Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1894-05-12
RoME,s cnALLENGE.

Mirror, the official organ Of Cardinal
Gibbons, In n series Of editorials Issued
strongly worded challenge to the
Protestant churches on the vital ques.
ton Of the authority Of the Bible 10
matters Of faith and religious practice.
The point made Is that oil Pfotcstanis
claim that the sacred Scriptures are
their only iniallible teacher, the high.
est court to which any controversy Of a
theological nature must be referred ana
from the decision Of which there H. no
appe.l; and yet they Almoil uni.
vorsally disregard the law " keep.
ing Saturday ~ Sabbath, command
eujoincd on Mount Sinai and
mover repealed. The mirror argues
that tho Protostants Ia this regard
occupy an indeionsiblc position, cou.
tFadioting their teachings by their
practices; they are Ia dilemma; they
must either adopt the Mosaic Sabbath
or cease to claim that the Bible L. this
sole foundation Of their faith.
II may be noted in passing, that the
point In question 10 the same which
was made at tho Council Of Trent In
i545, when the archbishop Of ReyRlo
after a long debate brought forth the
following argument, which was &C.
cep,ed Rs unauswcTablU by that emf.
ncnt assembly;
"rho ptotostants claim TO stand
upon the written word only, and they
justify their upo,ufy by thr plea
that the church has aposlatized IRON
the Bible and followed tradition.
The profession Of tho Proteslants
10 lalse. They do not follow the Bible
alone. That volume enIoins the OBJ
tofvanoc Of tho seventh day as Sab.
bath, which they reject And they
not only reject the Observance Of the
Sabbath onloinoi In the written word.
but they have adopted ana do practice
the observance OF Sunday, for which
they have only the tradition Of the
church. Consequently. tie claim Of
Scripture alone ne standard fails hud
tho doctrine Of Scripture aud tradition
M essential, IL FULLY established, the
Protestants Themselves being judges"
IL appears then that Rome Ia not
afraid Of reyiying the old controversy
In this country bu: rather invites to
discussion which apparently has not
been satisfactorily exhausted although
centuries have elapsed since 10 be-.
ginning.
No impartial observer can very well
fail 10 SEQ that the Catholics have the
better end OF the argument In this
particular instance. Not y word can
be found In the Bible conveying the
command TO keep Sunday holy Instead
OF Saturday. II the protestants were
consistent Ia their claims Tor the Bible,
they would have 10 turn Sevonth.day
Advenilsts In body There Ia hardly
one item Of faith, ~ they practice H.
which has my support In the Bible
The sprlnkling Of inianH; the salarled
clergy; thelr church govufnment-nll
are foreign 10 tue Scriptures.
Some OF their doctrines they
have inherited from Rome; othom
they base on what they infer from
Bible texts, all the time pretending
that they are teaching only ihe word
Of God, ~ II thclr conclusions were
equal In authority 10 tho inspired
writings by denounoing as false the
convenient Roman tradition and
claiming tho Bible only, they have
placed themselves very much In tho
position Of the ingenious gentleman
who BAT astriIu on tho very branch ne
was saving OIL from ths Iree and do.
ally fell with H. rrotoslantism IL too
Illogical to bear the tosl Of a pullosouh.
teal investigation.
But ltomRuism cannot successfully
establish Itself on the weakness OF ils
NdyeTsariss. IL would bo tho utmost
folly 10 conclude that because
the Protestant churches are
wrong the Catholics must be right.
Win regard TO the point IN oontro.
yersy IL he enough % say that although
the Biblical books now eEtaut DO not
contain any specific command 10
change the Sabbath 10 the first day OF
the we,k, yet there aro satlslac,ory
proofs that the tlrsl Christians cello.
bratcd that day as sncrel il remum.
brRnco Of their risen Lord and Savior,
In addition 20 the observance Of tho
Jewish Sabbath. But when the old
dispensation expired with the foil OF
the holy city and temple, the sabbath
Observance Was gradually superseded
by tue Observance Of tho L0rd's day
and this practice became ~ general
hat the Emperor Constantine at
lAAI, to please his Christian sub.