Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-08-16

had sunk to low depth; IL was In darkness
darkness intcllt ctnal, spiritual moral. Man
had forgotten the God who created him, and
had degraded God by the low conceptions he
had of Him. Man had lost all sense of the
dignity of his own being, and his moral nature
"a the apostle says, there was utter despair.
In the deep night of this darkness .
light broke upon the world 1t was Christ.
He revealed to the world the true nature of
God, and the true spiritual naturesUf man, and
the supreme excellence of which mans moral
nature is capable. and his consequent fitness
for supernatural end and his destiny thereto,
1t was want craving IN the human intel
lect md heart that wa, here supplied; from this
darkness and dispair and degradation, the
wtrld saw the proffercd relief aud hope, be.
lieved and became Christian.
1t cannot long be disguised that the world
in our times is relapsing into the condition 1t
was in the times of which we have Just spoken.
There ia mo denying that there
"a growing darkness in the
world now as TO the nature and even the being
OF God. and as to man's spiritual nature
From being little lower than the angels man
is reduced to the level of the mere brute. All
distinction between right and wrong, all moral
ity In human actions, is denied in the denial Of
tree WILL to man and accountability for his
deeds. Whence has GENE this dreary, deaden-
ing philosophy of our day?--a philosophy
which pervades the press and the pulpit, and is
being Popularized among the unthinking
masses. Ii hes come as q consequence from
the elimination of the supernatural from the
christian system. 1t has come, say this not of
myself, from the principles of Protesta tis,n.
And prefer TO let another, and NOT Catholic,
speak here:
1t has taken long time for men to realise this
but can not be doubted that the fact ia becoming
nov more Clear TO them. The history of Protest.
antism is growing demonstration of It, To some
minds the true nature of the Protestant movement
was long ago apparent; but 1t has only lately be-
come clear to the general apprehension Long ago
1t was seen by some that that movement was really
neither the restorec of corrupted creed nor the
corruption OF pure creed; but that logically and
essentially 1t was the solvent Of all creeds whatever,
and that, when 1t had come to maturity Its essential
nature would be visible. And now that time has
come Let us look at England, Europe, and America,
and consider the condition of the entte Protestant
world. Religion, 1t Is true. may still find init:
but IL religion from which the supernatural element
Is fast disappearing, and in which the natural ele
ment is fast becoming nebulous. 1t has grown
indeed as Mr.. Stephen says, into religion of
dreams. All lts doctrines are as vague as dreams,
and like dreams their outlines are forever changing
Day by day they are becoming more and moi Sin
Constant; and more than this, they are day by fny
evsporating. Mr.. Stephen has pitched on very
happy illustration Of this which may be yet fresh In
the memories of many of u.s.
Mr.. stephen here draws his conclusion from
the fate OF one Protestant doctrine; but he might
draw the same conclusion from all. for the whole
BODY OF them Is in precisely the same state. The
divinity Of Christ the nature of His atonement the
constitution OF the Trinity the efficacy of the saera
ments, the inspiration OF the bibleal the old doc
trines upon these points getting as vague and
waveripg, as weak and compliant to the caprice
OF each individual thinker the doctrioe Of eternal
punishment And 1t is evident that Mr.. Stephen and
The crit cs of his school are perfectly right IN the
moral they draw from the spectacle.
As the Papan world UNA n, ado sar.;hIa ~, III a
very extremity Of its darkness and misery of
the need of power beyond itself, to enlighten
and lend 1t help, go may we not hope that the
present extremities may lead the world oEour
time back to the light which shines in undi-
minished efulgenes in Ohrist's true church.