The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-06-18

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fire" Il Corin-
thians iii. 15). we
- -...ss-.-s.-s - report In part. He
RAST0&= RUSSELg said
Some Of my
Catholic friends declare that l am
more Catholic than Protestant. but
have never acknowledged this. l do
say, however, that if compelled to
choose between the Protestant thought
that all except the elect, sanity few
will experience eternal torment, and
the Catholic proposition that many
besides the saints will be saved, by
passing through purgatorial expe-
riences, would sooner believe the
latter. And while l cannot accept the
Catholic Purgatory as Biblical, I do
find certain threads of Bible truth In
the purgatorial theory. l can even fan
cy how those Bible truths gradually be-
came distorted during the many cen
turtles styled "The Dark Ages
During that time, not only were the
common people illlterate, but printing
had not been invented, and Bibles were
costly That was the period dur
ing which Councils of bishops from
time to time met and decided for the
people what should and what should
not be believed. In other words, they
formulated the creeds. We do not
question the sincerity Of those spirit
ual leaders of the darker days. but we
do challenge their conclusions and
comparing them with the Bible now
in the hands of the masses. we know.
accepting the Bible as true. that we
| must necessarily condemn many of
their conclusions as false, and when
we speak of the Bible, we include the
Catholic as well as the Protestant
transations of It in various languages.
The Voice of the Church.
Many, both Catholics and Protest
ants, tell us that we should receive the
message of Councils-the creeds which
they formulated-as of equal inspira-
don with the Bible because. say they
these Councils were composed of bish
ops of the Church and. under the law
Of Apostolic succession. these bishops
had equal authority with and Divine
inspiration equal to the twelve Apos-
| ties. Hence the theory says that if
any conflict exists between the Bible
and the creeds the latter should have
the greater weight In our minds. as
being later production.
From this | dissent, and am glad to
| note that | am in better accord with
| the views of the present Pope, Plus X.
whose recent proclamation urges upon
all Catholics loyalty to the Bible and
| its study. Ii all Christians. Catholics
as well as Protestants. would accept
this suggestion, | believe that the re
sultant, untrammeled study would soon
bring to Christendom In general the
one unity and harmony which all de
sire and are striving for.
Whatever the Pope may have once
| believed respecting the doctrine of
Apostolic succession. and the equal in
| spiration of the bishops of today with
the twelve Apostles appointed by our
Lord. he sees that the people have not
full confidence that the living bishops
are inspired to the degree of infallibili
=, as were the twelve Apostles And
would say that to my understanding
this Is the right thought The Scrip
lures everywhere recognize the twelve
Apostles of the Lamb-no more. no
less They recognize the fGll Of one of
these. and that another took his place
st Paul But there were to be no
| more additions
The choice of Matthias by the ApOs
ties. before they themselves received
the Holy Spirit. was invalid and with
out authority Jesus. in His last mes
sage to the Church, pictured her as a
woman" having "a crown Of twelve
stars" And again he symbolically
represents her future glory as the New
Jerusalem with hut twelve foundation
stones. and in those the names of the
twelve Apostles of the Lamb-no more
The more thoroughly this Scriptural
fact is discerned the more surely will
Gods people turn reverentially to the
inspired words and interpretations of
the Divinely appointed Twelve. re
speeding whose teachings Jesus said
Whatsoever We shall bind on earth
las necessary, obligatory will be the
same that are bound in heaven. And
whatsoever We shall loose on earth (as
not necessary shall be the same thai
are loosed in heaven" No other teach
ers in the worlds history were so thor
oughly set apart to be the oracles o
God; and their testimony is one-har
monious
Not Present but Future.
We remarked n moment ago that
there is a thread of truth in the doc
trine of purgatory. That thread con-
meets up with our text of today. In
deed, our Catholic friends acknowl-
edge that there is no positive state
ment in the Bible respecting purga-
tory; they merely infer it from certain
texts, which do not use the word, and
our text, which says, Saved so as by
fire." This is one of their strong texts
supporting the theory of purgatory. 1t
certainly does imply that fiery expert
ences of some kind will come to some
of Gods people, and that these will be
designed to have a purging effect
Nothing in the text, however, gives
single suggestion to the effect that
such purgatorial trials are now in OPP
Grafton. On the contrary, the Apostle
points down to the future saying, 1.-THE
fire of that day shall try every mans
work Of what sort 1t is" Those who
have built with the wood, hay and
stubble, even though upon the good
foundation of Christ's redemptive
work, will suffer loss Only those who
shall build with the precious Divine
promises, the gold, silver and precious
stones of the Divine Word, will pass
unscathed through the fiery expert
ences Of that day.
Nevertheless, says the Apostle, those
who viii suffer the loss of their entire
faith structure of wood hay and stub