The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1906-12-01
Anarchy in Pro.estan.ism.

A Protestant newspaper, the North
German Correspondence, published
lately the following article which
shows how rapidly the sects are disin-
tegrating and which, at the same time.
renders an eloquent tribute to the unity
and strength of the Catholic church.
We are Professionals it asserts, ''by
birth and education. But how can we
remain in a church wherein there is
nothing but the germs of disunion
weakness and ruin? Such is The state
Of the Protestant church at the present
day. Let us prove this assertion:
!. Anarchy in Bible Interpretation
we pretend to base our faith on the
Bible. and to reject whatever runs
counter TO it. So far so good; hut
everybody admits that the Bible is a
book full of obscurities and difficulties
People say, ii is true, that these arise
from the fact that God, infinitely pow
erful, is always with us, but while He
reveals Himself to US, He remains al
ways incomprehensible in some point
or other. And it is for this reason that
we accept the Scriptures nOtwithsUand-
ing the difficulties of Interpretation.
There should be, however. for the
greater number Of the texts an inter
probation within our reach. There
should be some means of getting at
their true meaning. The Catholic
church possesses a sure. unchanging
source Of Interpretation, which is lack
ing in the Protestant churches.
Not only do our theologians dispute.
rightly or wrongly, this way and that
way over the genuineness and anthem
ITCHY Of certain books Of the Bible, but
with one stroke Of the pen they blot
out sometimes a chapter. sometimes a
verso, even in passages whose aulhen-
ticity they recognize
When one teacher has shown as
clearly as daylight that a passage
should be taken in one sense. another
appears and shows also as clearly as
daylight that the interpreter is in err
Tor, and that the passage must be I'M
Gefstood in a new sense. When theolo-
sIanS are themselves ignorant of the
art Of penetrating the sense of the
biole, how much are we poor laymen TO
be pitied,
we are sent to The Bible. and no.
Where i'm it do we find a means of uli-
Outstanding it or Of reaching a unity
of faith from it. What kind of church
must this one be which is always APP
peallnS to a book without being able
10 furnish any solid Interpretation Of
It's cOntents?"
ii. Anarchy in Doctrinal Teaching.
We have Lutheran. Orthodox.
Pietist and National Church preachers.
in the same pulpit we hear, at one time
that Christ is the Eternal Son of the
Eternal Father at another that He is
only the 'Wisest Of Men At one time
The faithful are taught that man en-
lers into favor with God only through
nH l.. I
at another time they learn that his
personal merits are sufficient for him
10 reach heaven. This is the point we
have reached in our religious teacn-
ing.
Again. when there is question Of
doctrine. what is fundamental and what
is not? Evidently contradictory doc
u-ines cannot both be true. Which is
tho true? The Protestant church, in
this respect. gives US neither principles
nor decisions. On the contrary, she
leaves her ministers free to choose for
themselves, and the faithful TO wander
in labyrinth Of contradictions"
III. Anarchy in the Ceremony of
Orship.-"The medley manifests itself
not less in everything relating to exter-
nal worship. Uniformity exists nowhere |
with us. Our liturgical books as well
'tta tlit tiOlillA6 VI bui NilAl Gll ulSiiAldl-
les are given over to individual caprice |
The order Of divine service, the formal |
tiles to be observed in the comforting of |
baptism. during the Last Supper. in the !
marriage service, in burial services, all |
differ according to the locality.
Very often. even within a short dis |
lance. one fails TO recognize two |
churches protesting the same religion. |
What then must be the church which I
cannot succeed in establishing unity i'm |
matters of such importance The spec |
.acle tends only to engender division, /
and disgust"
". Anarchy in Ecclesiastical Disci- /
deplorable source of these
variations is the absence from our
church of an organization founded on