pundits
frst evolved the idea of the Immortality of
the soul, heathens as they were, calling the
months after their favOrite gods and trans
hitting their mythology into the larger and
broader stream of Christianity, giving to the
Goth the credit of that vast phenomenon in
architecture which goes by his name, why
shall we who are Christians not still advance
as the Faith advances? Shall Goodness con-
form itself to whimseys? Let us be logical and
thuswise true.
All the foregoing would be impairment
well as incoherent if the corrollary were not
of sufficient moment to authorize it: At the
close of an article on Ritualsm in the current
number OF the ''Nineteenth Century which
lies before us, we find the Able Martin en-
ployinS the following language, namely:
It is perhaps us well 10 point out the weak
points of RituaEsm, in order that souls may
not be iUiled to sleep i'll decetful security.
1t is well to declare that Ritualism is not log
zeal, even according to its own principles, and
that it has only an arbitrary existence: it is
well to hold up before it the lamp of truth
which cnlightens the road by which it has
TO travel, and this may all be done with the
calmncss which BELTS the Church, with the
charity which is precious jewel of Catholi-
cism, and with the amenity Of language which
goes direct to the heart, since it shows that
everything is prompted by an inspired love of
truth, and With the sole object Of working
,,rr+4 ha &c that 1Hr lose
precious than God Himself-the salvation of
Il soul.
From this admirable essay we quote as
follows.
The Catholic Church alone appears to be
endowed with the power Of endless renewal,
but this is because she does not III reality
ever die. Peoples go and come into her bo-
SOM they are born, increase, grow old, and
die, and this leads TO the belief among some
men that the Catholic Church dies, although
she is in fact ever the ssme, ever immortal
We see her beside the cradle of nascent peO-
pies, and find her once more at the deathbed
of nations which coming to an end, and
while the world is ever being renewed, she
alone does not die She is always the same,
always endowed with a youthfulness which
cannot fade, with vitality which nothing can
take from her, and thus it is that she never
dies.
The sects, on The other hand, which sepa-
rate from her, are subject to the conditions
of human existence, and share the lot of
earthly things. They are therefore sooner |
detached from the stem whence they drew |
their divine life, than they begin to languish |
and decline. to become extinct. and die; and |
just as there was time when they did not |
exist, 50 the day comes when they are said to |
be more.
Professionalism forms no exception to this |
law of history. Jesus Christ has pronounced |
it's sentence of death i'll the parable of the |
vine, and we can already discern its fulfil |
nent. English Professionalism alone appears
To contradict this general law; in what is
called Ritualism, it seems at this moment to
have found fresh life, and to have recovered
an appearance of youth, just when its disso-
luton was expected.
This phenomenon is certainly strange and
unexpected. But it is still more strange that
Professionalism, in coming to life, has every
where excited, not merely surprise and as
constituent, but indignation, anger, threats
and persecution. Ritualism is perhaps more
offensive to English Protestants than Roman
Catholicism, nor does it, on the other hand
find much more sympathy among Catholics.
Professionals prosecute the Ritualists, and wish
to drive them ont of their church; while
Catholics decline to receive them, and repel
them from the fold which they desire to en-
ter.
This is a singular fate, and when events
which are So intimately connected with the
salvation OF souls, with the future of great
people, and the prosperity of the Catholic
when such events pass before our
eyes, ought we not to accord to them few
consideration, in order to ascertain
their cause, and discover their explanation!
They contain more than one lesson, and we
should be wrong not to gather up the teach
ing which these contemporary facts afford.
SO at least it appears to me, and for this rea-
son wish to devote some pages to English
to ascertain its strength, to show
It's weakness, and to predict its destiny.
Still pressing the case and cause and his
tory of Professionalism and after reminding us
that it has made way in spite of the attacks ;
eveled against it, the Able says: !
Everything which enables lis to trace the
course of public opinion in England proves
This truth beyond a doubt The churches
which are built are more ornate than for
merly; the services are less cold, and better Z
attended; church decorations take more !
important place in worship; the display of +
religious sentiment i'll palp2ble and visible
signs Increases And the rising tide is not
limited to the members of the Anglican l
Church; it has even extended to the dissent |
ing communities, and to the Wesleyans in :
particular This fact has of late been partc-