The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-03-13
70 SECURE Eternal LIFE.
Impressive Teaching of Father
Cleary on the Subject
Last Sunday.
FALLACIEs OF MODERN THOU CHIT.
The Saviour of the World EStab=
iiss,ed but One Church and
One Fold.

very large audience in his church, on
eternal salvation. What must men do
to be saved, the most important prob
lem OF human life, was his topic.
'tBy salyatton", said Father Clearly,
y as we are to understand its meaning in
the Bible. wc comprehend the securing
OF the eternal purpose or good, Tor which
God created us and placed Ns in this
world Christ, the eternal Son Of God,
is called the Savior, because his mission
from his eternal Father to men was to
lead them to ther eternal home, having
rs st. Paul says, purchased for tacm eter-
nal redemption. .....
Notwithstanding the iereated refer
ences in sacred scripture to the salvation
of mankind. to the saving Of men, and
10 Jesus Christ as the only Savior, the
only mediator Of atonement, so-called Ii
beral churches, end liberal teachers Of
modern thought, are fond OF insisting
that salvation is bugbear, that there is
nothing to he saved as man is not and
can,lot be lost; that Christ is not q re-
deemer for the reason that there was
nuthias for him 10 redeem. Man is to
gain thA enu Of his existence, they claim,
and they repeat it with marvellous conf
dence for peopl, who freely admit that
they are simply guessing at it all, by
gradual steps of moral and intellectual
II nfn q
ever TO the merits OF Christ as his atom
ing Savior.
st. Peter proclaimed to the wondering
crowd at Jerusalem that there is no 9TH
er name under heaven given to men
whereby we must be saved but the nanA
OF Jesus, by whose power the Apostles
worked wonders, St. Paul, the valiant,
cultured devoted apostle Of the Gentle
world, assured his jailor in the prison at
I'hllinpi, that if he believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. lie and his house would be
saved
Christ himself assured the inquiring
young man in the Gospel, who wished to
know what good he SHOULD do to have
thou wilt enter life, keep the command
menta'
Bnt the liberia! thinker Of the nine
teenth century proclaims himself wiser
than them all. and audaco,lsly asserts,
without even a shadow of sound reason,
that neither faith in Christ, nor the me
diation OF Christ is necessary to eternal
happiness and the final fruition of numa-
nitys hopes.
If Christ is not myth, and his reli-
gion not an imposition on the human
mind 10th faith in him and obedience to
his eternal Fathers law, are necessary
TO salvation. We must believe what God
teaches and we must obey what he COM
mands, if we expect to secure the end
for which he has made u.s. if we will be
saved.
Fai,i. is the accepting of anything as
true OH the testimony of him who offers
It. If the testimony be human we call
the faith human, if the testimony be Of
God, we have divine faith No greater
insult can be offered to an honest man
than to question his word, and doubt his
plain statements We impugn his truth
fulness, aud thereby contemn what ali
noncst men most highly prize. Our insult
is all the more CALLING and intolerable to
him, if we presume to question his We
raciry for the reason that his assertions
may require our compliance with some
IL
question his truthfulness, not because we
hesitate TO believe him, but because we
decline to accept the natural conseGuen-
ces thai, would follow from adehring to
the truth OF his statements. Our refusal
to believe is based then on the meanest
kind OF motives, on motives of narrow
selfshenss, that prompt us to reject the
plain statements Of truth, not because
our minds cannot grasp the facts nara
ted, but because our stubborn Wills &C
fuse to accept the results.
Again, Our refusal to believe because
OF our ignorance, and want Of under
standing of all the circumstances sur
rounding narrative, is a most offensive
indignity offered to the superior intelli-
gence Of him who Is in possession of lar
ger information. The superior intel!i-
gence Of the well-informed teacher en-
titles him to the respect and confidence
of his learning pupil. The untutorea
child of the forest learns lessons strange
and mysterious to him from the clll-
tured sen Of enlightened civilization.
His faith must rest upon the truthful
ness of his teacher. eff we believe the
testimony of men, the testimony Of God
is greater"
Nothing is more clearly inculculated in
sacred scripture than the mans duty, as
an Intelligent child Of God, TO believe in
what God has made known. Common
sanse, right reason, must, Of course con-
firm what divine revelation so unnis-
takeably asserts. Not to believe what
Cod has taught, for the reason that such
belief might disturb our preconceived no
tons, or because, with our limited know
ledge, we cannot clearly understand the
great truths made known by eternal
Truth itself. is q most gross insult to the
perfect truthfulness of God, and unwor-