The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-03-10
DIsIIop KAN.
His sermon on the True Church Yester'
day Afternoon az the Cathedral.


verse Of the Goth chapter oithe Acts, read-
ing as follows:
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and 10 oil
OVe.s 'efS, 10 feel The Church Of God, which lie hath
purchased With Bis own blood"
In Fesuming his lecture on the "True
Church" the Bishop first reviewed the
subject discussed OH the previous Sunday.
He said The question, he argued, must
be narrowed down among us to the claims
Of the Catholic Church on tho ono side
and the heterogeneous divisions Of Pro.
testant denominations on the other. These
latter cannot consistently claim to I've the
Church OF Christ. They have all sprung
into existence too late TO establish such u
title whereas the Catholic Church goes
back TO the very time OF Christ aud his
apostles. History attests that Protestant
ism, Us It's very name implies, Is religious
system that arose in the 18th century, IN
opposition to or protesting against the
church which then existed, and Which had
always existed from the time OF It's insti-
tuition by Jesus Christ. The authors
OF this new system produced no
warrant from God 10 do what they pre-
tended they were commissioned ~ do
Viz: Reform the church Of God. What
other motive OF cretlibility did they pro.
duCe, save their own unsupported declara.
ton that they were armed with Gods au.
thority to protest against the old, and TO
establish a series ofnew religions? Christ
himself proved His mission by miracles,
and SO did his Apostles. But how did the
"ReiOrmcrs" Of the 10th centnary prove
theirs? Moreover it Is a fact which no one
dares gainsay that Luther, the boosted
leader Of this great revolt against the
church OF Christ, was man Of gross in-
Slincts, and OF base, animal passions. Ills
own works, notably this "Table Talk, !"
shows this plainly enough. The 0rigina.
tor, too, Of The religious revolution IN Eng.
land, Henry VIII, stands branded in
history, az the very embodiment Of
rapaCtty, cruelty and lust, Surely our
Christian instincts must rebel against the
unproycn assertion that God chose Atch
instruments TO reform and purify this
church.
The Bishop again touched Oh tue argu-
ment which he had developed at consider
able length the Sunday before, that there
Is no dogma Of the Catholic Church re.
Quiring more complete surrender OF orr
reason than tho dogma Of the existence OF
an infinite, self.existing Being, the Creator
OF all things. Reason itself cOmpels us TO
accept this great Observation-Disclosures
is u God and yet reason finds itself ontan.
gled III a web Of perplexing mysteries.
growing out Of the acceptance Of that truth
mysteries which 1t in vain strives to un-
rayel. II then the Christian believes
must believe all these wondrous myster-
les, involved in the admission Of u God
THAT God has never had q beginning, (who
eau conceive it?); that by creation he
changed what had been the eternal order
Of things, thu. lie, the all.wise md all.
powerful God, created world In which
poor, ignorant man detects so many flaws,
Re. &c; why refuse TO accept any doctrine
Of the Church simply oil the ground that
it il incomprehensible?
Tie charge made by Protestants in jus.
tifcation OF the SO called reformation, viz:
That the church had corrupted the pure
doctrines OF Christ, lie reiuted, first by de.
nying the possibility that tho church
could corrupt the doctrines entrusted to her
keeping without involving Christ and His
Holy Spirit in that work Of corruption.
For Christ promised that He would be
with Ills church "all ways" in the dis.
charge OF her commission. Go, teach
the nations, and He explicitly promis-
ell that against His church, the gates Tor
powers Of hell should never prevail" lie
also promised to send, and lie actually did
send His Holy Spirit upon the church,
10 iedcli her all truth, and to abide lrM her for
rrcr. II PrOtestants are willing to admit,
that notwithstanding the pledged presence
with the church OF Christ and His Divine
Spirit, and the solemn guarantee
given TO her by her Divine
Founder, that tho Holy Ghost
should teach her all truth forever yot she
did fall into error, and even teach idoat.
ry; they are evidently contradicting our
Divine Lord, and declaring that they put
more trust in Martin Luther's saying,
1.-The Church is corrupt" than In Christ,
pronouncing such thing impossible.
The fuller disposition OF this question, the
bishop reserved for future consideration
lie argued, in the second place, that the
doctrines assumed by the Reformers to be
innovations, us, for instance, confession,
transubstantiation, honoring Of Saints,
etc, were certainly not innovations, unless
it be admitted that these innovations wcre
made IN the apostolic times. For history,
he said, Ccrtitles to their acceptance IN
the earliest ages OF the Christian Church.
The Bsnop here alluded to sermon
preached in this city on last Sunday, in
which. the speaker maintained that the
law Of the church prescribing forty DAYS
OF fasting" was enacted when the church
had lost her spirituality; and vet the
RevGrncd gentleman quoted st, John
Chrysostom to show that at that early age
(St. Chrysostom became Patriarch OF Con.
stantinoplc in 4. D. 30S), the forty days
fast was observed. lsitpossible that Jesus
Christ could not or did not preserve His
church, (which lie purchased with Ills
own blood" Acts Xxx, 2Sl, (which he loves
as His spotless spouse" (Eph. v, 1921,
from the contamination OF error and su.
perstition for even few hundred years?
To answer in the negative and say, ale
did not or could not, is to put into the
mouth OF tho scofFer the very strongest
argument against Christ and Christianity.
At this point, the Bishop took up the
plea, touched on in his lecture OF last Sun
day.-that is, that the Church remained
inridble from very cary date until the
bursting forth Of the glorious radiance Of
the reformation, when it again made its
appearance in the sanity heroes Of that
mighty revolution-viZ-Lnther and his
contemporaneous co.reformers. This the
DRY he pronounced preposterous and
plainly at variance with the plan and pur.
poses Of the Church. This led him into
discussion Of tho form, or organization Of
the Church and the objects Of hcr organi-
cation.
He defined the church to be a society of
persons, united in the profession OF one
and the same faith and IN the communion
OF the same sacraments, and under the
government Of legitimate pastors, and es.
pecially OF st. Peter. the vicar OF Christ,
or hissuccessor, the Roman PontiiE. That
the church was to be uituys risiJlc society,
Is shown from the prophecies foretelling It's
existence lis. II, 9; Mich. II, 35) and also
from words Of Christ thuI Il ,rsv a., H. =