Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-06-13
Bishop Ireland's Sermon

propose this evening to lay before you the
grounds of the Catholic position. Protestant
ism, have said, finds no defence for its prin-
ciples; it has no grounds upon which to rest
its claims. 1t is simply theory of religion,
which commands no attention from thought
full men, who seek foundation for their faith
in the positive institutions of Christ. Having
listened to my charge against Professionalism,
you have the right to ask from me the proof
that the Catholic church is not similarly stu
ated. The defence of the Catholic position, l
| feel, ought to precede all attempt to reply to
| specific objections made against her teaching,
and indeed, this defence is ITSELF as will find
occasion to show, most etfectual, although
more or less indirect, refutation of all anti
Catholic objections. l will state
THE CATHOLIC POSITION.
| The Catholic church, as she exists to-day, is
Christ's own creation. Her ministry, her
corporate body of teachers, derive
their institution directly from Christ;
they teach in his name, with his authority,
under his nfallible guidance, and their teach
ing is the supreme rule of Christian faith.
| Holding as they do Christ's place upon earth,
| all men owe submission to their teaching, and
| only those who adhere to it, are members of
| Chrlst's church or society, as during his own
| lifetime only those who received his word
were numbered,among his disciples and ranked
as members of the society or church which he
| was then forming.
| The claims, you perceive, of~the Catholic
church are significant and comprehensive. If
| they are sustained, the duties of men towards
| her are at once apparent. Now to the defence of
this position. We look for it in history. His
tory is the great vehicle of information con-
corning Christ. His appariton in the world,
his preaching, the authorization of his mis-
sion by miracles, are facts of the past, voiced
| to us by history. The same medium, if we
listen to it, will teach us the fact that he in
stituted a church, which is the Catholi C
church of to-day.
This latter fact rests on the self-same his
| torlcal testimony through which we reach the
other facts in the life of Christ which have
named, and so closely is it allied and impli-
Gated with these facts, that they all stand or
| fall together.
| l will recall what all, friends or foes, grant
to be
THE HISTORICAL STATUS OF THE CATHOLIC
| CHURCH.
She is of ancient date on the page of his
| tory. Turn whichever leaf you will for CEN
turtles back, you meet her;
you cannot overlook her; she is the lamp
placed upon the high mountain, she is the
great omnlpresent fact in history. Her bishops
assemble in councils, her pontiffs proclaim
| laws for nations, her missionaries bear Chris
| tan truth and civilization to barba rous lands;
kings and emperors treat with her. Her name
| in the meanwhile is the one to which she
| answers to day, Catholic, and her formulares
| of faith, her sacraments for the saving of
souls, announce that as ages speed by, she
| never changes, her claims remain the self
| same.
| Alongside of this ancient church, other
forms of Christianity, are things of yesterday.
| The Oldest civil commonwealth OF Europe
are modern when compared with her. Three
l.centuries ago Professionalism appeared on the
scene. 1t was as lis name indicated, q protest
| Il protest against the ancient church. Leo X.
| was throncd in the vatican; he smote with the
| spiritual arm the rebelious monk Luther, and
| Luther appealed from the church to the bible.
Ten centuries ago the Greek schism arose.
The occasion was the rebellion of the patri-
arch of CGnstantinople against the pontitf of
| Rome whom heretofore, Creek and Latin, had
| recognized as the head of Christcndom.
Macaulay's tribute to the Catholic church is
| familiar to you. No one has more forcibly
expressed this fact, to which l am now al
ludng, the antiquity of the church, and ]
will be allowed to recall his words. "The
gether the two great ages of
| human civilization. No other institution
| is left standing which carries the mind back
| to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose
| from the Pantheon and when cameloparGs and
| tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheatre.
| The proudest royal houses are but of yester-
| day, when compared with the line of the SUI
preme pontiffs. That line we trace back in an
unbroien series, from the pope who crowned
Napoleon in the nmeteenth century
to the pope who crowned Pepin IN
the eighth, and far beyond 1.-THE time
of Pepin, the august dynasty extends until it
is lost IN the twilight of fable. The republic
of Venice came next in antiquity, but the re-
public of Venice modern when compared
of the Anglican church puts the
rise of ''the abominablc idolatry,"
the Catholic church, rs it was found
when Cranmer undertook to reform it, eight
or more centuries before the reformation-a
| r remarkable admission for an official text book
of AnglcaniSm. But one of the prelates of the
| Anglican church Is far more liberal in allow
| ing time to the Catholic church.
''The seeds of PoperY," says Bishop New
| ton, "were sown even in the Apostles time"
The Catholic church is the church of his
| tory. She has in age no rivals. For centuries
| and centuries either she was Christianity, or
no Christianity existed.
| SHE PREEMPTED THE FIELD.
She was long in possession before contest
/ ant appeared. "Ths ground which you seek
10 occupy" she SAID in the language of Ter
| tullian, TO each opposing form or theory of
Christianity, sis mine by right of long pre-
scription; Christianity is an inheritance of the
| past, aud alone represent the past"
| Weighty consequences in favor of the claims
of the Catholic church follow from this fact
of her antiquity. Her priority in time to all
other forms of Christianity, her possession of
Il f,AtA
| of her right to hold the field. The burthen of
the proof entirely falls upon the contestant.
No mere assertion or denial will avail to dis
possess the defendant. Proofs most positive
will be required to establish fact of intru-
sion, and until these proofs are brought, the
claims of the defendant remain intact, and in
all cases of doubtful arguments, the benefit of
the doubt must be allowed the defendant.
The claims of the Catholic church denied,
faith is shaken in the divine mission of Christ
| himself.
He came to teach, truth. He intended this
| truth for all ages as we'll as for all nations,
and as a result of His intentions, He appointed
| some means for the transmission of this truth.
| Yet, singular to relate, whatever means Christ
| instituted, the claims of the Catholic Church
denied, we are obliged to say they were at once
forgotten by men, they were obliterated from
the worlds history, to reappear only after the
| lapse of fourteen or fifteen hundred years.
| Men were permitted to be immersed in error
and superstition. A huge lie, for nothing else
! surely is the Catholic church if her origin is
not divine, fastened itself in the very name of
| Christ, upon all Ctlristendom, and took the
| place of Christ's own institution. Will these
conclusions accord with the divine mission,
| the omnipotence and all-gracious mercy OF
| the Savior of the world? On mere historical
grounds, the fact of this early existence of the
| Catholic church as the sole form of the Chris
| tan religion is not capable of explanation, if
she is in contradiction with the institutions or
teachings of Christ. The demands of the
Catholic church upon the faith and obedience
of men, if deprived of divine foundation, are
so extravagant, so supremacy tyrannical that
it is not supposable they could have been sub
mitted to at their first introduction without
| loud protests. The appearance of novelty in
the faith, the rise of sect and schism, the de-