The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-04-09
CHURCH MERGING.
communism.

ferent Protestant sects is the formation Of church
trust. They now to regain what they lost wheI
they cut loose from the Catholic church. Rev. New.
ell D. Hills gives outline of what should be done
III Everybody's Magazine He says that "the epoch
of church unity has fully come. 1t could no longer
be delayed. This unity so desirable has been i'm
planted in the human heart by the Creator when He
revealed Himself to our first parents. It was pre-
served by the patriarchal religion and sacredly
guarded by the synagogue. 1t was transmitted by
Christ, the uniting link between the old and new
dispensations to the church founded on Peter. The
reformers broke loose from this unity, and have
ever since multiplied almost indefinitely. But null
tiplicity excludes unity. To unite there must be
some bond of union. Before unity can be secured
from discordant elements, e. the different shades
of Protestant religious views, there must be author
lty that is dyinely commissioned to say: "In this
you must unite for it is divine truth but in other
matters you are free" Only with such authority
can one unity of faith, unity of discipline
unity of the and unity of charity. Since
the reforer lost this unity they have been groping
in the dark, searching for what is beyond their
reach, and vainly striving to make one out of what
their religious principe) is naturally multiple or
order out of chaos. After the first protest was made
against Catholic authority and unity, Professionalism
began to unfold and his7unfolding consisted in de-
nylng Catholic truths that were always held sacred
We know what the logical consequences are today
a denial of all Christian truths or avowed infdel-
lty by numerous persons whose fathers or grand
fathers were strict church members. This all-im-
portant question cannot be set aside or binked at
because of religious prejudice. Like the Gentiles
who separated from the synagogue, the farther in
time professionalism is separated from the unity of
the Catholic church the less do Protestants believe
of the Christian truths and the feebler becomes
their faith in divine truths and revelation itself The
supposition that unity was lost when the reforners
protested against the Church is a mistake The
unity of the Church, founded by our Divine Lord ON
Peter can never be broken as long as there is sue
cessor to Peter, who is always the center of unity
Where Peter is there is the Church. and through
him the members are united in all matters of faith
and discipline.
But the union required by Mr.. Hills is for eco
nomic purposes-to save building churches for each
separate denomination. 1t is to be modelled on the I
latest up-to-date business improvements. He says:
The men who have simpifed business, reorganized |
the banks under one management, reorganized the
factory and the store and the STOP are the men now
in the pews. Having learned how to save the wastes
on Saturday, they are irritated by the ec-
clesiastical wastes on Sunday. These business
men realize that it is unnecessary. illogical puere
and wicked to duplicate many church plants, in
VolVlng enormous wastes and lessened efficiency
when one central church plant could quadruple the
results at one-quarter the cost"
Mr. Hills idea may be very plausible, but is it
not utopian! How can he unite in one temple the
l)owleites and the Lutherans Christian Science and
nigh church Episcopaliansm Unitarianism and
Presbyterlanlsm! They will never coalesce Out
Of multiplicity you cannot get unity The branches
when severed from the trunk of the tree are dead
The only possible way to reanmate them is pv in
grating them on a sound trunk The old tree-the
Catholic Church-whch has its roots in Bethlehem.
still retains its sap Only by uniting with its trunk
IAN unity be secured.
In the beginning writes Rev. n. D. Hills eve
Ire told the Christian church was all with one ac-
'ord III one place, but if Peter and Paul were to
ome to New York to New Orleans or to San {
francisco or to Boston they would find the mem
ers of this one church in 1859 different places The
esult of this division and UNCONVENTIONAL rivalry
decline i'll the interests of the church and of
he attendance upon it; support waning to the v
ONT OF extinction But the greatest waste Of all
IN the pulpit Few ministers in small towns have
salary OF more than thousand dollars" .
The writer, like the Gentiles, when they sep. S
rated from the synagogue the center of unity "has
yes but ne cannot Sec" In the cities famed and
lroughout the entire world he will find that unity =
faith for which his religious instinct so earnestly
raves 1t is true the archdiocese of New York has d
50 Catholic church New Orleans 100 oL,,.oL v
an francisco $50 churches and the archdiocese Of e.
oston 221 churches, but these $50 churches of four i
were built to accommodate the increas-
g number of worshippers, who were "a with one al
cord in one place." listening to the voice of Pc u
y commissioned to feed the lambs ard sheep" d
r. Hills "has ears but he cannot hear" Hence q
wall OF sorrow for being severed from the cen ht
OF unity end finding the members of this one &c
urcf IN 10y different places" Did it ever occur n
the writer that if one intelligent unbiased mem Of