The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-09-11
THE POWER AND UNITY OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH.

THE POWER AND UNITY OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
"The Constructive quarterly" is a
publication devoted to the expression
Of constructive Christianity" by the
representatives of the various Chris
tian denominations. The distinguish.
ed personnel of it's editors and con-
tributors and the interesting nature of
many of it's articles give to it a posi-
ton and prestige more than ordina.
rily attaches to magazine. In its
latest issue particularly noteworthy
contribution is included, from the pen
of Rev. Newman Smyth, DID,, a Prot.
estant clergyman, on Christianity
After the War;" in which the power
and unity of the Catholic Church and
the weakness and disunity of Prot
estantism in the face of the present
crisis are pointed out and strongly
commented upon.
''The real test of Christianity" de.
clares DR.. Smyth in opening his ar
ticle, lis to come after the war;" and
"the critically hopeful question of the
present hour for the Church is-After
the war shall there be new epoch
of International Christianity" His
answer is in the ALTERNATIVES: 1.-THE
final security of the worlds peace
shall be international Christianity.
Greater Church Unity is a necessary
condition for that" But the Protes.
tant churches, he laments. have given
evidence from the beginning of most
irritating disunity. The Catholic
Church alone has stood solid and unit.
ed in the face of all the crises of the
worlds history.
There is one Church." we read,
that stands always ready. For cen.
turtles there has never been day
when it has not had power, for better
or for worse, to speak its own mind
with authority; and 1t has led its owr
following. At any time of need it has
not to wait. In the morning its voice
may go forth to the ends of the earth
At midnight it may speak; and as the
sun rises the whole world round, the
people shall listen. Before the pow.
ers Of the world it can appeal fol-
millions of people and in every tongue
1t retains no temporal sovereignty; II
cannot command the war to stop; yet
its appeal has gone forth for the love
of Christ's sake I'm behalf of the sui
ferers and the prisoners. The Church
of Rome has voice, and it can make
1t heard even amid the storm of war.
The Protestant churches cannot. The
voice of the Roman Church Is as one
voice, the voice of many waters; there
is none to declare the mind of the
Protestant churches, though all would
hear it spoken. Its voice is as the
murmurs of running brooks from dis
tant sources" (vol. III. No. 2, June
1915, p. 374.)
That" he continues, "is the out.
standing fact which confronts the
Protestant churches-their independ
ence of one another has left them
powerless to act, even when they
ought to act together in their power
as a whole. They do not, they can
not. stand up as one solid force to
confront an impious wrong; they can
not rise at an hours summons tc
meet an emergency; nor can they
minister as one body for Christ's sake
to the urgent suffering of any land
They are not united or even practi
cally federated sufficiently in any city
to do the greatest possible good which
they have the men and means, the
mind and heart, to do"
This confession is all the more
striking because of the fact that DR.
ISmyth still fears spiritual absolut
ism" and lauds free Church democ
racy" as exemplified In Protestant
ism; not understanding that doctrine
can never be democratic in its ere
alton or dispensation, because It I,
from God and necessarily theocratic
ana that the real Church democracy
actually exists in Catholicism In thai
1t has reached all the peoples and
has never become representative
Of any faction Of the people or ri
lowed royalty or State to control It,
laws and regulations, % have many
Of the Protestant denominations.
He hopes In vague way that Prot
estantism, at least In America, viii
! be sable to get together e. . positive