The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-12-16
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PROTESTANT OBJECTIONS
TO gATHOLTg D0GT RINE9
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whether il be a sin or not?
1t would be useless 20 quote the early
Fathers of the Church to you. as they
are of no weight in your mind But
we will conclude by quoting the words
of one whom you respect. You say
Martin Luther was Gods chosen in
strument' to separate darkness from
light" If this be your opinion, the
words of Luther should convince you
of the truth of what he SAYS. Hear.
then, his words:
The august and holy Sacrament OF
/ Penance, that abundant source OF
grace. is the only means which the di-
vine mercy selected TO pour grace and
! consolation into the heart Of the sin
ner. when the Keys were given TO st.
; Peter. the representative of the whole
| Christian Church, Christ saying to
him: Whatsoever you shall bind upon
earth etc.-Uuther, vol. I, page IS,
Jena, additionD
/ I'VE most willingly admit that Pen
ance, with the power of absolving, or
the power of the keys, is a sacrament,
because it is founded on the promise OF
Christ. and grants the remission of
sins in His name.-tIbid, vol. s, page
1922
La. B.-But Luther was a Papist
when he said that.
Ed.--Not so fast. my dear sir. He
said that in 1916, near thirty years af-
/ ter he became an instrument of God,
as you call him. Again: I'm order to
,ro,-art INV orc from, ACCUSING mo of
being opposed to good works, declare
that we ought seriously to be contrite,
and to go to confession.
1T follows consequently that auric
ular confession only extends to posi-
tive sins, which from time 10 time
awake and disturb the conscience, for
if it were necessary to confess every
sin without exception, we should be
obliged every moment to go to con-
fession. Nevertheless, it tends very
much to Christian perfection to confess
even our less wetgSlty sins. especially
if our conscience does not reproach US
with moral sins.-Guther, vol. I, page
241)
Il esteem auricular confession, as
most precious and most salutary. All
What would be the affliction of the
Christian if there were no auricular
confessions; how great, therefore, should
be his gratitude to God for having
handed it down to us Auricular con-
fess.on is an abundant treasury of
graces, wherein God preserves for US.
and offers for Us. perpetually, His
mercy and the remission of all our
sins
There are two powerful motives to
make US love confession. The first is
the Holy Cross; that is to say, the
shame and confusion which d man feels
in disclosing his sins, in accusing and
humbling himself before another man.
Neither fasting nor prayer nor indul-
gences nor piIgrimages nor tsufferings
are so salutary as this shame and con-
fusion, which annihilate and humble
the man so profoundly; that is to say.
which render him so susceptible of
grace. The second motive-which
should make us love confession-is the
noble and brilliant promise of Jesus
Christ, in est Matthew chap. xvi. verse
10. and chap xviii, verse 49,. Amen L
say unto you, whatsoever you shall
bind upon earth, shall be bound in
heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose
upon earth shall be loosed in heaven.
And in (St. John. chap. xx-29): Whose
sins you shall forgive, they are for
en.-Outher, vol l, page 512).
Now, sir. if you consider Luther an
instrument in the hands of God, to
throw light upon the world, ponder
we'll the eloquent words we have quot
ed, and you will conclude that the in
stitution of Penance and Confession
is not a proper subject for your irrey-
erent ridicule.
La B-There are some other objec-
tions have to make to confession.
Ed.-very well, sir; you shall have
an opportunity, as we will continue the
subject next week.
There are many Catholic mechanics
who associate with you and men like
you in their daily labors. Some of
them are criminally ignorant of the
doctrines of their Church. and owing
to that ignorance they are sometimes
unable to meet and explode the vari-
Gus sophistries which their fellow Prot
estant wOrkmen raise against their re-
ligion. This has probably been your
experience, and when you imagined
yau had triumphed over their creed,
you had simply triumphed over their
ignorance, and your success depended
not so much on what you knew, as on
what they did not know. 1t was doubt
less these imaginary triumphs that led
!, I'LL Ctoth
Ollie priest, which, by the way. is the
melancholy delusion 1 find in your long
letter.