Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-03-13
THE INFALlBLE CHURCH,
Bishop Ireland's Discourse at the Oathe-
dral Last Evening.

Bishop Ireland's Discourse at the Caths-
drai Last Evening.
Another large audience assembled at the
Cathedral last evening to listen to Bishop Ire
land, who argued to show the identity OF the
Catholic church of to day with tie infaliible
Apostolic church. The bishop took his text
from the first Timothy, third chapter aud fif-
teenth verse, and argued with great ability
and ingenuity In favor Of the proposition as
stated above. The following is pretty full
abstract Of What he said:
"These things wife to thea-.hat thou mayest
know bow thou Oughtoet to behuvo thyself Ia the
house OF God which Is the church Of the living God,
the pillar and ground of TRUTH TiT., III, IS.
The fore most feature IN the Catholic chufch,
which radically and at once diferentiases her from
other religious associations IS her ciaim to M
mss principles of belief and put before the world
their specific ceeds the doctrina and moral charts
under which they propose to i've and Work But
they csndtdy confess that while they are doing their
best to be right they may perhaps are, entire
y astray In their dogmas aud creeds, and that the
final criterion Of religious TRUTH to which they loyal
~ submit their ennncationf, 10 the private Judgment
OF the individual Christian Far dn erent the very
opposite, Is the bearing Of the Catholic church II
teach" she says, Sin Gods mama and under Gods
protecting @gis; am !nfainbe 10 my teaching, and
This claim to Instability, more than anything
else in her. awakens against the Catholic church
prejudice and opposition. And to certain degree
can understand this prejudice. There Is in us an
instinct of sef-assertiOn, native spring OF tloe-
pendence, which rebounds In presence OF exterior
invasion, and brings Us to demand Of the stranger
Who are you, and in what right do you impose upon
NE the weight of your authority? To q certain de
gree, said, understand this protest against Tie
church-so far to require OF her clear proofs that
hee claims founded. Man IS unjust to his liberty
II he submits thought or will to power outside
hist If which is net entitled to his obedience, no
less than he is unjust towards his conscience If
he refuses submi sion when the credentials Of the
claimant have been weighed and proven. But what
do not understand Is that with men this prejudice
should GO further, and prevent oil EXAMINATION, as
1t too often cose, Of the facts and arguments which
the church adduces in favor of her infa1.ilty,
under the plea that the claim to In
falibty is absurd and further inquiry superfuous.
INFALIBILITY THE LOGICAL SEQUENCE OF REyzLA-
TON.
The matter properly considered, Instability In
religion Is not only in Itself quite eupposaole, but is
precisely what We are 10 expect, if We once
admit In history the existence OF divine
revelation No one will seriously argue against the
possibility of an infallib!e authority abiding among
u.s. Whatever the human instruments OF revelation.
1t will not be ascrbed to their own natural powers
It will be confessed!y gift from God, ray of His
luminous truth encircling the brow OF creatures
for his own benefcent purposes, and who WILL say
that God cannot guard human minds from conceive
ing and human tongues iron uttering error Iatai 10
these purposes IDfalhb.lty, continued in some
form through ages Ia the logical sequence Of revea-
ton The one admitted, the other follows. would
not be psrdoned were to undertake to prove that
infalubity Invested under every aspect revelation
when 1t was fast given to the worldso self evident
Is the proposition. The message frtm God to man
was absolute certainty: there was no do bt that the
message came from God, and the meaning OF the
message was clear and positive. Bad doubts been
possible either to the origin or as 70 the meaning
of the revelations 1t would have been Of no service to
the world. Men needed to know their duty to SOD
and the conditions Of salvation for their souls
probabilities of truth. debateaba opinions, would
only have added terr0rs to the long aud painful
nps of spiritual darkness which the world had suffer-
cd before the coming OF ChTist Hor VIII uncertainties
an obligation to accept and follow revelation. God
himself cannot command US to give assent TO opin-
ions, which may be true or false. and men are not
expected to make moral eact1hceS In ooedience ID
uncertain teachings.
