The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-01-31
PEOPLES. PULPIT.
Mass Meeting No. 3
CHURCH FEDERATION
Counting the Cost
What. EpiscopaIans, Catholics and
Lutherans Must Surrender.

ooO.-~~-.-s-s-.-.-.-s--s-
nation. They do not claim that 1t
would make them wiser or better men,
nor more efficient teachers, either OF
truth or error. But they do claim that
1t would give them an authority in the
eyes of the people and give color and
reasonableness to. the Federation Of
many churches with dlscordant 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 minister's 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
benedictlon. 1t was disregard OF this
claim of apostolic benedction which
led to freedom of thought on religious
subjects and ultimately led to the for
/
should now seek to restrict further in
vestigation of the Bible and further
Interpretation of 1t 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 n time of Individual
thought on every topic.
The Scriptures intimate that this
argument will ultimately prevail and
| great Protestant denominations be
thus vitallzed and, In cooperation
v-th Catholicism, for a short while
| dominate Christendom socially and
| politically, crushing out individuaR
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
a 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
a little pride. For the Church at Rome
to federate with the Protestant
Churches would mean that they ceas-
a1 IN. nj ha hs. I'm, ln1
her peculiar claims:
~ That she alone Is the Church of
| Christ and has authority TO instruct;
(2) That she Is more than a 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.
60 That her Pope is the authorized
commissioned of God to fulfill all the
prophecies OF the Scriptures respecting
the reign of Christ his Millennial
Kingdom, etc. This claim of Papacy
that the Pope's reign Is de faci0 the !
reign OF Christ Is expressed In the
declaration that he Is the pice-gerent Of |
Christ-the one reigning instead OF |
Christ.
a. The doctrine of trans-substantia- |
tion-that by the blessing of priest |
the ordinary bread and wine are trans
muted into the actual soul OF Christ |
(his 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, "If |
any man have not the Spirit of Christ |
he is none OF his" Surely all Chris
tians admit this standard and the cor
rectness Of 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, ia favor of Union.
AS our Eplscopalian friends fail to |
prove that the apostolic succession TO |
ordination gave either greater wisdom
or more grace to their clergy than to
other minister's of the Gospel, might |
not our Catheiic friends reasonably
admit the same?
The second claim that Papacy is
Gods Kingdom, that the Popes reign
successfully as Christ's Vice-g -gerent,
should not be difficult for Catholics of
our day to lay aside. However strong
ly it was held In the dark past 1t is
surely little appreciated by Catholics
today. No longer do the Popes doml-
nate the civil rulers Of Christendom.
And no longer do the people consider
II 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 popes, czars, emperors and
kings as merely figure-heads, without
any reaI tItie or authority from heaven |