The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-09-23

sign of deeadenee appears to me (Rcv. Eddy) an
indication Of new life stirring" New life means
something opposite to old life, and we find stir
ring" IN the divorce courts every day, and in the
carnival ct graft and corruption which laughs con-
temptously at the morality of the old life We are
almost certain, however, that Rev. Eddy did not in
tend such an Interpretation of "new life stirring
1t is an utteranee commonly used by preachers He
intended it. doubtless, to qualify his meaning of
the broader gospel at this time SOUNDED from the
Protestant pulpit"
According to Rev Eddy's notion, the 'broader
gospeeis the one he breaches and for it he puts up
no apologies, he says, ION account of the unscrip-
tural character of the themes" There is no need
OF apology as there is need of Scripture to enter
INTO the usual Unitarian sermon Unitarianism
does not pretend to be religious religion 1t would
not be displeased were it called nature religion
Reecting that Rev Eddy has only recently returned
from the forests. it might not be amiss to call it an
out-of-door religion. Therefore we are not aston
lshed at the confession he makes of the made
quaey OF the Bible to reach out and grasp the sub
lime ideas of the man turned loose upon nature
1t is true TINT the stones preach sermons, and
the mountains proclaim the majesty Of God Cath
oltcs and untarians arc one in such belief. But
1t Is the sense Of sight rather than the sense of
hearing that rouses emotion for interior wor-
ship amid the objects of nature Man is not salts
ned with the mere recital Of what another has seen
unless the sense of hearing is gratifed-not by a
description of nature i'll the phraseoogy of chat
tel mortgage sale, but by description such as Rev.
Eddy can give and has given. And then, at the end
the listener has profted more through the language
lesson received than he has through any knowledge
which might have leaked through the sermon. So
after all is said that can be said, and the best is
SAID, these literary treats fail to fulfill the COM
mand for divine worship on the Sabbath
Since when have our Protestant friends dscov-
cred that the Bible is inadequate to furnish all the
man ought to know of God and of mans
relations with God and his neighbor! Time was
when the Bible was regarded as the key to all
Christian knowledge; and the principal charge
against Catholics neglect to avail themselves
OF this key. 1t would now appear that Catholics
are the only ones to keep the Scriptures from fall
ing into disuse entirely, so long as the sacred writ
ngs are found inadequate to furnish themes for
up-to-date Protestant sermons Those who pro-
nounce the Bible inadequate, even in the literary
"N'S iiSfSl OIL the HSalmS
II David or eemprehended the beauty of the Book |
of Ruth. There is sufficient in the psalms alone for
/ thousand sermons and when that number is de-
hVered, again meditation for thousand more.
Persuasion is effective only through the simplest
use of words. Facts are driven home by aid of the
common language of the people. What more elo
luent than the petitions of the Lords Prayer with
nut an adjective or superlative? Edwin Booths re-
lal of 1t eclipsed in dramatic grandeur any part of
he play of "Richelieu." Orestes A. Brownson, once
shining light of Unitarianism and later converted
o the true faith, wrote: "a sermon which affected
IS more and provoked more rigid determination
han almost any other to which we have even list
ned, was on The Sign of the Cross preached by
IAN who Inexperienced English from beginning to
nd The most effective preachers, and the most
Elective with learned and polished sinners are not
our most learned and accomplished pulpit orators
Tho never transgress single propriety or deviate
rom single conventional rule, but the meek and
Undetermined, who never think of themselves, who
mink only of Christ and him crucifed, only of the
ouls to be converted and saved, and who speak
lght out the words their own burning charity in
pires."