New-York tribune., 1878-05-11


The Rev. DIR. F. C. Ever, of this city, delivered
,acture on "Cathohc Truth and Protestan' -,
,orp before the congregation OF Grace Unli nlioa
protestant EpiscOpa), IN Newark IasI C,.irt-
doy evening. Professionalism, as form ol IN -
ianitv. he said, stands breast deep III his
scepticism. aghast and incompetent III I'D God
lecture. which is given below. DE- Eve, "ndiIJe.
remains with us, visible, taDgip'e a. ON earth
through one organic form "
the one Holy Catholic Churcn.
THE LECTURE.
The most solemn question n'an tr,,arae whose
i,,ts a. what is TrutEl" In TINS un'oIee, - -.
s,o ye know not. cOmplexity perVaueS e'eis ~
All ot tts facts and phenomena move WIN - ~ ,1o
~ 4 " ,yxbere and forever, because gniueu py 'n0
iO"y' ~ ,,, - cod All do say7 All but man anu ue-
~ O.. an this scene 10 act in disccrd Win us i'W'
- oo,,nIox movement, is misery. disaster au" "
To move in accordance with the ALL is PS'
ute Now 10 have the order OF IDEAS "i'ni -. =, =.
,,,, the order OF fact and phenomena "i'nO' " ~,
ne ,ytthin us the Truth; this, therefore, Is "
means of life To have the order OF 'ue"s W. n,Io
.ord with the order Of phenomena wi'hou'-'"1'
i error and acting on it is disaster, misery uea'"'
You have come up here not 10 cons'oi wy ,ho
snondenee between the order OF IDEAS within an" w
nrder Of all fact and phenomena Without ING -
ndence Won Uishis that between the order OF iue"S
vi
.na that lie bsyond the limits OF the hatui'I
- hollow the horizon of time. What is uu'u
tbere1 Your question is question: tH0"'
life or death. Great God, 1t Is ho ',iHo
rhetoric We have live but oncej we D1 p"I1 ~ ~
dio but once How shall we live rlSnti no" su"'
die right Once only can we shape our coui'o iOi
t II Il either to sail into correspondence eVefasg
80 a., oor,rlex facts and phenomena OF tie eterhal
-, ,ho sunarna,ural or TO sail iutO miserable dScoro
with Them It is either then, unto ie' OF unto '"'
only atting name is death. For an eXtraneous pI''
concbt in vast machine, and out OF harmony WIN us
movements Is but crushed ana ground Oy tne rcsstes
easeless action of that IN which it is set God, ume
eternity and all that fills themths is the vast machine
!, which Won are set But question is an hunger
For who would SIX for what he already has I
Three hundred years ago Luther an1 Calvin an
ounced that they had the truth Bnt the stormy seas
NJ nryate Judgment and of human criticism upon which
they launched il, and the detee's solNe.S & VI b
ebe logic which they challenged, nave Deen 700 muon
Tor IT, Calvin cannot answer Channlng; Claiming can
not answer Parker; Parker cannot answer ffoInlE'
ton Lapsing time, too, hath brought It's sirSlh
{titsn UgIp m on ali systems hath confronted il
with unexpected situations, hath stretched 1t upon
r. had moi foreprovded aud To- 1t Is and TO
pieces After 800 years you behold miserable ialt
tbe heavens. And you behold poor remnants only OF
the great Nations ngtng to its parted ana broken logs
and earnest thinking men at their Wits ehd 10 Alo"
what is Truth
PRoTEsTANTlsM DRAWING IN sCEPTICIsM.
