The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-27
Rev. Reuter- Replies

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 had not intended to trouble you with another letter, for after having read Father Coyles reply considered the con- troversy regarding saint worship closed. Each of us had exchanged opinions and arguments, Father Coyle from the Cath ollie and l from the Protestant point of view, and the tempest CD appeared to have abated But 10, 1 had reckoned without the host, which host in this in- stance being a certain MT. John Meyer of Columbus, o. Believing, no doubt, that my statements had remained unanswered, he sends in a reply which in general is a corroboration of Father Coyle's letter. and which appeared in The Age-Herald of November 21. To observe silence fin the face of arguments such as the gentle man from Columbus has put forward, would doubtless by some be considered as cowardly, and it is for this reason that l again approach you with the request to open your esteemed paper to these few lines.
 MT. Meyer says that he, as a Catholic, knows that no suit in the sense of Christ E medatorship "can be made & mediator before the throne of God Does he9 Ii he does he certainly is not in harmony with the teachings of his church. l have before me copy of extracts taken from a Catholic book of devotion bearing the title, ''The Glories of Mary" Here are q few of the extracts: 'It is the will of God that all graces should come to us by the hand of Mary page 3. ITO honor the queen of angels is to gain eternal life" page 6. "All who are saved are 1 saved only by means of this divine moth 1 er.' page 8. "She opens the abyss of the | mercy of God to whomsoever she wills when she wills and as she wills; so tha | there is no sinner, however great, who 1. l 1nrf AIat t.l. us fly to thy feet, and always fly tC the feet of this most sweet queen, if W, | be certain of salvation," page 10. "Got | has placed the whole price of redemption l in the hands of Mary that she may dis | pose of it at will" page S5. Thou ar the only advocate of sinners" page 95 etc, etc. To deny that Mary and prob ably also other saints are adored a mediators in the sense of the mediator ship of Christ when the worship of Mar, is clothed in language such as quoted here, e. g., Thou art the only advocat 1 of sinners" is like denying that wate is wet or that black is black.
 And why, indeed, should 1t be necessar, to approach saints with petitions wher they can be obtained without their assist ance? Why make a round about wa, when there Is a way leading directly |, God? That would make it appear a though we were afraid to approach Him That would reveal slavish fear of Hin who is love and mercy. If l desire favor from someone whom l love and il whom I place complete confidence It woul, be foolish of me to go to a frienu frs and ask him to put in good word fo me. Of course. where there is no trus in God 1t is quite natural for men to seel mediation of some kind, even though i can avail them nothing.
 And where, pray, do the scriptures as sure us that Mary and other saints ar able to answer the prayers of those tha seek intercession through them? No the saints. but the Lord is night unt all them that call upon Him" "rhe nam of the Lord Cnot of the saints) is strong tower the righteous runneth int it. and is safe" Prov. 1S 10. .Call upol me mot upon Mary) in the day of trouble I will deliver thee.' Ps. 30, 15. Suppose am in trouble, but have two friends. o the one I am certain that he can and vii help me, of the other, however I ar not at all sure. Is it not natural for me t apply to the former? Thus we are as sured by scriptures in the clearest term that the Lord is able and willing to hea us, while nothing at all is stated in tn Bible as to such ability and willingness of saints.
 It is very kind of MT. Meyer to re mark that 1 am under no obligations .'t yenerate the saints of the Catholi church.. l should consider such obligs tions very great impediment in my wor ship to the Almighty. It Is one of tn golden fruits of the blessed reformatio by Luther that we are now at liberty { worship and serve God as He and not a men would have us do. And becaus God is jealous of His honor and becaus He demands our undivided love- fear an truth, the Protestant church in accort ance with the first commandment ha failed to produce any saints for the pun pose of adoration. No, we do not nee any saints, for the Lord knoweth thei that are His" and that is sufficient fc us. We do not begrudge the Cathol church her monopoly on saints.
 Finally, MT. Meyer bewails the faC that so many people insist on the Bib being the only guide for Christians. Ye here is the source of our difference With one foot the Catholic church stand on the Bible, with the other on tradition The Protestants on the other hand, acceI the Bible and the Bible only as their sol guide in matters of faith and religion Why? Because fin them," i. e.. in tn scriptures. ''ye think ye have etern, life" John g. S9. And having eternal lif what more can we desire? When diffe ing with others concerning doctrines, di Christ and the apostles ever refer to tf traditions of the Pharasees and Scribe for confirmation of the point in question Never always 10 the scriptures Chril even went so far as to condemn thos iwho base their doctrines and practice on any other but scripturai grounds, ga,