The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-23
Rev. pr. Newman smyth Says Professionalism is Divided and on the De-
 cline.
WORK HAS BEEN ACHIEvEJo 2
Religious State of Mind of the Peep
 of This Faith Moving Back
 and Forth Like Ship at Sea. "

At Center church yesterday Inorn- ing Rev Dr. Newman Smyth preached on The Coming Catholicism and the Passing Protestantism" In the ser- mon pr smyth spoke of the successes and failures of Professionalism and the reason that it will give way to a new Catholicism.
 pr. smyth took his text from Maathew v, 17: 1T came not to destroy but to fulfil" He said in part:
 Christmas comes as d joy to our hearts, but also as a challenge to our faith. What is to-day our Messiania hope? Is is true that d new Cathol- icism is to come, and the ages of Pros testiantism are to pass by?
 l. We have no reason to regard Professionalism as necessarily a final period of Christianity. This whole per- Tod may prove to be a transitional era in the history of Christianity, as others have been before it. Indeed, Protests antism has already passed through two distinct ages, one was the time If protest against the one church then existing Luthers reformation. Tho next age was the time of the con- Istruction of new churches and creeds-- the centuries in which most of our exs isting churches were formed, and our creeds were defined. For a hundred years little more of that work has been done; we have been breaking up creeds rather than making them. We are now in a third age of Protestant ism, and the question which we have to face is, What is Christianity? How can it bo realized on the earth?
 ?. There are signs of the passing Of this Protestant age? They are to be discerned alike in the success and ia the failure of Professionalism. | need not finger to record it's splendid suc-s cesses; Protestantism has its triunapIz ant arch. It's crowning achievement lis that it has won the victory forever for the spiritual liberty of the individz ual man Henceforth the right M, sst private Judgment, which the age N sss. I Protestant Christianity has won, can never be abolished or destroyed But when one success in history has been achieved, another task is at the door. Another age is at hand. The signs of I 1t Is written also across the failure of this Protestant age. l am not saving that it's failures in any direction are complete. They may be summed up in this Judgment that the Protestant faith is losing mastery over the con- I trolling forces of modern life. This IS l apparent to some extent in all the spheres of life. For one thing Protest- antism has lost the old authority of l the church It has lost it in its own families Romanism has authority in l the family from birth toadeatll from
 baptism to extreme unction. Protest-
 antism has lost the voice of authority
 also in the state; our churches as
 churches are not accounted to be pc | litical powers. More than this Protest-
 antism as organized, or rather as it is
 disorganized in our churches, has lost
 control over large areas of religious { thought It is not merely that world- Iliness is coming in, but much religion
 Is withdrawing itself from our
 churches. Professionalism has lost
 power to give to the people good re-
 ligious education It Is not meeting
 much religious thought and question: ing among it's own children. There. are many of our best young men who re- ligiously to-day are very much in the