Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-26

tAA.h AohtkhVh " bphtN
from God, and, therefore, be a divine
revealed fact, which forces man In the
moral order, to submit his will to Iva
tenets by an act OF faith. Moreover,
that prophecy Is a miracle, and the
fulhlment Of q prophecy, as displayed
in the propagation and conservation oil
Christianity, Is q striking proof which
bears along with II the best founded
conviction of the divinity preached to
the world by Christ and His apos.
ties"
T~hereverend gentleman then defined
prophecy, which he claimed to DO a
certain prediction of a future event,
which cannot be known through
natural media; 1t must, therefore, BE-
an event, the ful6llment of which II
dependent on the free action of man
it is an event, therefore, the knowl
edge OF which can only be impaired by
God TO the prophetic
"1f, therefore, God alone car
prophesy, prophecy is, In regard to the
conformation Of IL religion to bs insti
tutcd and founded, a positive inten
ton by which We are enabled to recog'
niSe the divine origin of a religion"
1t follows upon this brief analysis
of the nature of prophecy that, If the
propagation and conservation Of
Christianity were propheoied, and thai
prophecy fnlfilled, that We have in this
fact an Iundeniable and lrrefragable
proof that Christ was God, and the
religion He and His apostles preached
to the world was divine in its origin,
and the doctrine it proposed divinely
revealed.
The lecturer then enumerated many
OF the most notable prophecies, and
showed how they had been confirmed
BY history even to our time, supple.
menting the proof by well.known ex.
tracts from Draper and Macauly.
In e%nlareing upon the divinity of
Christianity, the reverend gentleman
adverted to the unparalleled success
which accompanied Its diffusion
through successive generations, which
success he held must convince every
impartial and unbiased thinker that
Jesus Christ, the man God, was the
author, Its guardian and protector, and
that the Catholic church, which IL tho
living organism of that Christianity,
has the sanction Of high heaven and
10 divine.
II the church we're human, We
would naturally expect to find In her
history the evidence Of decay, decline
and dissolution which are met In all
merely human institutions. Chris
tians, ne claimed, were willing to rest
the issue upon the application of thi,
test, aud were content that even the
most bitter adversaries of the church
should make the application.
The lecturer then viewed the church
struggling and triumphing during 8
weary pilgrimage of nearly two thous.
and years, and pronounced 1t evidence
of the most remarkable fact In history.
And In confirmation Of this belief he
reviewed tho preachers of Christianity
and contrasted them with the power
full ones on earth. He then referred
to the nature Of the doctrines they
taught, many of them transoendine
tho limited capacity Of a naturally
proud and aspiring reason; to thu
morality which was "a severe as 1t wa
unbendn { III Its exactions, which re-
qlired thu 81 cSiioe of every lrregula
pract,ce and every invetsrsse Vice
How d.ficdlt the task! How impossi
ole, in mere human ground, for thes
apostles, weak and unlettered men il
the eyes of the world, to have beer
successful! Their triumphs, however
was q miracle, because 1t could ONLY
have been wrought by the divin,
power and assistance of God.
The speaker then gave q graphic
and eloquent description Of the en-
try of Peter to Rome, tho struggles
Of christianity with psganism, tn,
success of the former and the over
throw Of the latter after o contest oil
many centuries, introducing In thu
review, appropriate references to later
times, and concluding q follows:
The church hes walked patiently
and lovingly, bearing her crown Of
thorns like her heavenly bridegroom
she has been often soourged a. he wal
through many q blood stained Jerus-
lem; but, like him, she bears q charm,
ed life, "Doomed to death but fatec
not to de-" A pilgrim of faith and
love, with her home In the heavenr,
she asks only q free passage through
the world, and though the world ant
its powers oppose, immortality Il
written on her brow, and she will weal
for evermore the laurel wreath O
glorious triumph which she has worr
for nineteen centuries.