The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-05-31
sANcTIrY OF AN OATH.

Let US look" writes Archbishop
Ryan in his booklet on "AgnOsticism'
for the Chicago Catholic Truth society:
let us look at some other sentinels
that guarded society from destruction.
Look. for instance, at the sanctity and
Importance Of an oath. Washington.
In his celebrated farewell adress. calls
attention to this point when he shows
the necessity Of religion to maintain
the young republic he had gloriously
founded. A mans life. property and
character may be stricken down by a
false oath. What maintains the awful
responsibility of an oath. but the fact
that God is called TO witness the truth
of what is said and will punish the
periurer though the law may not dis
cover him. With the Bible in his hand
the man is about TO call God TO witness,
but the agnostic whispers to him, Per-
haps there is no God-you cannot know
t-you shall be only lying which. in
deed, is not honorable, but brings no
divine vengeance Why is it that per-
Jury is becoming so common and why
Is it that the law does not punish it as
severely as Of old? Simply because
faith in its true moral guilt is decreas-
ing.
Look again at threatening anarchy
throughout 1he world What right has
one man TO rule another? Are not all
men born free and equal? Why usurp
authority only because you have physi-
cal force enough to crush your slavish
subject?
There is but one true and rational
theory of the power of man over man.
and it is that God made man social
being and order requires that some
should be above and rule others. All
6a CO. aF
Hence to violate the law Of the land
is sin, not only against the law. but
against the great Criator himself
Thus the civil magistrate is a min
lister of Gods justice and must be
obeyed. He may be changed by a vote
Of the people, but whilst he is in power
he must be respected and obeyed, not
for his own sake. but for the sake of
the power he wields and of the God
who gave it. Take away God and his
law. and anarchy lifts its horrid head
in defiance. False principles on the
subject as on that Of suicide. VIII lead
and do lead 10 overt acts against So
ciety. The boy assassin who struck
down the president of the French re-
public had been once innocent till the |
poison OF false principles drove him to |
do the fatal deed.
1t is particularly necessary that we (
should remember this great principle |
of authority. We make and unmake !
legislators and magistrates and are Ii I
able to regard them as merely our /
creatures OF old. God sent his pro? !
phet to anoint the foreheads of his
power and ministers of his justice
Now he sends his prophet to anoint
the foreheads of the people and they
elect their rulers, but these rulers have
l3Np-ef. a qfOK4f.go fbaCa yt-hp oil l
Them and must be obeyed. AS / have
shown, if you lose all consideration of
God, anarchy must follow.
4 might continue, if ] deemed it
necessary, to Illustrate the fatal effects
ON the individual and the state. of the
rejection or doubt or unknowability of
the existence of the Supreme being. by
showing that thereby the great motives
Of right acting are removed or so
weakened as to leave our poor human
ty to the mercy of its own passions"