The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1918-01-19
the CHURCH
INDEsTRUcTIBlE
Cardinal Gibbons New Years pls.
course on the "Perpetuity Of
the Christian Republic"

Cardinal Gibbons New Years Dis.
= course on the "Perpetuity Of
the Christian Republic"
Thrives Best In Atmosphere Of Liberty
lreIand's FaithfuIness to the Ancient
Faith-Now Numerically Stronger
Than Ever.
Cardinal Gibbons preached a note
worthy sermon which was Of the ma.
ture of a New Years review of church
subjects Of world interest, at Balti.
more. on Sunday. Jan. 9Th. We present
few excerpts from the discourse Of
the eminent prince of the Church.
"At the close Of the old year, we be.
hold one mighty empire in the throes
Of parturition before giving birth per-
haps to an infant republic. We con-
template some Of the nations Of Eu-
rope trembling for their autonomy and
perhaps for their very existence.
IN this general cataclysm how reas.
surfing it is for us to contemplate the
Church Of God serene amid the dis.
F., quiet and agitation around her -
standing erect and mistaken amid the
dissolution Of empires and kingdoms.
'The indestructibility of the Catho-
lie Church is truly marvellous and well
calculated to excite the admiration Of
every dispassionate and rejecting
mind when we consider the number
and variety and the formidable power
of the enemies with whom she had to
contend from her very birth to the
present time; this fact alone stamps
divinity on her brow.
| ~. Engaged In Double Warfare. Ere
| The Church has been constantly
| engaged in double warefare, one for
eign and the other domestic-in for.
eign war against paganism and infidel-
ity; in civil strife against heresy and
schism fomented by her own rebel
lious children.
For three centuries the Christians
were obliged to worship God in the
secrecy Of their chambers or in the
Roman catacombs, which are still pre-
served to attest the undying fortitude
of the martyrs and the enormity of
their sufferings. And yet pagan Rome,
before whose standard the mightiest
! nations quailed, was unable to crush
1 the infant Church or arrest her prog.
ress. 49,.
I During the fifth and sixth centuries
the Gothss and Vandals, the Huns,
Visigoths, Lombards and other i'm.
mense tribes of barbarians came down
like torrent from the north, invad-
ing the fairest portions of southern Eu-
rope. They dismembered the Roman
Empire and swept away nearly every
trace of the old Roman civilization.
Yet, though conquering for while,
they were conquered in turn by SUBJ
hitting to the sweet yoke of the Cos
pei.
".Mohammedanism took its rise in
the seventh century in Arabia and
made rapid conquests in Asia. For
nine centuries it continued to be
standing menace to Christendom. In
our own day it must certainly be
source of qualification to the Christian
world, as we'll as to the children of
Israel, that the Holy Land has once
again been wrested from the yoke of
the Saracen and placed in the hands of
Christian princes.
,l.. ireland Alone Faithful.
"You are already familiar with the
great religious revolution of the six.
teenth century, which spread like
tornado over northern Europe. and
threatened, II that we're possible, to
enguf the bark Of Peter. More than
half Of Germany followed the new COS.
pei Of Martin Luther. Switzerland
submitted to the doctrines Of living
Illus. Tho fAith was lost In Sweden
through the influence Of It's king. Gus.
tavus Vasa. Denmark conformed to
the now creed through the intrigues Of
King Christian II. Catholieity was also
crushed out In Norway, England and
Scotland, CaIvanism IN the sixtseath
century and voltaffsm In the eish.
teenth had Ssinsd such 4 soothoid IN
France tAat the 1alth 81 that S1erieuG
CatAeiis 1atiea twiss treubisd II tie
balance. 9roi9ad sleas, Of Ill the H.
lions of aeethekn Dureps, reMaans4
faithful b The s1Gtsat CAuFeh.
LET Al COW A1anly tentov the HID
sfter tie dia 1ad aaoke Of bett1a 1kts|
passed awey. Let 10 s1amias he eea.
dillon Of The cid Church aftsr having
passed through thoes deadly eeaAiots
We sec her numerically stronger today
than at any previous period Of her his
tory. The losses she sustained In the
Old World are more than compensated
by her acquisitions in the new. She
has already recovered a good portion
of the ground wrested from her in the
sixteenth century. She numbers now
about 250, 100000 adherents.
lis she unable to cope with modern
inventions and the scientific progress
of the nineteenth century? We are
often told so; but far from hiding our
head, like the ostrich in the sand, at
the approach of these inventions, we
hail them as messengers of God, and |
will use them as providential instru-