The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-07-05

which the church condemns and COM
mands us to mortify. 1t is the man
God that Christianity proposes to the
worship of man-God in the flesh that
she bids us adore. To be true followers
of Christ, then, we must renounce all
your sacerdotal doctrines and spiritual
istic dreams, and put man in the place
you assign to your God, the earth and
the place of your imaginary heaven,
and the flesh in the rank you claim for
the spirit. Here is the true and genu-
inc doctrine of him whose name you
Wrongfully usurp and to this the refor-
nation has, perhaps against it's inten-
ton, conducted us. and, therefore, we
honor it. This is the mighty progress
it has enabled US to make
"A progress, by the way, in losing
sort of progress which you cannot
continue much longer, for 1 do not see
what more you have TO lose. You have
reached the last stage this side of no
where, and another step, and you must
vanish in endless vacuity. In plain
words, if L understand you. my dear
Dick and L ought to understand you,
for-I blush to confess i'll once held
your very doctrine, you would have
me hold that the Divine Founder of
our religion came into the world to
teach US that there is for us no God
but man, to free us from all religion,
from all moral obligations, and to bid
us live as we list, atheism for doctrine,
and epicureanism for morals. You
have, indeed, made a marvellous pro-
gress-backwards. Why, my dear Dick,
the devil must be in his dotage, or else
he finds you very easily duped. Your
so-called Christianity. under the name
of Heathenism of carnal Judaism, is a
very old doctrine, and has long since
been condemned by the common sense
of mankind. Satan preached it 5000
years ago to our first parents, and
your enlightened nineteenth entury is
just able to revive it. Well, well, Solo
mon was right when he said, There is
nothing new under the sun; the thing
that it has been. and the thing that
has been shall be- Even the devil has
failed to invent a new delusion, and
you with all your wonderful progress
have fallen into his old snare. l am al
most ashamed of you, Dick. [ did hope
that, if a hereto you were resolved to
be, you would at least embrace a
heresy not wholly dfscreditable to your
intellect. If you recognize Christianity
at all, or in any sense the authority
of Jesus Christ, you must admit that
he never taught the vile heathenism
you ascribe to him. 1t was not be-
kingdom, and to promote the worldly
prosperity of mankind, that the Jews
rejected him, and refused to own him
as the Messiah, but because he came
as a spiritual prince, and taught men
to mortify their lusts, to cruelty the
flesh, to trample the world beneath
their feet, and to labor not for the
meat that perisheth, but for the meat
that endureth unto everlasting life. 1t
was because he did not teach what
you allege, but the exact opposite, that
they crucified him between two thieves.
He condemned the doctrine you ascribe
to him as heathenism, as you must
know if you know anything of his
teachings If there is any one thing
certain with regard to our blessed
Lord, it is that he taught that our
true good is not derivable from this
world, and is enjoyed in this world
only by promise; that the good of the
soul in all cases takes precedence of
the good of the body; that, if we will
be his disciples, we must deny our
selves, take up our cross, and follow
him; that we are to set our affections,
not on things of the earth, but on
things in heaven where neither moth
break through and steal. He bids us
not fear him who can kill the body.
and after that hath no more power,
but him who hath power to destroy
both body and soul in hell. No, my
dear boy you cannot shelter your
heathenism and your worship of the
flesh under his august name. On this
point at least there is no difference be-
tween his teachings and that of the
church. and the Jews rejected him for
precisely the same reasons that you
reject her. You must either renounce
your doctrine of the earth, earthly,
your dedication of man and the wor-
| ship of lust, or not have the audaclty
| to call yourself a Christian or to pre-
! tend that you embrace Christianity.
(Tn he nnfinuedl