The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-02-11
Mass Meeting No. 3
CHURCH FEDERATION
Counting the Cost
What Episcopalians. Catholics and
L.utherans Must Surrender.

truth or error. But they do claim that
1t would give them an authority an tie
eyes Of the people and give color and
reasonableness to the Federation OF
many churches with discOrdant creeds
posing as one church in the Fedora
ton arrangement.
The argument is, "The common peo-
pie, the laity,' are disposed more
than ever to think for themselves on
religious subjects and to study the
Bible for themselves. If, therefore,
as ministers. you desire to hold the
people in check so that they shall not
think for themselves you would do
well to concede the claim of apostolic
succession-that no one is permitted
to interpret or teach the Bible except
those who have received apostolic
benediction. 1t was disregard of this
claim of apostolic benediction which
led to freedom of thought on religious
subjects and ultimately led to the for
nation of the various Sects. You
should now seek to restrict further in
vestigation of the Bible and further
Interpretation of it by accepting our
theory, by permitting us to grant you
recognition in some simple form of the
rights of apostolic authority through
our bishops. II you do not do SO you
will more and more lose your hold on
the people, for we are coming more
and more to time of individual
thought on every topic.
The Scriptures intimate that this
argument will ultimately prevail and
great Protestant denominations be
thus vitalized and, in cooperation
VITA Catholicism, for q short while
dominate Christendom socially and
politically, crushing out individual
thought and negativing and blacklist
ing all religious teachers outside the
Federation and it's Catholic Ally.
From this standpoint the Episcopal
system will lose nothing, but even be
q gamer OF prestige through the Fed
Grafton.
What Catholics Would Surrender.
For Catholics to join the Federation
would signify the surrender of a great
deal, and yet, in the light of the Twen-
tieth Century, surely much could be
surrendered without any sacrifice OF
manhood-merely with the sacrifice of
little pride. For the Church at Rome
to federate with the Protestant
Churches would mean that they ceas.
ed to protest and that she relinquished
her peculiar claims:
% That she alone is the Church of
Christ and has authority to instruct;
(2) That she is more than Church
or prospective Kingdom-that to her
has been committed by God the ruler.
ship of the world in respect to all mat
ters temporal and spiritual, hence that
she is the reigning Kingdom OF God.
Co That her Pope is the authorized
representative of Christ, anointed and
commissioned of God to fulfill all thc
prophecies of the Scriptures respecting
the reign of Christ, his Millennial
Kingdom, etc. This claim of Papacy
that the Pope's reign is de factO the
reign of Christ is expressed in the
declaration that he is the ricc-gereM of
Christine one reigning instead OF
Christ.
"a The doctrine Of trlns-subStantia-
tion-that by the blessing of a priest
the ordinary bread and wine are trans
muted into the actual soul of Christ
hs flesh and his blood for sacrifice
afresh in each celebration of the Mass
Whatever may have been true in the
remote past. assuredly our Catholic
friends can no longer claim that all
the purity, all the faithfulness to God
all the sanctity Of life amongst be-
levers in Christ are to be found in
her communion. st. Paul declares, ri
any man have not the Spirit of Christ
he is none of his" Surely all Chris
tians admit this standard and the cor
rectness oc the Apostles teaching.
Hence the ignoring and setting aside
Of all creeds and barriers which have
heretofore hindered the Unity of the
Church of Christ might be possible.
Thus the first Catholic objection might
easily be removed in favor of Fedora
ton, or, still better, in favor of Union.
AS our Episcopalian friends fail to
prove that he apostolic succession to
ordination gave either greater wisdom
or more grace to their clergy than TO
other ministers Of the Gospel. might
not our Catholic friends reasonably
admit the same?
The second claim that Papacy is
Gods Kingdom. that the Popes reign
successfully as Christs Vice gerent.
should not be difficult for Catholics of
our day TO lay aside. However strong
ly it was. held in the dark past it is
surely little appreciated by Catholics
today. No longer do the Popes domi-
nate the civil rulers of Christendom.
And no longer do the people consider
it wise that they should do so. More
and more the masses appreciate the
fact that the original Kingdom Of earth
was given to father Adam and that
mankind as his children are the nat
ural heirs of the inheritance. More
and more the people are disposed to
consider pcpes, cars, emperors and
kings as merely figure-heads. without
any real title or authority from heaven
to rule or to cocrce the people. More
and more the masses. demand, Con-
crosses, Parliaments, Reichstags and
Doumas. And more and more do they
demand that these shall reflect the
sentiments of the people in civil and