Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1879-03-14
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MORNING. MARCH 10, 1879
Local
BISHOP KEAEE ON AVAILABILITY.

his lecture on "The Voice of God in tht
World. He appeared on the stage in The
gorgeous Pontiical robes of his office. o.
crimson velvet, silk and fine white lace
He Was introduced by Mayor Balthis, and
lectured for an hour and a quarter to q
most attentive audience. While many
present could not agree with the lecturer
as he treated his subject from Catholic
standpoint, and while they rejected the
doctrines he advanced they could not help
being pleased with the easy grace and rare
fiuency OF the speaker and without firing
followed him through his remarkable adj
dress. which characterized him as man
of extensive learning and rare talent as a
lecturer. We give an abstract Of his re
marks
The Bishop said that, being Catholic,
no one could take it amiss if he treated his
subject from a Catholic standpoint. No
one can help but notice how the bible
speaks of the Voice of God. Not only in
the Old Testament is the voice of God
made use of to represent His mercy to-
wards the sinner, but all through the New
Testament. The ntterance Of the voice of
God dwelling amongst US is an important
and grave suhject-telling us those things
which only God can tell us. CHANGING at
the periodicals published on both sides of
the Atlantic one cannot but be struck by
the frequency of religious topics, and the
religious topics there discussed are the
fundamental principles of religion, and
they who handle and discuss these Ques-
lions concerning each important point adj
vance views utterly different from one
another. So that the mind of man every
where seems to be inquiring: lis there
such thing as divine truth in the world;
or if there is, has man any means OF Know
ing what it is?'' There is no one to. u hom
this question does not come home, for it is
the Voice Of God speaking in the world.
There are certain great problems which
are always pulling humanity; certain
great questions which the human soul is
always asking, and to which it demands an
answer. In all ages men have been asking:
"What am L? Where do 1 come from?
Is there any supreme being? II there is,
wha is my relation TO him? What must
L expect from him?" These are CUES ions
always agitatiDg the minds of all who
are not too much immersed in their ap-
petites to think about anything but their
qualification. History shows that the best
part Of the human race have always been
interested in these great problems, and the
light that history now thiows upon past
time shows two great facts: First, that
mer have always been puzzled to answer
these great questions, and, second, that IS
long as they tried to answer it by the un-
assisted aid of their own minds they tried
in vain. Take the Sanscrlt, the litera
ture of the ancient HindOos and we see it
is philosophy which aims at answering
these great questions of the soul. We find
that the oldest works of HindOo literature
are almost like the Bible i'll teaching the
unity Of God and pure morality, but as we
advance in the history OF Hlnd0o litera-
ture we fnd that one book after another
marks an era down the inclined plane of
immortality.
The soul of Socrates was intent upon
these great problems of humanity, and
when he was a soldier in the Grecian army
he would go about the market place Of
Athens asking questions Of passers by,
saving: II don't know much, and you
don't know much more, but let us try if
we can't come to some coEcluslOn.' Soc
rates taught the doctrine of the immortal
ty of the soul, and yet after all was uncet-
tain whether his conclusions were correct,
for when dying he asked that sacrifice
should be offered to o of the pagan gods
Plato, the greatest disciple OF Socrates,
had mind that was always trying to solve
consequence, he sums up all his inquiries
by saying: ''Would that one would come
from Heaven to tell us the truth 1t Was
a grand acknowledgment that Gods voice
is needed to teach men divine truth.
Many philosophers taught it after Plato,
both in Greece and Rome. The last was
Cicero and he says: lit would take God
to tell us which of these systems is true"
Men have tried it again in modern times,
and strange to Say there never has been
a time when men have not turned their
back upon revelation and tried to solve it
of themselves. In modern philosophy
GERMANY tried it and the last words Of
Kant. one of the most famous modern
philosophers was: II don't know that l
know anything." French philosophers
have met with no better success. Voltaire
spent life in scoffing at religion and Yet
on his DYING bed he screamed for priest.
English philosophy tried 1t. John Stuart
Mills. was a man whose mind craved after
nobler things. His father from lis earliest
Years iustilled into his mind that
there was no God. He tried every method
of happiness but in vain-tne cravings OF
that treat man were never satisfied and he
died as he had lived, an unhappy man, his
life going out like wall of despair. Then
there is the same acknowledgment in mod
sarn as in ancient times of the impossibility
of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion
with regard to the great questions Ut tue
soul. and the cry of Piato-'Would tha,
0ne would come from heaven to tell us the
TRUTH: still runs in the world. From
these facts two conclusions follow: First
That as man absolutely demands and needs
these proofs God must have given us thu
truth and the answer to these questions
otherwise He would have made our nature
only 10 be our torment, and that lie is III
canable of. Second: That as man doe
not; End that truth in the thinking OF I'M
own mind. God must have given it to HIN
in something which will enlighten him
and that is divine revelation. ReVelal lol
is the voice of God teaching man WHAT nt
could not known, did He not design tt
make Fl known? Let US look in the orr
gin OF facts and ask where is thaI alVlne
revelation which we have seen must exist
somewhere. History Will guide US IN oul
search. The historical research eS OF thls
.eentury enables us to look back to The
cradle of TIE human family 1t can bt
traced back to three original branches
which must have sprang ftom che com
mon root. the Hebrew Or Semitic, HIND
o. Aryan and Turanean. Now: IN "blct
al these three is divine revelation to b'
found? The history OF phllology tells W
th.t the Turanean was the first to migrate
Thev were a poor degraded race, and .
we look into theis rude myJhologies w
recognize a. faint resemblance OF the clav
NOS mos the hI old philosophers spoke Of, The
Aryan were the next TO leave We. home ON
and they went to Hindoos a "a ana oa; lion
there back over Europe. lhels t tiae
.5noenersted till it became Pantlelsm
Rrahmanism and Buddhism. AS these olpe
Two branches of the human fanny "er
characterized By changlHg' So Che 'euiI n
is to-day so he was when Moses guardle
him h s0 through the desert, and it is in th
race that the old truth, OF which we Sc 81
shadows in She other two branches Oh "a
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