The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-12-15
BIBLE Of ITSELF
no FOUNDATION
FOR RELIGION
The Many Tumbled Down Forms Of
Professionalism Are the Result Of
Building on the Bible Alone.
Luther Made Himself the Foundation
of Religious Belief.
Modern Lutheran Professors Reject
Divinity of Christ.
"cALL NO MAN MASTER"

Beginning the Advent course of
conferences on the Church and the
Bible" the Rev. Walter Drum, S. j.,
professor of Scripture, Woodstock
College, Md, dealt with the work of
Luther as a Reformer of the Church.
The years of study at home, in Aus
tria, and in Syria, that Father Drum
has given to his subject, Joined to his
position of professor of Scripture in a
Jesuit scholasticate and to his author
ity as Biblical associate editor of the
American Ecclesiastical Review"
give warrant to his words and engen-
der confidence in his hearers. He said
in part:
"This year people are celebrating
the quadricentennial of the revolt of
Martin Luther from the Church. And
it is a sweet Providence that has pre-
vented the apotheosis of the rebel by
the horrors of a world-war. For
Luther's revolt was against the only
authority in religion that Jesus Christ
had established.
,"In the city of Magdeburg, as in
most German cities, before the grand
old North German Gothic edifice,
wherein once Mass was celebrated,
stands colossal Lutherbild-a statue
of Luther. In his hands he holds a
colossal book. His face is noble-not
the face of Luther of table talk! He
has Just uttered the words of the in
scription on the PEDESTAL: "The Word
of God with us forever!' And where
is that Word of God in Germany to-
day? Down on the ground! Trampled
on by Lutheran professors Of divinity
in all the great Protestant universities
of the land? AS Loofs, Schweitzer and
others have written, there is not a
single professor of the Lutheran fac
ulty of theology of any German univer-
sity who has the old time belief In
the Divinity of Jesus Christ! Why?
Because Luther did away with the
principle of authority in religion.
"caII No Man Master!"
"These university men forget that
Christ established an authoritative
body of teachers. They vaunt and
flaunt the saying of Our Lord: Call
no man Rabbi; for One only is ever
Master-God!' The meaning Of Our
Saviour is clear. He did away with
the authority of the rabbinical teach
ers of His day. He substituted Gods
authority. His own authority as
Gods ambassador, the authority of
the Church as His ambassador. With
all authority in matters of religion He
did not do away!
s'For authority is a principle found
ed upon our very natures needs. We
must have authority. We cannot get
along without it. There is very little
of the sum of knowledge that we are
capable of. We take most. things on
the authority of others. They dictate
to us. We accept their dictate.
"In our great universities thousands
of talented young men and women
submissively listen to and eagerly
drink in the statements for which they
have no other authority than that of
the professor whom they admire. This
in the simple matter of the syntax of
a Greek subjunctive, or the histology
of rabbit, or the ARCHAEOLOGICAL
structure of the centrosome of a pneu-
mococcus! And yet, in the far more
difficult and more important matter of
religion, the student Of our great uni
versities are taught to waive all au-
thority with sheer: Call no man
Master
Luther recognized this psychologi-
cal fact; he knew that authority was
needed by man in the matter of reli-
gion. So, what authority did he set
in the stead of that which Christ had
established? Men say, the Bible, the
whole Bible, and nothing but the
Bible.' And what sort of an authority
is that to build upon? Look at the
multitudinous, multiform, vague, tum-
bled down, heaped up forms of Pro-
testantism! That is the result of
building upon the Bible, the whole
Bible, and nothing but the Bible
"No, Martin Luther did not build
upon the Bible. Why, the Bible by it.
self, without something solid to rest
upon, is no more of foundation for
a stable religious belief than are the
duran Ol Muuduu1Ou, IAO VOuoo VI
the Hindoos, and Science and Health
of Mrs. Eddy. Then, what did Luther
set as foundation for the Bible?
Luther's Twaddle.
Luther set himself in the stead of
the Pope, as the foundation of reli-
gious belief. Read his writings, his
diatribes against those that differed
with him in regard to the interpreta-
ton of the Bible. They are too vulgar
and low to be read to you in these
sacred precincts. The vehemence and
brutality with which Luther made
himself to be the foundation of reli-
gion, are characterized by Schreck-
lichkeit, 'horribleness' such as Pro-
testants of today scarce could fancy.
Here is one of the more refined pas
sages of this self-constituted, infalli-
BILE guide in religion:
Z ~