The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-10-20
THE GREAT BILL POSTER.

of the greatest performances in
the vast arena of world amuse-
ment it is the bill posting feat Of
one Martin Luther, the arch
comedian Of the sixteenth century.
On that day, in 1917, Luther bold
ly walked up to the door of the
castle church in Wittenberg,
nailed a list of propositions on the
mresisting door, and, shortly
afterward declared to a startled
world that he was through with
Rome. Truly, it was a remark
able feat, and it added no little
prestige to the then uncertain
reputation Of Martin. The fact
that he was duly ordained priest
and a member of a Catholic re-
llgious order seemed to make little
difference to the lilliputian hero
or to those who applauded him.
The other fact, that he was setting
himself and his fantastic beliefs
up IN the place Of the true religion
founded by Jesus Christ, added
zest to the enthusiasm of those
who delighted in disloyaltv and
rebellion. 1t must have afforded
unreasonable consolation to the
heart-if he has heart-of Satan
himself. For here was a worthy
earthly representative of him who
declared, | will not serve; shortly
would be re-enacted on earth the
scene once witnessed above when
Satan and his angels fell like
lightning from heaven. Luther
and his deluded followers fell like
lightning from grace and the
Church Of God.
There is a quarterly published
IN Washington, d. c., entitled.
Liberty, A Magazine of Religious
Freedom. In its latest number we
are told: "Luther burned the
Pope's bull, and brave hearts all
over Europe who had seen and
felt the power of God, defied the
Pope, the priests, bishops, and all
the mad hosts Of the clergy Of the
Roman Church. They had set out
to win liberty, and would stop at
no hardship in quest of this lln-
speakable boom" We are then
told by the Presbyterian of the
South, that ''the reason we have
absolute freedom of conscience in
America is because our fathers
fought, bled, and died for truth.
and for her imperial daughter,
Liberty"
Many unthinking-and there
are maryland prejudiced writers
are wont to prove the justice of
Luther's stand by the fact that
large numbers Of Christians fol-
lowed his lead. Such an argument
would also prove the justice of
the stand taken by Lucifer. Is it
true, however, that Luther and
his coterie of rebels really brought
liberty OF conscience to the world9
Certainly, if liberty Of conscience
means religious license and I'M
trammelled freedom in tampering
with the Word Of God, then did
Luther unshackle the letters that
bound the benighted world. If
liberty of conscience means the in
dividual right of societies, of con.
ventlcles, of individuals, to inter
pref, to accept, to reject and to
deny whatsoever pleases them in
the Bible which all admit to be
the Word of God. then surely was
Luther a great liberator. Ii lib
erty of conscience means the pre-
rogative of hundreds of religious
organizations, Of thousands Of
ministers, of millions of lay Chris
tians to tear the scriptures to
shreds, to reject the sacraments
instituted by Christ, to scorn the
authority which He established, to
cast out the Church which He or
gained, then again was the little
bill poster a huge success. If the
/. w. WIS and the copperheads
of all degrees Of denseness are
right in setting themselves up
against the lawfully constituted
authority of this country today,
then, maybe, the rebels of the six
teenth century will find some jus
tification for their disgraceful Sc
cession. In that period Of turmoil
there were, as there are today,
many bad Catholics. 1t needed
just such bad Catholic, a bad
priest, to lead out the disaffected
hordes Of the lukewarm and the
indifferent lit is the merest rot,
the apotheosis Of cant to pirate
dbout the so-called religious lib
srty enjoyed by the denomina
saonsf The confusion oil belief, the