The menace., 1919-01-04

h.I talnly Wlde awake pm AT
lanta, Georgia, including
Rev. John w. Ham, who ministers
at the Baptist TabernacleI Each
afternoon he is delivering
q discourse on poperyl Each
that sermon, is printed in
one or more Of the daily papers.
Thirty dollars per column is the
price the paper asks for each such
insertion Of live reading matter; /;
intethe price is cheerfully paid by
Reyested workers and friends Of
expo Ham. On December s, he
able ID popery in the following
/. pnner:
autocrghat is the attitude Of the
towardic Roman Catholic hierarchy
masses! the open Bible to the
cree! ,at is the Ne Temere de-
man Cant in the eyes of the Ro-
status OF olic church is the moral
rrotestantatholic women married by
We desministers or civil officers?
that i1nem 1t proper to re-affirm
On the! these educational addresses
CatEss threatened menace Of Roman
tnp iolic domination of this republic,
fiat we are not inspired Or con-
trolled by religious prejudice. Nei-
ther do we bear malice or i'll will
toward any member Of the hierarchy.
If the Roman Catholic church were
a religious organization only, we
would not be so much concerned.
The contrary is true and can be sub
stantiated by the facts. The Roman
Catholic church is political organ
ization primarily with veneering of
religion.
This veneered religious autocracy
would burn or otherwise destroy
every Bible in existence today II It
could, barring those in the hands of
the priests and Jesuit teachers.
As proof of this we quote the fol-
lowing: y
"The Catholic church forbids the
reading of the Scriptures by all
without choice, or the public read
ing or singing Of them in the vulgar
tongues (vernacular or language of
the readers), as it is decreed in the
Council Of Trent" Cardinal Ball
-Popery "The Church and the
Page 267.
"Cursed be those cunning and in
famous societies which call them
selves Bible Societies. and which
give the Bible to the inexperienced
youths. Pope Plus TX.
ITO give the Bible to the lay peo-
pie Is to cast pearls before swine"
Cardinal Hosius.
The reason the Catholic church
fears the Bible is the fact that 1t
have discovered that the central
teaching of the Bible is democracy Of
a spiritual character. When you
apply these fundamental principles
to civil government, you at once
strike at the tap root Of Catholicism.
II is interesting to contrast the
method Of German autocracy in its
treatment of the Bible and that Of
Roman Catholic autocracy in, its
treatment of the Bible. The German
method was to put in the universi-
ties and churches of the empire
false interpreters of the Bible and
a character Of criticism that would
bring the entire book into disfepute.
The Roman Catholic method was and
is to keep the book closed absolutely
to the masses.
They fear democracy. Autocracy
hates democracy, whether it be in
civil or ecclesiastical realms. The
most gigantic and far-reaehing au-
tocracy in the world today is the au-
tocratic Roman hierarchy. This au-
tocracy has kept the Bible out of the
public schools here in Atlanta as
elsewhere, some state legislatures
having passed laws forbidding the
reading of Gods Word in school.
This politico-religio institution Jus.
tifies its position regarding an oper
Bible for the masses on the ground
that the church alone has authority
to interpret the scriptures and that
the Holy Spirit who is the teacher
and reyealer Of truth. does not reside
outside of the Catholic church, and
therefore, could not function unerr
ingly except through the pope.
As authority for the above state
ment we cite The Catholic Weekly
published at Albany:
"When the pope speaks, tn,
church speaks, and when the church
speaks God speaks. Though we Low,
our country dearly, we love oui
church more, and the pope more"
This position introduces at ono,
the question of priesthood. TIL,
Catholic church affirms that men ar,
made priests by cerernonials per
formed by the church. The New
Testament affirms that we are al
priests and belong to a kingdom o
priests provided we have been borl
the second time or regenerated by tn
Holy Spirit independent Of oil ordi
nances and ceremonies.
Again the Catholic church affirm
that II has authority co-equal witt
the Bible and. therefore, has tn
right to establish a rule for faitI
and practice independent Of tn
Bible. We quote from "Faith o.
Our Fathers by Cardinal Gibbons
page So:
"That God never intended the Bibl
to be the Christian rule of faith indie
pendenly of the living authority o
the church." (Which is the pop
and priests.)
An open Bible win in time produc
a revolution in any country that rec
ognizes autocraey as a form Of gov
ernment. An open Bible viii ami
hilate in time autocracy Of a reli