St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-03
Archbishop Ireland Strikes
Some Vigorous Blows at a
Modern Tendency.
There Can Be No True Re-
ligion Without Doctrines
and CreedS.
An Eloquent Plea Against
Modern Innovations--Cru-
SadepS Meet.
Spicy Items Gathered in All
Parts Of the City on a
Dull Sunday.

Archbishop Ireland delivered the
second of his Lenten series of dis
courses at the cathedral before large
congregation yesterday morning. His
grace spoke substantially as follows:
Gods sovereignty is supreme. He is
the creator and we the creatures, and 1t
is not as we will, but as He wills, is
the pathway for us to salvation. This
is a principle ineontrovertible, self
evident, but, alas, too much forgotten
nowadays. And, in the light OF this
principle, it is not difficult matter to
find an answer to the various fallacies
prevailing in the modern world regard
ing religion.
The questions we will ask ourselves
to-day in the light of this principle if
Gods sovereignty will be the value and
place of doctrines or cTeedS in religion.
The popular verdict, we are aware,
seems to be against doctrines or dog
mas. 1t matters not, the world says,
what we think. provided we act rightly.
1t is question of right living, and not
of belief; question of morals, not OF
dOgmas. And d0gmas are treated with
q feeling akin to contemplated churches
which set their sails to catch the cur
rent breezes are found willing to an
nOunce that there is breaking up of
dOgmas, and that no questions will be
asked what they believe or do not be-
lieVe. These sayings are at the f0unda-
ton of the current ideas as to religion
in the present age. Well, the assertion
that it matters not what we believe pro-
vided we do rightly is
ONE WITHOUT FOUND TION,
is one contradicting Gods supreme mas
terShip over US. 1t is an assertion
which, while apparently protecting
morals, takes away the fundatiOn stones
of morality and destroys utterly what it
preJendS to seize. Doctrines or dOgmas,
as is understood, are statements in rev.
citation as to the nature and attributes
of God, as to mans origin or destiny,
the relations of man to Almighty God,
and the methods or means whereby the
creature may one day be happy with the
Creator. They are in their immediate
aspects speculative; that is, affecting
the intellect rather than the will, and
in this they differ from the command
ments, which reach out directly to the
will. not the intellect. Although man
being constituted OF both will and in
tellect, there is absolutely nothing af-
feeling the mind or heart which Is
not indirectly dogma, and the
creedS are summaries, authoritative,
of those statements of dOctrines-they
are syllibi of revelation. No one will
question tire right of Almighty God to
reveal doctrines, to propose dOgmaS
and to exact adhesion to them. God is
always the maSter-the master of the
whole man, of the intellect as well as of
the will. And as his intellect is his one
and nobleSt faculty, so does he owe to
Almighty God the
HOMAGE OF THIS FACULTY.
Never can there be objection on the
part of the intellect to revelation of
doctrine from God. The intellect is
made for truth. Truth is is food and
life, AID the doctrinal truths.
however speculative they appear,
are the things for which the
we can give to Almighty God our will
and retain to ourselves our intellect is
denying His authority. 1t is further
more sacrilegious insult to Gods eter
| nal truthfulneSs. Christ came upon
earth as teacher. and He gave to man
statement of doctrines. of dOgmaS.
The New Testament is replete with
such statements regarding God and the
soul, regarding ordinances eStab-
ished by the Savior. We are
not to discuss the precise mean
ing of our SaviOr's doctrinal
statements. We simply aver that such
there are, and they make up large part
of ChriSt'S teachings to the world.
| Christ cannot be supposed to be mere
baDbler of words, to come down from
| His Eternal Father to preach for three
| years Oh earth and return to heaven,
| leaving men to accept or reject his
| teachings, to busy themselves as to
| what he did say. or fold to their arms in
| perfect Indifference.
When God speaks man must listen.
| He spoke as only God could or would
| speak, and when he sent His messen-
| ger to carry his statements He spoke
| 500 we and preach the gospel to every
| creature. He that belieyeth and is hap
| TIED will be saved; he that believeth
| not shall be condemned" He did not
say 500 among nations and rehearse to
| them, if you will. the doctrines | an
! nounce, and tell them they may accept
chem or not, providing they are good
| and decent men," An ordinary phi
| losOpher would not speak thus. and God
| did not, but he demanded that the goS-
| pei be carried to every creature; not
simply to the poor, but to the most
learned, to the high potentate as well
as TO the most lowIy. He must not only
| do, but believe. He must accept with
| his intellect his gospel under penalty
| of being eternally condemned. And
| the apostles permitted no intellect to be
| Indifferent to the charge they bore:
they permitted no trit1ng with the Cos
pei; they allowed no individual choos-
| ing as to what was to be accepted or
what to be cast aside.
"If preach differently from the Cos
| nel." said st. Paul. "let me lie an ana
thema." Heresy. or the choosing of
doctrines to suit oneself, was, among the
apostles, considered crime against the
high majesty of God. and anathemas
| were reserved for the hereto far more
fierce than even for those who, through
| moral weakness, violated the com
mandments. God commands the sub
| mission of the intellect, and the purpose
is evident, in order that he may have
mastership over it. Right living with
| out regard to what we believe-Why the
words are contradictory. What is right
living but fulfilling ones duty to ones
family. fellowman and society at large?
Is there no duty paramount to these?
Why. there is duty to Almighty God
Himself, and he who does not submit to
Hin does not lead right life. This is
the subtle poison prevailing modern
ideas of religion. We put aside God
and consider only the duty we owe to
the world. Religion without doctrines
| is the sunbeam without the sun; the
bud and blossom of the tree without the
root and sap.