New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-04-18
they did not add a single article to their

s1H church doctrines are true only few
souls are saved and almost the entire hu-
man race is lost" The catholic church
teaches no such doctrine Self-appOint-
ed Interpreters Of scripture, such as Cal
vim or Luther read the text ssmany are
called but few are chosen In the man
ner above described, and it Is another
proof of the vast amount OF nonsense
read into the Scripture by such misguid-
ed madmen. No catholic can say for q
certainty that any human soul was, u ct
Will be sent to hell. The catholic church
tEaches that all men, dying in good faith,
ineulpably ignorant Of the true revealed
religion are saved, no matter what creed
they profess ALI that the Catholic re-
quires of those outside her pale is con-
formity to the dictates of their conscience
and life led according to the light
which they receive. On this point bear
IN mind: God alone knows when man
dies culpable; and whoever pronounces
his fe1lowman, for whatsoever caused, q
victim of hell or worthy of eternal pun
ishment takes cut of Gods hand or rath-
er attempts to do SO, the judgment of
his creature and stands condemned both
by right reason and by Catholic teaching
'sMany are called but few are cF.son'' is
a text which the church has not inter-
preted and therefore Catholics cannot
apply its meaning to those outside the
Catholic church, however great the NUM-
ber. What it really signifies seems to me
to be clear from the context. Our Lord
is describing banquet to which all are
invited but ouly a few respond. In this
parable about this church the reference IS
made to the Lords supper, the Holy
Eucharist, to which all the race is inv1t-
ed but scarcely one sixth now come or
have come, as We know that Catholic
COMMITMENTS make only fraction of
the worlds population But self appoint
ed interpreters, undertaking this work
which Christ committed solely to his in
fallible church, have so interpreted this
text as to consign the most of the race
to hell Here is an example Of private
judgments, the protestant principle ar-
piled to Scripture. No wonder we have
predestlIed Presbyterians and multi
| wlved mormons proving their religious
positions from the Scripture. As mat
ter of fact you can prove any absurd re-
hgious theory by private Interpretation
of the Bible. One needs but to glance
at the religious stupidities crystallized
| into sects, on every hand-the logical
outcome of private Interpretation No
wonder your correspondent complains
at their hide-bound exclusiveness, as II
the infinite mercy of the Creator could
| be imprisoned In the narrow circle OF
their theological specuIations. No Won
der he would feel like exclaiming with
Ducretius:
''Taturn religio potuit suadere major
umr' But be may rest assured that
such teaching is not Catholic doctrine
| for Catholic doctrine never conflicts with
right reason. and the Catholic church is
broad enough not only to exempt from
eternal punishment, but to admit to its
spiritual union, all men who incuIpa bly
live and 1nculpably die, no matter what
they may profess. She teaches that God
is infinitely just.
The church got the trinity doctrine
frcm the Council of Nice; the Bible is
not responsible for It," Let us see. Look
ing over the antenicene documents that
have come down t.. us I find a letter of
Cyprian Bishop of CARTHAGE, 250 A. d.
which opens as follows:
ITO CaeeiIius, Bishop of the church of
the Carthaginians, to Moyses and Maxi
mus, presby yters,and Nicostratus and Ru-
hinus, Deacons, ana the other confessors
preservering In the faith of the truth. In
God the Father aud In His Son. Jesus
Christ and In the Holy Spirit, greeting.
Frem this opening sentence the doctrine
of the trinity IS clear. For this testimony
consult letters of CYprian, Oxford Ed.
Page IL Again, DionEIus, writing
against SabeIlIus (250 A. d. says. seThe
Son has his being from the Father, is
'cosubstantial and coeterna1 with Him
thus do we extend the unity into the
trinity This writer uses the word
trinity expressly Igt-s z S, the Greek
for trinity. is IN the text HyppolItus,
another Bishop (sO2 27O A. D-) writes;
4 viii not say there are two Gods but
49,