Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-02-25

His name In their functions representing
Him He must be recognized in them. Tn,
Lord acts through them. The recognition
of this, the scheme Of the christian relig
ion, is the basis Of the faith of the churcl
as 1t exists to-day. Hence the bond Of
union; hence the authority necessaril,
claimed and necessarily allowed. The au
thority of the church is the authority ol
Christ That, you may say. is strong
statement. Certainly 1t is; and yet, &C
cording to the light of my reason, can
not understand how any body Of men cat
logically claim to be christian churcl
without making that statement the basi,
| of its very existence as such. III its au
thority be not of Christ, then of whom /.
its authority? II 1t has no authority ther
on what ground does it exist? Our Lore
Himself stands as sponsor for our claim
for He has said, He that heareth yot
heareth Me"
The true christian church must claiu
the authority of Christ. Therefore it mus
| l
must be able to prove its line of de
scent. Therefore it must teach nov
what it taught At the beginning. There
fore the history of its teaching must b,
free from contradictions.
As matter Of simple fact know Of nc
body of men on the face of the earth thai
lays claim TO the above statements saw.
the Catholic church. What they contain
may be regarded as subject for historica
| investigation. We invite that investiga
ton.
| Here is our statement of facts In sup
| port of our claims. The Lord came to
save sinners; to save them by His merits,
| but through themselves. la other words
| He was to save man a. man, Man, how.
ever is being OF free will. He was to
save those who wllled to be saved As 10
the conditions, He is Master. To convince
the intellect He proved Himself superior
To all the powers of nature; aud then de-
clared, 'All power is gwen to Me in
Heaven and on earth" lie proved Him.
self TO be both God and man. Therefore
when He says given" understand Him
70 refer TO His humanity. What can be
gIveh to God the posSessor Of all? AL
ready, then, In the hands of humanity rests
all power" He declared His mission, al
came 10 save that which perisbeth" 81
Csme 10 cell sinners to repentance" By
His infinite merits He had secured all pow
er. To accomplish His END, then, He as
sembed body of men and gave to them
the power given to Himself Could He do
this? II he could not, then there would
be one power not given to him, the power
Of transmitting power, But II is on record
that He actually exercised that power in
It's full sense-"As the Father hath sent
Ne. said He to His disciples. so | send
you" Go forth so empowered) and
teach all nations, baptizing them In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost" He that beleveth and
is baptized shall be saved but he that be-
lieveth not snail be condemned" He that
heareth you heareth Me-" for 10! am
with you all days even to the cousunma-
tiou of time
And as regards the special object of the
church. the freeing from sin; for without
1-~-;-- - t.t
special power; our Lord Is explicit both
as to the power itself and as 20 It's source.
Receive We the Holy Ghost" said He.
That is the source Of power. Whose
sins you shall forgive they are forgiven
them; and whose sins you shall retain they
are retained" That is the power itself
Finally to complete the editice, His church
He fixed the foundation of its authority on
one as chief Of the Others, saying. Thou
art Peter "a rock and on this rock will
build my church, and the gates Of hell shall
not prevail against it."
The physical work Of the Lord ended iu
His church. His spiritual work. then, be
gan in His church. The rest is the life OF
the church; the drawing of order ou'
Of chaos the continuance of the active
presence of Christ among men. the bind
| ing of mankind into harmonious whole
| by the common bond of faith, that faill
which makes lone fold" Of true christian:
| under lone shepherd"
| The work has not been an easy one: fo
| even to-day multitude cries out, wv,
will have no king but Cesar" Yet th,
| church has been crowned in nearly ever,
| nation; but beneath each crown are founC
| the marks of thorns. On the whole, how
ever. the road has been a royal one, bu
| twas 1.-The royal road Of the cross" W,
| briefly indicate it here.
, The Jewish nation opposed. Twas
| long struggle. But the night passed an,
the Jewish nation had pershed. Th
was there stronger than before. The Ro
man power opposed the church with al
its violent skill. The struggle was longe
still. The mantle of night settled upo,
the Roman empire, and when mornin!
came twas the church alone which drew
aside the mantle. All Rome was dead
The church alone survived, and she wa
stronger than before. On every side tn
hosts of barbarlans confronted her. 'Twa
long and tedious struggle; but at tn
end none but followers of Christ wer
left The church remained alone. The
came strife within the fold. King
would he absolute. The church stood TO
conscience, right AID liberty. Perishe
are these kings, their Kingdoms divided
But the cross protects a larger fold; tn
church remains upon "the rock At las
came "the reformation" No longer tn
king, but the priest, revolts. The king
aid for in this they see more power fo
the throne. Each king wants his Ow
church. Well, what is the result3 Sin
ply this: The reformers have been r,
formed. Again and again reform come
10, till to-day the doctrines of the origin'
reformers have mainly disappeared. AL
solutely now no one bows to all the do
trines of the first to revolt; absolutely no
no one of those who followed admits a.
thority Hence no cohesion exists among
them. Where among them can you poll
, to lone fold and one shepherd?" Are v
to regard that sentence, then, as q fguI
of speech? No; thank God! For IL
I church, the grand old church, lookin
back over her nineteen centuries of III
, dimmed life, feels like