The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-08-03
Religion Investigated.
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TO Christ from whom she received the faith and her
commission to teach, yet she corrupted that faith.
therefore she is not and could not be the church of
Christ The charge if sustained by proof, is good.
But how prove the charge? The mere assertion CT
those. who allege that such the case, amounts
to nothing for we have the word of the church to
the contrary. and that is entitled to much weight
as theirs. AT best her accusers are falble. there
tore liable to err, at worst the church is falble
therefore her word is good as theirs and before
she can be dispossessed from her -honored po-
stlon we require something more conclusive thar
mere assertions or unproveable allegations.
hey next claim the right of appealing to the
Scriptures and trying to prove from them that
Christ founded no church. Hence the claims of the
Catholic church void. To this charge the Cath
ohc church objects principle because she existed
long before the first line of the New Testament wac
written and there is no proof for the inspiration
OF the Scriptures outside of her infallible testimony
and DEGREES. But even admitting the Scriptures
there is not single text that can be adduced tc
prove that Christ founded no church. On the con-
trary there that prove he did. Here we are
politely told that the Catholic church does not un-
derstand the meaning of the Scriptures. very
serious charge, but how know they that! Are thcy
themselves infaflible interpreters! If so they re-
flute themselves, for they be infallible only OH
condition that they received from God authority to
teach, and would therefore be his church But this
fact they deny alleging it of the false claims
they must be falIible therefore as liable to make
mistake the Catholic church, which at the verv
worst IS as good as they are at their very best
Then their Interpretation is not enough to set aside
her Interpretation for she IS their principle
likely to be right as they are. In religious con
troversy the Sacred Scriptures privately interpreted
cannot be adduced as an Independent authority for
they only say what people make them say. This
privilege granted by the Reformers, at least nomi-
nally, when they were divorced from the Catholic
church. has led to the contradictory doctrines and
inconsistencies of too much religion and religion
to be found in the world today.
From the beginning of the world the mperish-
able church of God has been encompassed with her
esy and false prophets. Through the synagogue
back to Paradise the true faith and worship of God
may be traced From Christ and his apostles it
comes down to the present through the Catholic
church which he founded and commissioned to teach
in his name and by his authority. Like large ship
at sea, directed by the best mariners skill, and
steered according to the most approved mariners
compass which passes thousand small crafts that
have 10 compass TO steer and the winds of heaven
for their speed, she-the Catholic church-sails
the ocean of time, manned and directed by the
Spirit of Truth leaving behind her those sects who
tried to divert her course from the true path thai
leads to heaven.
Like the synagogue, you have the hireling and
he that is not the shepherd the gospel expresses
it. but if the Catholic church precedes all these
dropped them because of their novel doctrines,
whence their authority to preach? "How can thev
preach unless they are sent" The Catholic church
did not consecrate their bishops, and she alone
after Christ and his apostles, had power to do so,
for to her and her alone did Christ say: "All pow
is given to me in heaven and in earth. Goinp
therefore teach all nations" They are then with
out commission, therefore without any divine au-
thority and for man to submit to the teachings of
a church that has no credentials, to accept its
creed without being reasonably certain that it is
divine is slavery blind fanatcism. F. D.