The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-28
DIVINE GUIDE TO FAITH
REV. DIR. DANEHY breaches ON
THAT SUBJECT
at the Cathedra1-TeIIs of One of
the Indispensable Conditions of
Mans SaIvation-Teachfn Au-
thOrized by Christ When on Earth

thOrfzed by Christ When on EARTH,
The first of a series of seven Lenten
sermons was preached by Rev. Father
Danehy, of st. PauPs seminary, at the
cathedral last evening The church
was crowded, and the speaker took for
his subject The Teaching Church, the
Divine Guide to Faith He spoke in
Part as follows:
1t is a sad spectacle that meets the view
OF the preacher of the gospel Of Jesus Christ
as he looks out today upon the world.
Christ founded one church and left it one
Today it is divided. 1t is rent into hun
dreds OF warning sects holding such contra
dictory doctrines that to the mind of one
the others are in no true sense worthy of
the name of Christian. Each of these re-
Ig1ous bodies receives as sacred the same
inspired books of the New Testament, and
each claims for its model and teacher the
same Jesus, our God and Redeemer. But
further than this we cannot go without
encountering divisions among them. In
deed, it is only by stunning precise Ian
guage and taking care not TO define our
terms that we can assert Christians to be
united even in their belief in the Holy
Scriptures and in the person of our divine
Lord.
Whence comes this wide diversity of
thought among Christians, so saddening and
so apparently incurable? A remedy it is
our duty to seek, and the first step to-
wards finding a cure is to ascertain the
cause of the malady. l do not hesitate to
say that all this division has been brought
about by forgetfulness of the apostolic
teaching, that if we would please God we
must have faith, for without faith it is
impossible to please God" Men have not
faith because they have refused to listen to
the voice Of God speaking in and through
His church. Faith cometh by hearing.
and hearing by the word of Christi He
that heareth you heareth Me- and he that
despiseth you despiseth Me- Il am with
you Away" said Christ to the body of
teachers that He established to guide and
teach all nations. With those teachers and
with them alone did he promise to be al
way and to them must men hearken If
they would hear the word of Christ II Is
because men have left off following this
pain command of Jesus Christ, and sought
ms WORD where He did not assure them
they should find it that they have gone
astray: Claiming to have the waters of
lie. they have left the fountains of living
waters and dug to themselves cisterns
broken clsterns, that can hold no waters
Condition of Salvation,
Christ the Lord demanded faith as an in
d1spensable condition of salvation "He
that believeth not shall be condemned
He said to His apostles when giving them
their commission to go forth and teach all
nations He required faith on the part of
an men without exception. The weak and
the mlghty, the unlettered and the learned
must alike bow their minds In ready as
sent and believe unhesitatingly in His teach
a divinely commissioned teacher
lie required faith in all His teaching Man
was not free to examine His doctrine and
assent to what pleased him while rejecting
the rest. He revealed no truth that man is
at liberty to disregard. God does nothing
Idly. Assuredly, then, when He revealed
any truth to man it was with the pur-
pose that 1t should be believed Truth is
the proper object of the mind. God willeth
all men to come to the knowledge of the
truth"
When the apostles began by virtue Of
their divine commission to preach to the
men of their day, they met many who were
more familiar than they with the philosophy
of Greece and the poetry and eloquence of
Rome. Not by the lofty words Of human
eloquence did they hope to carry convic-
ton to the minds of the world. Even Paul
was laughed at by the assembled wisdom of
Athens. And which other among them was
ever accused of too much learning? At a
far later day they were constrained to ad-
NIT that among them there were not many