The situation doss not change with the lapse of
years. Revelation, to be effective for US, must be
accompanied in the nineteenth century with the self.
same infalibiiy which Invested it OF its entrance
into the world. Otherwise of what service ID 1t to
us? And what obligation can weigh upon us to &C
cept it? It is but slight benoht to us to know that
revelation intended for us was given to the world
over eighteen hundred Years ago. We must hear
what that rev latin saia and its echo, to satisfy
our souls must roach our 10 all certainty, with
out p,selble alloy of error thst is to say, E m:st
come to us through 81 infaliibls chsnnel He who
Wills the end wills tina nnesns; and when God wiled
that his revelation should bud ns and benefit me,
He willed thst it should be proposed to ine as 1t
was first proposed by himself, Tree from ali uncef-
tainties and doubtings.
Is it too much to say that instead of rejecting
without further investigation, the claim of the Cath
Ole church to be the infallible teacher of Christs
revelation, this very claim of nfaib!lity should pre-
dispose US In her favor?
AN I.sFALLIBLE CHURCH INSTITUTED BY CHRIST.
You will remember series Of lectures delivered
from this pulpit year ago. to prove that Christ es
tabshed as the rule of faith, for all ages, nfan
ble church The main argument was drawn from
history which records Christs words and acts He
was seen by us at work establishing his church or
society, gathering together its flrsi members. ap-
% int:ng It's leaders or ehieftails, marking ont tie
rights ard tloFity of the latter aad the reciprocal
duties of the former, commissioning these leaders to
be for ali ages the teachers OF Lalo " ths expound-
ers until tho end Of time IF His rev. laon, missing
to Ia ID to thsm the aid II HIS cwa presence in III
ia f.ment of their Inc office. Going ye, there
fore" said He them, "teach all uatOos, bapuzing
the In the nsme of the Father and Of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost. teaching III m to OBJ erve all
ihiDcs whats everI have commanded you. and be-
hold am With you always even unto the consunma-
tion Of the wo,it:" The Insulation - tue cauroh
truth, WIS corroborated oy CO sideration Of the
fact that there is no other rule Of faith The only
ono suggested is the Protestant RUE AN INSPIRED
bible But 1t was shown that the dead letter OF q
book labls to m;sconstruc;ions of its meaning,
and sutjected, thu bIalo is among Pfotes ants to
ten thousand CONTRADICTORY tsrpreadons. can never
be RUE of faith Moreover, there is not record
a word spoken by Christ t. establish the bitlc the
rule OF faith and With tut the church the ias raio
Of the bib cannot be proven, 30 that Professionalism
with It's ru is mere theory Of the mint, without
foun iation In reason or fact
WITHOUT THE CHURCH THERE Is NO INSPIRED BIBLE.
The Arguments advanced last year remain unan-
swe,ed. No one will prove, on Protestant priuci-
pies, the inspiration Of eingle book of the New
Testament An argument s sought 10 the heavenly
GRANDEUR and purity of the doctrines OF Christ se
recorded ia the New Testament. The argument
might prove the divine origin Of these doctriaes,
but it does not prove that the writer's who recorded
them we're inspired. There is . worldwide differ
encs between the two facts. and the proof of one
Clement, Hernas, report the doctrines Of Christ
why are they not considered to have been inspired
Because the Evans elists and other writer's of the
New Testament ate teachings OF 0Arist, is it
tain that they mingled nought Of their own with
these teachings? The argument TO which am al
uding establishes nothing, AID preeupposes total
MISREPRESENTATION of the meaning Of the word inspi-
ration. rast-e...e. r
Indeed, whatever the origin Of the books Of the
bible their value az rule of faith apart from the
church, has been destroyed by the late discussions
OF the Protestant world, suggested by the p4bhca-
ton of the revision, over the correct text OF the
books Of the bible. The auth rs Of the revision put
aside rs intsrpo stions passages that have had D
place in King James version and which for tn, es
centuries we're revsred By PrOtesants part of the
inspired word. 1t is sgrsed nov among Pr0testsBts
thst In not few CASES the reading of the Origina
hooks will he forever uncertain. The inspired word