The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-03

record, ana receive merlteQ sentence
The new rule of faith, the private
personal Interpretation of the Scrip
lures? 1t is anarchy in religion: 1t Is
ruin and desolation in the world OF
Christian faith. 1t is anarchy in re
| ligion, as it were anarchy in civil so
ciety, should courts be abolished
there and the individual citizen be
hidden read and interpret to himself
laws and constitutions. In Protest
antism churches are multiplied beyond
the counting-each one justifying it
self by it's reading of the Scriptures
Within each church there is division
and subdivision, as each member OF
the church appeals to the new rule OF
faith, as each member by right OF
principle is the Interpreter of the
Scriptures. Synods enact creeds: but
synods have no other authority than
that of the men seated in council
chamber: no one can be blamed who
differs from them and substitutes to
their mandates his private, personal
opinion. Preachers read pronounce
ments from their pulpits: but the
preacher has no authority above that
of the nearer: each nearer by right OF
principle is free to close his ears TIC
the outward voice, and listen only to
that of his own thinking, his own
liking. Professionalism, in all its
branches, under all it's types, is an
archy; and naught else can it be while
it upholds it's vital rule of faith, the
private, personal Interpretation of the
Scriptures.
The Protestant rule of faith, the pri
vate Interpretation of the Scriptures is
the ruin of revealed religion. Time
has wrought out with pitiless logic the
full consequences of the appeal to pri
vate Interpretation. The suns of its
fourth centenary rise over scenes OF
chaos and desolation. Doctrine is sc
shorn of certainty that the need OF 1t
is denied. 1t is folly, we are told, to
dispute what Christ taught or did not
teach: to dogma no Importance what
soever is to be allowed. The whole
revelation made by the lncarnate
Saviour is reduced to the mince for
mula, the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of men. In other words
Christ had no other message to the
world than the olden philosophy Of
Greece and Rome. Even what Prot
estantism once called fundamental
Christianity today is obliterated: Be
lief in the divinity of Christ, and IL
the divine authorship of the Scrip
lures, in multitudes of pulpits is put
under the ban of silence. Creeds still
| may be adopted by one church or the
other: assent to them is the free
choice of the individual member. The
moral codes included in Sunday
| preachings are mere natural ethics
whose sole right to a hearing is thai
which comes from private opinion OF
the enactment of civil legislation
The supernatural is ignored, unknown
naturalism reigns supreme. Here anC
there one hears the weakened call fol
the words of Christ: it is but the voice
in the desert, the faint memory O.
other times, the Borrowing regret fol
days when Christ was the teacher
and creeds were able to preface thei1
pronouncements with the declaration
THUS saith the Lord
And the fatality in this ruin of the
Christian revelation, is that it follow:
logically, necessarily, from the rule O
faith adopted as the war-cry of the
so-called Reformation-the private in
depreciation Of the Scriptures. At frs
the appeal was from the imagined
errors and superstitions' of the Cath
Ollie Church: quickly, however, the ap
peal was deemed of equal right, whe1
made from the several creeds of Prot
estantism itself, from doctrines Ions
held as fundamental by it's churches
from the cornerstone itself of Protes
tantism, the Scriptures old and new
from the divine personality of Christ
from the last shadows of what once
had been thought to be His revela
ton. The dire agony of Protestant
| ism, as it sorrowfully contemplate
| the dreadful ruins encumbering it.
pathways of travel, is that all tina
| has happened, all that is happening
| is the direct result of its own chosen
principles. The sole reproach it Cal
make to the Jewellers of its walls ant
citadels is that of cruel relentlessnes
| in their obedience to it's own vita
| mandates, it's own rule of faith, tn,
private Interpretation of the Scrip
| lures.
The Church of Christ Lives and
ReqnS.
Meanwhile the Church of Christ
for ever guided and taught by eth
Spirit of TRUTH" continues it's queenl.
march through time and space, tn
teacher of all things whatsoeve
Christ commanded, immutable in faitl
and in morals, defying the storms be
| gotten of ignorance, envy and hate
certain at all times that it is bull
upon "the rock" that "the gates O
helr' cannot prevail against it. Mean
while it is the bearer of a message
| the message confided to it on Noun
Olivet. The Catholic Church teaches
as the Church of Christ was bidder
to teach: it teaches with authority, a
| the Church must teach to whose CHIEF
tains it was said, GAS the Father sen
me, SO also send you The ruin