The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-09-23

For instance, the average Roman
Catholic does not know that he Is not
member of the Church But Cardi-
nal Gibbons will not deny the fact,
neither will any other ecclesiastic
Their teaching, most explicitly, is that
the Pope and the other religious in
structors compose the Church, and that
the people are the children Of the
| Church Thus the Catholic Church APP
propriates the words of Jesus respect
ing the little flock" etc, and applies
them to the clergy, not to the congre-
cation. This is the secret of Papacy's
great mistake. In their ecclesiastical
system they have counterfeit Of the
True Church. Because the Scriptures
declare that the Lords faithful little
flock" "the Church Of the living God"
will reign with Christ, therefore Papa
cy claims the right to reign with Heav-
emily authority over the kingdoms of
earth. Papacy's endeavor to carry out
this erroneous reasoning has led to
many grieyous prosecutions and wars.
If Papacy has the counterfeit of the
True Church and the True Reign of
Christ, what does the Bible teach re-
specting the genuine? This: That the
experiences of the unknown, despised,
sanity followers In the footsteps Of
Jesus constitute their preparation for
share In the Kingdom with their
Lord. When the full number Of the
elect Church, predestined Of the Fa-
Their, shall have been gathered out of
the world and glorified, then Gods
Kingdom shall be established on earth,
and they shall be joint-heirs with the
King Of kings-Jesus Christ. His King
dom will rule the world, not by guns
and swords, not by burnings at the
stake and inqulsitionary torrents, but
by Heavenly power.
What our Catholic friends have Is
merely a foreshadowing Of the Truth
respecting the Church as mother.
The Scriptures teach that when Christ |
shall institute His Millennial Kingdom |
for the uplifting Of mankind, He shall |
have a Brlde-the Church Revelation |
19:9)-and shall fguratiyely beget chill
dren. That Is, during the thousand
years Of His Reign the glorified Jesus
Will be the Everlasting Father, Giyer
Of everlasting life on the earthly plane,
to Adam and all Of his children who
will accept 1t on the Divine terms.
Then the Church will be the mother,
the caretaEer, Of all mankind, 10 bring
the willing and obedlent up 10 full hui
man perfection and life everlasting.
All who refuse this grace Of God viii
be destroyed in the Second Death.
Are There Protestant counterfeits7
Although Protestants repudlate the
idea that the clergy alone
constitute the Church, nevertheless In
many denominations we see this In
sidious error In a slightly different
form. This is notably true In the
Episcopal Church, which puts the gov
into the hands Of the clergy
and treats the laity 10 a considerable
extent as children. The Methodist
Episcopal Church follows closely the
same line Of procedure. The Presby-
terrain and Lutheran systems also diff
'erentiate the clergy from the laity.
even though the laity be given some
recognition on the ecclesiastical boards,
usually for the purpose Of securing
financial or legal advice
Congregationallsts Baptists and Dis
'iples most nearly recognize an equal
ty between clergy and laity--that the I
.ntire Church Of God Is Royal Priest ,
hood Yet even with these congrega ,
ional bodies an attempt is made TO ,
eparate clergy from laity and 10 hold |
III the spiritual power and authority
o the hands Of the clergy. In the Con {