The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1879-12-27

religion, and affords jabilation to that
large and increasing class which is
endeavoring to make the name of the
church an ensign of infamy and re-
proach. It was my sincere hope that
the quarrel between Doctor Talmage
and his Christian brothers WAS ended
and buried, as far as the public was
concerned, and that, whatever there
was of ecclesiastical scandal, would
be kept in the sanhedrim of the elect,
bnt the attempt Of the trustees of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle to carry it's con-
gregation ont Of the control of the
Presbyterian Synod, gave the Doctor
q longed-for opportunity, and he an
nounced his determination. to resist
the action of his trustees, and to live
and die in the Presbyterian fold but,
while commenting the honest action
of the distinguished clergymen who
sustained him in bis late trial, the
inference to be drawn from the after
part of his discourse was, that the
clergy men who opposed him were
fit candidates for the penitentiary. He
from his altar, that he was
in possession of letters respecting his
clerical pursuers, which, if he chose
to publish, would fill the city with
scandal for year, such as it had
never known before. What did the
reverend gentleman mean by this
were. the letters true or falsef If
false, he must have known it, and if
true, what right had he to conceal the
infamy of these wolves in sheeps'
and how can he acquit him
self as a Christian minister, of allow
ing these men to preside over congre-
cations, when he considers them NOR
ally and religiously rotten #
!, On Sunday night last, one Doctor
Coggeshall, Of Rhode Island, under
took to reply to the articles on Abo-
litionism in the New York Tribune,
which have been furnished by Oliver
Johnson. There is probably no man
in the United States as we'll qualified
for the work as Mr.. johnson be knew
many of the men of whom
he speaks; he personally mingled in
the struggle, and was one of the rec
ognized leaders in the work which he
describes. Mr.. johnson made, the
broad assertion, that all the churches,
the Methodist church among the rest,
were pro-slavery previous to tie war,
and this fact, In the glaring light Of
history, no one but fool or mad
man would deny, yet this Doctor
Coggeshall, who no doubt thinks him
self the great ori riginal AbolitioDist,
and as a reformer infinitely greater
than Lloyd Garrison, attacked Mr..
Johnson like clerical prize fighter,
and undertook to set history right Oh
The matter, wherein it has been wrong
for the past forty years. The exbi-
bition Of intemperate zeal with which
he urged his own claims, was simply
in a man Of his age and
position, rendering it manifest, that
in some men three score and ten years
is still far from the age of discretion.
Another matter which is now ex-
citing considerable attention is the
reform movement in the Roman Cath
Dlic Church, led on by Bishop McNa-
mara, assisted by Father Dillon and
Father Quinn. This is not by any
means break from Catholicism, but
a separatian simply from the Roman
church. The Irish Catholic still re-
mains an Irish Catholic, but these
gentlemen claim that the dominion Of
Rome has been the curse of Ireland,
that the Roman church has sold out
the liberties of Ireland for her own
selfish purposes, and that the acknowl-
edgment of Papal infallibility is no
portion of the true faith. Whatever
may be the merit of the new move
ment, it has struck the Catholic church
in a place where she has never been
before, and that is among
her Irish adherents. All tile clergy
men engaged in the movement are
Irish, and all Of the worshippers in
the different congregations are Irish.
Once priest, a priest forever, is a
doctrine accepted by the Catholic
church throughout the world, and it
is yet to be seen whether these rebel
lious evangelists will be able to with
stand the thunder of the annthuma
maranatha which is sure to fall sooner
or later on their devoted heads. In
the meanwhile the work goes brave]y
on, and the congregations are among
the most devoted in the city.
Doctor Fulton, who, for two years,
kept the Hanson Place Baptists in a
fever, until they finally hustled him
out, has hired the large Skating Rink,
made famous by the ministrations of