The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-16
AN EVER LIVING PRIESTHOOD.
FATHER KELLEY ON THE MODERN
TOWER OF BABEL.

dafned Priesthood the Means Pro-
vided by Him to Convey His Will
to Men-The Resurrection Re-
markabIe Fact Opposed to All
Scientific Reasoning and Previous
Human Experimentation Criti-
cisn IA Natural Consequence of the
Reformation.
Large congregations attended the ser
vices at the Cathedral. At II o'clock SOL
emn high mass was celebrated by Rev.
Father Mccain Of Connecticut. who Is
visiting relatives in the city Father Nc
Cams assistants were Father Kennedy,
deacon and Father Carey, sub-deacon,
both of the Cathedral parish. The music
was by the Cathedral choir, under the
leadership Of Mr. f. E. Rebarer. The
altar was tastefully decorated with Eas-
ter lilies.
A sermon appropriate to the day was
delivered by Very Rev. =. J. Kelley, in
which he alluded 10 some of the religious
issues of the day, and asserted the posi-
ton of the Catholic Church in its BELIEF
in the absolute inspiration of the scrip
lures.
Father Kelley read the first seventeen
verses of the fifteenth chapter of ST. Paul
first epistle to the Corinthians, and com
menced by telling that on the second day
of March, this year, an old man, bowed
down by the weight of 80 years. stood at
the foot of an altar Tobed in the Vestments
of the Catholic priesthood and said, as
every priest says every morning Il Will
go into the altar of God; to God who CIV
eth joy to my youth"
And yet This man." said he, could
scarcely stand erect and he speaks of his
youth. 1t was tribute from the lips Of
Leo Kill as 1t is a tribute from the lips
of every priest 10 the everything and ever
young prizes thood of the Church. Men
come and men go, but the priesthood liveth
forever II is an essential part of the di-
vine plan inaugurated by our Saviour for
the redemption of a Sustained world.
From the upper chamber, wherein He in
etituted the sacrament of order and con-
ferred ii upon the chosen ones, they went
out on the mission of Christ to preach to
the world. And the mission endureth to
the end of time.
1T seems particularly needful to look
into these truths in our days when we
find men oEamorng for change of doc
trine to suit the advanced spirit of the
illness when men may calmly undermine
the foundations on which rest the au-
thority of Holy Writ and when confronted
with dismissal from their own sect. seek
and find admission to another which
claims to hold the Bible as
the holy word of God and
the sole arbiter of doctrinal truth.
When from pulpits of the same denomlna-
ton on one Sunday a statement is made
that is called a revealed article of re-
hgion. and the following Sunday it is rid
1culed as being untrue because not in
keeping with the deductions of advanced
science. Men are clamoriug for spiritual
food and ministers of the gospel, so-called
give them the husks of higher criticism, or
more mature examination or scientific adj
vance.
How well does not Easter afford us op-
portunity of pursuing these thoughts and
asking If this be true Christianity. On the
first day In the week when the pious wo-
men and the apostles found a tenantless
tomb and heard from angels lips that the
tomb was empty because He had truly
risen, there was apparent the essential
system of the Christian faith; over TWEEN
ty-four years after ST, Paul wrote to the
: Corinthians: IF Christ be not risen again.
your faith is vain
yet the Resurrection was opposed to all
experience and reason. Would not the Cor
inthians have been jus tifed in refusing
credence thereto on the ground of it being
unscientfc, and opposed to modern re-
search and experience? And had they re-
fused 10 believe would the resurrection
have been less true? Is it not remarka-
BILE that St Paul laid so much stress on so
stupendous feat and insisi ed on its accaD-
lance. According to the modern theor es
he should have told them that they need
believe nothing, but only lead honest lives
But he was the. man who but year be-
fore had written 60 the people of Gala
tea: If we or an angel from heaven
preach a gospel to you besides that which
we have preached. let him be anathema.
He was an apostle of One Who had given
His apostles the precept to teach men
and told them that the penalty of refus-
ing 40 believe was condemnation by Him.
rs Christianity merely an idea or senti-
ment, or does 1t embrace certain definite
truths? If the latter, we are bound to
believe them and our refusal affects not
the truth proposed. but places us out
side the plan of salvation. What argu-
ment was so powerful to make these men
believe this wondrous feat, the resurrec-
ton? The same which appeals to US.
Paul repeats it again and again. He was
an apostle. The apostles were commits
stoned by Christ to teach all men. And
men were bound TO listen; If not, they are
condemned by Christ Himself.
by a teaching body commissioned by
Christ, was che world made subject to
Christ. And neither scientific investiga-
zion, nor the needs of the age, nor the
progress Of the world can change one lot
or iofa of the Christian revelation.
when God determined to destroy the
world He saved in the Ark Noah and his
family As the days went by men once
multiplied that they must soon dispense
10 other regions. and they determined to
erect a lasting monument of their num-
bers and skil-it would serve too, 90 pro-
tect them from another flood needing not
Gods promise that He would no more
destroy the world in that way; and ira
ditiOn tells that IL would serve too as "A
place where they might observe and adore
the stars and planets. Pride, disbelief
and heresy were the causes. And God
came down and COMPOUNDED their tongues.
so that men could not understand the
speech of their nelghbors. Hence dlvis-
ions arose and separations. Three hum
dred years ago men growing tired. as they
said, of spiritual despotsm, forgetting
the promises Of a Divine assistance TO the
Church; in their pride of intellect. rebell-
ed against the authority OF the Church.
What have been the consequences.
Schisms, heresies. sects, divisions and sub
divisions have arisen. And the wicked
seed still produces evil fruit. Now. the
authority of the holy word Of God is ar
tackled; Chris ian dogmas are assailed
creeds are overturned. Why? Because