The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-03-23

er unless it be from God" God is the principle of
all authority human and divine, Being the Su-
preme Lawgiyer and fountain of all authority
they who are Indifferent to. or deny religion can
entertain but little respect for law. because for
them. there is no obligation to obey says that OF
fear. Modern free thinkers and mbelievers only
reproduce against God and religion the argument
which anarchists against government and ITS
laws. The sad consequences which are sure to toll
low from those pernicious and disloyal sentiments
profound statesmen and scholarly minds see I'll
the horizon. Recent events i'm GoIdficld. where
there was no clash between Capital and Labor.
demonstrate the fact that man, without religion
and God. will recklessly and foolshly. as 1t i
termed, ignore the civil authority and disobcy the
laws. which are enacted for the good, we'll being.
happiness and perpetuatiou of society To restore
religion and unite all citizens iii the bonds of
brotherly love Is grave question. "Faith is gift
of God" and neither logic nor philosophy cam
originate it in the soul This gift the most pre-
cious of mans inheritance~, viii terminate and
fructify only in souls duly prepared by prayer and
humble submission to Gods holy will.
Among the large army of uubcIicver~ are to- be-
found many ecar-sghted, honest and sincere men
who would gladly unite their strength and jnflu
Iawlessncss. and suppressiug all threats or overt
acts by anarchy against law and order and civil
government but they allegc we can not believe.
We see among Christians. whether YOU designate
them orthodox or heterodox. so many divisions aud
subdivisions, that peace, unity and brothery love
are unknown quantities With this sad spectacle
staring them i'll the face they prefer to remain
passive, and Indifferent rather than take part i'm
correspondent, What shall do to save my soul
was, no doubt, sincere honest and edrnest-mindcd
He fully understood that in all true religions there
must be real unity. peace and brotherly love, NOT
fictitious. 1t must. if true at all be uncompromi--
ing and Interchangeable because truth is one and in
Invisible 1t is entirely independent of the human
mind. and emanating as it does from God the
fountain of truth. its authority can not be qucs-
toned 1t could make compromise with
than the civil authority could yield to the de
mands of or compromise with the lawlessness of
anarchy. Here the earnest and sincere thinking
mind, who witnesses every day among protesting
Christians so much disunion, confusion and intol-
erance. naturally concludes that a reunion Of
Christendom is a hopeless expectation. Truth and
error can not coalesce The Catholic Church pro-
fesses to have the truth both in its unity and uni
versatility, and makes good her claim by tracing her
historical existence back to the days of Christ who
commissioned her as He himself was commissioned
by His Heavenly Father to teach all truth, and
who promised to send the Spirit of Truth to abide
with her forever For those who admit the divine
origin of the Christian religion, the motives of
credibility for the reasonableness of the churchs
claim stand good But these reasons are lost
sight of when those. without church, begin to IL
vestigate her claims especially her authoritative
and infallibe teaching. As a teaching corporate
body, their preconceived idea of God and man con
slider her claim an arbitrary one. Then again IN
stead of investigating her claims ON the basis of
her teaching. they direct that inquiries the his
tory of individual members, lay and cleric, whose
lives far below the standard of sanctity incul-
Gated by Christian principles. As to the arbitrari-
ness, whether applied to God or an authoritative
body of teachers the solution rests with God who.
as Creator. has dominion over all creation, there
fore has the right appoint whom He will. be they
men or angels as His agents to teach the truth
As to the lives of individual members. no matter
how low they may descent in the scale of immoral
lives, their actions however scandalous their lives
may be- offer argument against the claims of
the church. Man is free agent, and they, who
justify their attitude towards the church because
of individuals, fatally wrong. They must study
the church she Is, not they suppose her to be.
The infallibility and sanctity Of the church does
not by any means exclude the errors or wickednes-
Of her members be they clerical or lay The
constitution of the church and its teaching. like
that of all civil governments, must be Judged on
its intrinsic merits. and not by the actions of in
divdual members.
But your church" said honest controver-
sialist to the writer once, admits as members
persons who would be debarred from societies to
which [ belong" We answered that the societies
to which he referred we're human whose object was
social gatherings mutual friendship. etc. whilst
the church was a divine institution whose only OBJ
iect was the salvation of souls. The recacitraut
member whom you would disown. the church, like