The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-02-01
cEIUR CHI Federal IoN
Counting the Cost
What Epi,eopahans. Catholics and
Luiherans Must Surrender.

Y Z.
would urge Christians OF the other de-
nominations. especially the clergy. to
consider the advantage which would
accrue to the Federation by having NIL
Protestant ministers accept their ordi-
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 m authority In The
eyes OF the people and give color and
reasonableness to the Federation of
many churches with discordant creeds
posing rs one church in the Federn
tion Arrangement.
The argument Is. 1.-THE common pco-
pie. the laity,'' are disposed more
than ever to think for themselves on
religious subjects and to study the
Bible for themselves. II. therefore.
as ministers. you desire to hold the
people in check SO that they shall not
think for themselves sou would do
we'll to concede the claim of apostolic
succession that no one Is permitted
to interpret or teach the Bible except
those who hate received apostolic
benediction. It was disregard OF this
ciaim OF apostolic benedIction which
led to freedom of thought on religious
subjects and ultimately led to the+for
nation of the various asects. You
should now seek to restrict further In
restigation ,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 :bishonz. IL you do not dose 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: he
thus ritaltzed and. in cooperation
with Catholicism, for a. short while
dominate Ghrlstendom socially and
politically, crushing out individual
thought and negatfring and blacklist
ing NIL religious teachers outside the
Federation and Its Catholic Ally.
From this standpoint the Episcopal
system viii lose nothing. but even be
n gamer OF prestige through the Fed
GRAFTON. Z" '}6"fa n. -s-f'i,ts' ."5F
What Catholics Would Surrender.
For Catholics to join the Federation
would slightly the surrender OF il great
deal, and yet. in tile light of the TWEEN,
tieth rCenturyr surely much could be
SURRENDERED. without any sacrifice OF
Enthusiastically with the sacrifice of
n little pride. For the Church at Rome
to federhte with the Protestant
Churches would mean that they +ceas-.
ed to'protest and that she rellnquished
her peculiar claims:5 .,-"tst as'E.f
a. That she alone Is the Church OF,
Christ and has authority to instruct:
;(2l Tint she Is more than d Church
or prospective ,KIngdom--thnt to her
has been Committed by God the ruler
ship Of the world In respect to NIL mat
tiers temporal aud spiritual. hence TINT
she is the relgnlng Kingdom OF God.
81 That her Pope Is the authorized
representative of Christ. anoInted and
commissioned of God to fulfill all the
prophecies of the Scriptures respecting
the reign OF Christ. his AIillennial
Kingdom. etc This claim OF Papncy
that the Pope's reign is de facto the
reign of Christ Is expressed In the
declaration that he Is the rice-gef-ent of
Christine one reIgning instead Of
Christ. n !.
a. The doctrine of trnns-substantia.
tion--thnt by the blessing of priest
the ordinary bread and wine are trans
muted into the actual soul Of Christ
lhls flesh and his bloodl for sacrifice
afresh In each celebration of the Mnss
Whntever may have been true in the
remote past, assuredly our Catholic
friends cum mo longer claim that all
the purity, nll the ,faithfulness to God,
all the sanctlty 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 NIL 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 hlndered 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 EpIscopnlian friends full to
prove that the 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 !Chrlst's Vlce;gercnt.
Should not be difficult for Catholics Of
our day to lay aside. However strong
~ 1t was held in the dark past 1t is
surely little appreciated by Catholics
today. No longer do the :Popes domI-,
nate the civil rulers OF sChrIstendoln.
And no longer do the people consider