The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-03

II must be purchased Dy great sdcTlHces.
The I.evitical law IS wrong in thinking u
mist be purchased by sacrilices and Pharl-
sees are wrong in thinking 1t must be pur-
erased by = law n, ne' 10 20 he he
paid for 1t. 1t is not bought by sacrince,
It is not bought by an obedience. 1t Is not
bought by repentance. 1t is not bought at
all. God gives life to all who are willing to
receive it. And this willingness to receive
It, this desire to possess ii, this determine
tion to have il. this choice OF 1t with all
that that choice includes, this is faith. So
Paul says: Pagan, you are wrong. there IS
no wrath of God 20 be appeased by sacri-
fee; Jew. you are wrong, there IS not dis
tance from God to be bridged by priest
and altar and a Jewish ritual; Pharisee.
you are wrong. there is no satisfaction OF
God TO be purchased. no reconciliation with
Him TO be bought by obeying the laws
which He has issued: you are simply 10
take the free gift of God--Hls ife-and tnen
cause you have received it, Whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely.
CHRISTIANITY IN ROME.
This Christianity, this gospel of the love
of God, went out into Pagan Rome Chris
tianity conquered imperial Rome. The
Northern barbarians conquered imperial
Rome, and the Northern barbarians, with
their Plagiarism and the Christianity that
had come from Judaism intermingled to-
gether in the history Of the middle ages.
Paganism, Judaism, Mosaism, and what ]
, will call Paulinism, intermingled to make
historic Christianity, as it has shown itself
from the birth of Christ down to the pres
ent time. The days of our week borrow
their titles from Paganism. Monday Is
Moons day. Sunday is Suns day. Tuesday
is Mars day. Wednesday is Odins day.
day. And Saturday is Saturns day. Eacn
g day dedicated to a Pagan god or goddess.
Now it is not possible that we should
have borrowed much of our life from
Paganism TO have entitled the very days
of our week by the names of Pagan deities
and not borrowed something of their
thought and of their conception and incor-
porated it in our theology and our ecclesi-
asticism. If our very secular life has be-
Northern Paganism it ought not to surprise
US that Paganism has entered into our
church service, into our religious cFeeds, and
into our systems of theology, and into our
church life BY the fifteenth century Chris
tianity SO modified by the legalism of
Judaism and by the Plagiarism of the bar
barianS that ii is pretty difficult to say how
much of the Christian churches were Chris
tian, and how much was Pagan. They had
borrowed certain essential features from
Paganism. They believed and taught that
God was a wrathful God, whose wrath must
be appeased. They believed and taught that
great gulf stretched between this God and
His children. He must be interceded with
by the Son. and the Son must be inter
coded with by the Virgin Mary, and the
Virgin Mary must be interceded with by the
saints, and the saints must be interceded
with by the priests. So far had the church
gone from the teaching of Christ that God
is like, the father who ran out 20 meet the
WayWdrd son when he turned his lace
toward home.
ut is true that the old Pagan sacrifices
were no longer offered. but there was a
temple and an altar. 1t is true that the
and no bloody torrent poured down from
that altar and was carried away by under
ground deitieS, but in place of these bloody
sacrifices was what Is known as the blood
less sacrifice of the mass and the doctrine
was taught that the priest, who must be
the intermediary between man and God
offered in every communion service a real
sacrifice in which he poured out the actual
blood of Christ and in which he broke his
actual body The sacrifice was offered
afresh every Sabbath day. That is the doc
trine of the mass in the Roman Catholic
Church to the present time.
while thus they had borrowed the the
ology and the ceremOnialism from pagan
ism. they borrowed the legalsm from the
Jews. One could only reach the mercy of
God through the intercession of priests
He could only reach the mercy of God
through a bloodIess sacrifice. But he could
also onlv reach ii by obedience to the laws
of God and the laws of God were wrought
out in elaborate ritualism. The disciple
must come to the priest, he must tell the
priest what he had done and the priest pre-
scribed the things which he must do to win
back the lost favor of God; the pennances
he must do, the money he must pay, the
pilgrimages he must make, the duties he
''Thus, YOU had in Romanism the inter
mingling Of paganiSm and Judaism, but
still an intermingling also of Christianity
For under the Greek philosophy no prayers,
no entreatieS, no sacrifices could avail to
placate the wrath Of the avenging Nemesis
following close on the heels of the sinner
But here there was a mercy. here there was
a pardon. Let this man break through the
cathedral doors, let him enter, let him lay
hold as it were on the horns OF the altar
enter the presence of the priest. submit
himself to the priests direction, accept the
benefit of the bloodlesS sacrifice of the
mass, he would have the mercy, the aveng-
ing Nemesis would stay his Footsteps, the
penalty would not fall upon him, he would
be forgiven. Thus Romanism borrowed for
giveness from Christ. law from Judaism;
Sacrifice from paganism and mtermlngled
them in one coInmon amalgam
LUTHER AND PROFESSIONALISM
I'm the sixteenth century arose Luther.
He had studied the Bible. He had studied
especially the gospels and the writings of
Paul. He had read them through open
ewes He had been spurred to read them
by the Indebtedness of a heart tossed and
tortured by the belief that he must buy the
favor of God He learned from Paul and
Christ another lesson. He repudiated the
whole microscopy system of Rome; he re-
undated the whole sacrificial system of
Rome, and Re repudiated the whole legal
istic system of Rome, and he declared, on
the one hand, that there was no lntercessloil
necessary. Every man Shall give accouh1
of himself Every man stands race 20 race
with the Almighty. That was his lrst
declaration And the second that there
was nothing to be paid for Gods favor and
forgiveness Justification by faith was his
fundamental tenet. 1t is enough TO accept
the life which God freely gives. If all
Protestants could have been as radical as
Luther was the world would have made its
theological progress much faster than II
has But progress in this world is very
slow and prejudices yield very gradually,
and there is something of the Pagan ana
something of the Jew in the most sanctlneu
Christians. ,,eo
And so Professionalism got new lie
from Luther but not all the life whlch IL
might have gotten from Paul through
Tnther. and Professionalism began presently
TO divide into two streams, and in these two
Pagan element of sacrifice and the JEWISH
element of law On the one hand there
still remain in the Lutheran ana the An
elican church the temple, the altar, the
sacrifice though greatly modified from the
Roman Catholic conception. On the othef
hand there remain in the Puritan churcne'
the conception of law; the notion that men
cannot be acceptable TO God except py
obsdienee to certain laws. ceremonial or
haptized by immersion or you cannot enter
the church. Sometimes it was, you must
paw particular observance TO q partc9laI
dav ar YOU cannot be a good CHRISTIAN
Sometimes ii was, you must obey tne len
Commandments. or you must oDey lne
enifome of the Ten COMMUNICATIVE TWO
commandments. Thou shalt love the Lore
thv God with all thy heart and soul anu
strength. and thy neighbor as thyself-and
Cod But in one case or the other, elthsr Dy
~tSo,s;e,o.. 70 an EXTERNAL command or Obedl-