Let me pause a moment. How is it that am sum
mOned here by citizens Of widely variant vewsY What
has happened in the last ten years The world does not
stop Iu 1868 the solemn indictment against Pro
tesantism up in the fear of God aud in behalf OF
diving sous and uttered from Christ Church, Murray
HILL was met not by argument but Ohy py gaze O HoS
maedction and impotent scorn Bu thS;s %h9 % lt & Tn
In St Louis in Wisconsin, East ana VEST te cDaleISc
to Protestansm Is taken up agah anu peSs 5t tU MIL
anyone claims again That steanOOats anu COTTON Hs
are PrOtes antisn. one can only say that AGAIN IH
claim calls for notice. Is Protestantlsm lalurc
Why, look at your lucifer matches your iocom9'ee S
and suspension bridges! And one gazing WIN sld t4e
eISn ePTn Dogma Of ustifcation by faith upon the
rule of private scrptural interpretation upon absolute
predestinaOn eectual grace, final perseverance ana
Infant damnatiOn, looked away from Professionalism as
he bidden and observed the patent reapers ana
one ever charged the inventive faculty OF man with be-
ing failure when acting IN me natural e. ~ ~ Ts t
supernatural realm, and substituting there Duman Iof
q d,vine contrlyapce of salvation that has failed
TO saX nnbing of the specifications in those eight dis
courses what two OF the main counts III the lndct
entl First that whereas 21O years ago the Protestant
religious dOgmas held captive TO themselves great
thoughtful peoples OF the Germane The sWss ana the
ADglOSaIOn man. those dOgmas had aed 10 TeaIn IHe
hold they had and have TO an overwhelming ex-
tent lost last the intellect OF those peoples ana at
while $50 years ago Protesianusm held inc masses
as well as the intellect OF those peoples, 1t has
failed to hold and has lost those masses as wen as e M
telect that Professionalism as IOn OF onTIstanly,
stands to-day breastdeep In torrents OF seeptcsm which
and in which 1t Is drowning ana that II
stands there to-day aghast ana incompetent
A second
gious premises Of Professionalism were essentially anti
Christian and must end by nexorable logic III nfdel
Zwingl's premises we're to be accepted then
Channings conclusions were Iep nearer Hg9t Dy
nearer right than Cnannng's, and Fro,hing-
hams and Adlers the righest OF all, aud quite Gnan-
lists burned serTetus at the stake, they burned
Cavins own brainchd. Ii was claimed that
correct, il ought to have shown itself
finally in practical historical results And the charge
de- hot hot 1ua a
cay, had actually followed historically, aud was patent
10 all in the comparatively empty churches and the
lea and Switzerland. This was another count!
in sermon, newspaper aud magazine, not then did any
one not at any since has any come candldy up
and grappled with these two main counts in the ndic
ment Can they be met and answered. II So why have
several editions of the Volume containing the Indictment
been allowed TO be read openly or secretly Tor the volume
was forthwith placed on the Index EXpurgatOrius Of
Proesantlsm)ond to work like leqyen IN the eolnmu
nifty for ten yearsf II they cannot be answered Is not
strange that minded citizens should arise and
ask What is Truthi
Sernal TRUTH speak, of course with authority, and
tGat authority must be one OF two things either base
have the truth" and nations listened. What
nations clustered to the chair OF Professionalism?
1 VIII tell you. The tones OF Protestantism
mmoned the peoples TO itself, TO instruct them. And
81 II asserts its own falbiity Every religion which
does not claim at least tOr Itself nfallibty conycts
itself by that fact that il is liable TO lead astray in
that solemn concern which, fixed hut once, knows no
tOns flying from the eternal truth system pro
claims its liability 10 plunge them into error For such
system TO teach in the name OF God, whose truth
one, fixed aud eternal ana whose ways alter not nor
conflict with each other is the contamination the alb
surd No. gentlemen Jesus Christ was the only being
who dared 10 call himself God, Cathocity is the
only Christian BODY that dares TO call itself nfalhbe
that dares TO begin its discOurses, TO give It's TRUTH TO
pronounce its judgments and TO pardon sin, " In the
OF the Father and Of the Son. and OF the Holy
Ghost" The Sovereign Lord God hath Himself, pre-
pared a remedy for Professionalism and that remedy is
the anarchy with which 1t rends domain in a
sublime suicide. III
mab and dying under the divine criticism.
On the 18th of July, 1870, that sounded again 10
the world arose from the plains of SaXOny. not
from the lakes OF Switzerland but from beneath the
shadow Of the Apenuines This time II was in the sngu
lar nunhnr: % nlnne have the tInth.n All mankind