The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-12-05
nOn-CatboIIe Queries, and Hnswers CDereto-

Psalm cxvi: 90 Praise the Lord All Ye Nations, >
the hymn "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
Were not the recalcitrant nuns walled up alive in
the Middle Ages?
"Io any who honestly looks into the mat
ter IT will be clear that statutes of any religious
order have yet been brought forward which pre-
scribe such punishment, but no contemporary rec
ords speak of its infiction that no attempt is made
10 give details of person or time that the few tra
dltions that speak of the discovery of walled-up
remains crumble away the moment they are exam
lned that the growth of the tradition itself can
be abundantly accounted for that the few hstor-
ians or antiquaries of repute, whether Catholic
Protestant, who have looked into the matter either
avowedly disbelieve -ealumny or studiously re-
frain from repeating it (Rev. H. Thurston, S. j.,
The Myth of the Walled-up Nun" Catholic
Truth society publications. CT. "The Inmuring of
Nuns, by same author0
Are women detained in nunneries against their
VIII? Why are not converts open to public inspec-
ton!
Because they are private dwellings. Would you
want your home open to every stranger good Or
bad! They always be visited by the bishop of
the diocese, or any one who takes the proper means
to be introduced there. The objection seems based
on that false notion which is prevalent among
non-Cathohcs, that only weak-minded women
der stress OF some strong emotion, disappointed
love- fanaticism, great sorrow, and the like, take
the vows that bind them willy-nilly in bondage
worse than death Much of the evil that has been
suggested originates from apostate priests, aban
doned women who have been under the care of the
good Sisters for time, and reay their benefactors
by calumnating them for money. How different
the facts to one who investigates at first hand.
Many of the noblest women in the world have free
y given up all that the world holds dear-friends,
ambition, wealth. social position-to serve God in
poverty, chastity and obedience in the silence of the
cloister, TO minister to the wants of the sick,
the aged and the poor.
Is not the fear of hell low unworldly motive
on which to base moral life?
We are willing to grant that it is not the high
est motive which is for sin and service for
God out of pure love for Himself alone But all
men are not saints, all striving after per-
fection This pretended contempt for the motive OF
fear IS without basis in reason of the Word of
God.
The fear of the Lord" says Holy Writ, Ks the
beginning of wisdom" Prov. TX 100. Those that
do not fear God will never love Him. SO in the
Old Law God continually appeals to this motive
Ps. Xxxiii, 10; xv. 16; cxiii, II; Eccl V, 6 Dan.
Vi 26l, and Jesus Christ is equally explicit Rather
fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in
Hell" (Matt. K 2S; CT. Matt. iii, y.
In this life men value the motive of fear as
is evident from the punishments of every law code
IN the world The same who deny it as a
motive in the moral order will often trembe be-
fore the bar of public opinion when voiced in the
denmciation of the public press, or will, again, at
the hour of DEATH dread the prospect of facing the
God they strove vainly in life to deny.
Is it just that the entire pagan world-more than
two-thirds of the race-should be damned eternal
hel-fre?
The Reformers held such teaching as the logi-
cal consequence of their false notion of original
sin, but the Catholic church never did. With Lu-
ther Calvin and others, the virtues of the heather
were vices deserving of damnaton (dohlers Sym
bolism, Book l, ch. ii. sec, v), and consequently
there possibility of their salvation The
Catholic church condemns strongly these false and
cruel teachings, and holds most firmly that no one
pagan Christian will ever be eternally punished
hereafter who has not with full knowledge and de.
liberate consent turned his back upon God and
died in mortal sin.
Is not every man punished enough in this life? /
believe that the sinner has his hell here
at is not true : : that the cuprit ex-
periences already in this life chastisement enough
for his faults. Gnawng remorse indeed torments
him; the infrmities reduced by his Irregularities
grow on him, and the disastrous consequences of
his perverse conduct weigh him down; but neither
Is he wanting In TO blunt the sharp sting
of his conscience neither is he devoid of articles
to neutraize the evil effects of his reves nor short
OF resources to come clear out of the false posi-
tons in which his excesses have involved him. (J.
Baimes, Letters to a Sceptic" iii)
Our Lord plainly taught that the sinner nav
be fairly well content in this life. ''Woe to Won
(wic1ed) that are rich; for YOU have vour consoIa
ton luke Vi, 24; and in the parable of Dives and
Lazarus (Luke xvi, 1880, "Son, remember that
thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and
Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and
thou ART tormented."
1t is unreasonable to suppose that punish
ment hereafter would answer just as we'll Taking
men as they are, we know that only the threat of
an eternity of punishment would be sufficient
curb to their evil passions and desires in this life.
and therefore means of their repentance A sim
ner could brave God with impunity; he could set
at naught the whole moral law when it went coun-
ter 10 his present sensible enjoyment if he knew
that after certain term of punishment-be it ten,
one hundred or one thousand years-he were to
Enjoy eternity of happiness. He'll would cease
instantly to be the sanction of the moral order; it
would become a Purgatory, inspiring little or no
terror to the heart of the average man. Every man
knows that there is probation in the life TO
come and that he is responsible to God for the life
le has lived on earth.