Newspaper Page Text
July 31, 1912] , T H E 1
lievo that Thomas Carlyle spoke a deep and
important truth when he wrote the following
words about Luther and Protestantism: "And
i? r\X%7 I VPntllVP trt f lioi llin ^ ^
I|U i. <m- -w? vm* v wv umuvx v i u t* l> HXVi UAUi UISC U1
private judgment, faithfully gone about, does
by no means necessarily end in selfish independence
or isolation, but rather ends necessarily in
the opposite of that. It is not honest inquiry
that makes anarchy, but it is error, insincerity,
half belief and untruth that make it. A
man protesting against error is on the way towards
uniting himself with all men that believe
in truth. There is no communion possible
among men who believe only in hearsays.
The heart of each is lying dead; has no pow
er of sympathy even with things, or he would
believe them and not hearsays. No sympathy
even with things; how much less with his fellow-men?
He can not unite with me; he is an
auarehic man. Only in a world of sincere
men is unity possible, and there, in the long
run it is as good as certain."
I now abhor believing "only in hearsays"
and granting blind obedience to any one. In
dealing with problems of education, 1 hope to
mllAW VinW monv T*n*-* 4-n J ?X?
...?v.. mv luuuj x x\j iu.3 tan i<o ucuig anaiu ujl
two much independence and believing that socialism
and anarchy have been caused by the
spirit of individual independence, forget the
essence of Protestantism and advocate in one
way or another the same principles as the
Roman Catholic church in regard to reverence
for persons and blind obedience to institutions.
But let my readers see why Catholics are so
reverent to their priests. A priest, according
to the Roman Catholic church, is not only a
preacher, not only an embassador of God, not
only a religious leader; a priest is something
higher yet?something more sublime?he is in
his functions Christ himself. "When he absolves
the sins of the people; when he pronounces
the words of the consecration of bread
and wine, he speaks as if he were Christ himself.?Ego
te absolvo a peccatis tuis?I myself
absolve you from your sins) are the only essential
words in the performance of absolution.
All the other words spoken in the act of
absolution are but accidental and not entirely
necessary.
And when he consecrates the bread he does
not sav that it is the bodv of Christ - that tha
wine is the blood of Christ; he says, "This is
my body; this is my blood, assuming not only
the name of Christ, but also the person of
Christ. Catholics are taught not to look at the
priest as a mere human creature, but as something
superior even to the angels. They are
taught that, were it possible to meet at the
same time in the street an angel and a priest,
then more honor and reverence is due to the
priest than to the angel. That reveals the secret
of such reverence. The priest holds in
his hand the key, so to speak, of heaven. lie
and he only can give absolution for sins. He
and he only can offer sacrifices. He and he
Onlv nun -i-- XTT*^i_ *
vwu aumiuiovui lliC OaCittUl^IllH. W llllOUt
him, there is not, commonly speaking, any
grace, because without him there can be no
sacrament, except baptism, and without eacra
ments any regular source of grace is impossible.
Besides that, my readers must bear in mind
that the prjest possesses, through the act of
confession, the innermost secrets of his parishioners.
Has any husband been unfaithful to
his wife, or vice versa, the priests knows that.
Has any merchant been guilty of crooked dealing
with his customers?the priests knows that.
Has any sweetheart transferred his affection
to another?the priests knows that. Usually
the priest knows more about the sons and
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE 6 (
daughters than their own fathers and mothers
do; more oi' the wives than the husbands know,
and more of the husbauds than their wivt's
may imagine. And the priest knows not only
the most secret things, but also the most shameful
things. It is true that Caholics are taught
that a priest never under any circumstances,
no matter what those circumstances may be,
will reveal what he had heard in the confessional.
Even to save himself from doatli. or
his church from dishonor, he must always keep
silent. But that does not make very much difference;
the main thing is that he knows, and
they know that he knows. That is more than
enough to put Catholics, not only under submission,
but also under reverent awe. The
reverence paid by Catholics to their priests is
rather one of dread than something pleasant.
This is at least true of the average peasant,
who is also more afraid of the malediction of
a priest than of poverty or disease, or any other
calamity that might befall him.
But this forced reverence has also a bad
side. When the people begin to lose faith in
Ilia P -i .. ? -- -
.tumaii vaiuunc unurcii uicn uatiioiics not
only disobey the priests, but they scorn them
intensely and hate them bitterly.
When a Catholic leaves the church because
of unbelief, he considers his former priest as
a most infamous tyrant, and wishes to exterminate
him. That explains why the populace
in trance, Italy and Spain have burned so
many churches and convents, and murdered
or exiled so many nuns, priests and friars. It
is the reaction and the shame of having been
imposed upon that provokes them to cry out
furiously against them and to hate them with
unspeakable hatred. That fact explains, also,
when the priesthood is discredited how the
church suddenly goes to pieces. The priesthood
is practically the whole church and,
therefore, when it is either discredited or removed
everything is lost.
1 can not but pity the Protestants who
dream of organization like the Roman Catholic
organization. It seems to me that it is even
worse than if an American wished to remedy
the dangers of American democracy by advocating
the Russian tyranny of thirty years ago.
As any tyranny sooner or later begets rebellion
so the apparent obedience and reverence
preached by the Roman Catholic chureh begets
sooner or later scorn and mortal hatred.
Today, in America, the greatest enemies of the
Roman Catholic church are not Protestants,
but Catholics who have left their church. Some
years ago an Italian murdered, in a church, a
Franciscan friar, and hundreds of Italians
Poles and Mexicans would do the same were
it not for their responsibility to the laws of
the land for committing murder.
My brethren, I do not exaggerate when 1
say that hundreds and thousands, yea, millions
who once were Catholics and even now,
retain the name, as such, hate the Roman
Catholic priesthood in such a way that nothing
would gratify more their inhuman desires than
to exterminate it, root and branch, even by
murder. *
I have seen with my own eves ?t i-Vnu.
ferent occasions thousands of Spaniards burning
convents and killing without mercy all
whom they met. And that disposition of heart
has been reached just through that .apparent
reverence which attracts so much the sympathy
of some American Protestants.
My readers will see, in my next article, something
about the regular attendance of Catholics
at the services of their church and the
kind of religion they got through such attendance.
3 0 T H (889) 3
AN AST AS.
BY KEY. II. A. SCOMB.
(Continued from Page 865.)
in the acts, we have nineteen instances of
Anastas, viz.: I, 15, V, 6, 17, 34; VIII, 27; IX,
11, 18, 39; X. 13, 20, 23; XI, 7, 28; XIII, 16;
XIV, 20; XV, 7 ; XXII, 10, 16; XX 111, 9.
In 1, 15: "And in those days Peter having
arisen?ANA5TA2?in the midst of the disciples,
said," etc.
In V. 6: "The young men having arisen?
ANA2TANTES?carried him (Ananias) out and
hiiTMPrl him "
JlH Verse 17: ''And the high priest having
arisen?ANA2TA3? . . . laid hands upon
the Apostles."
Verse 34: (Gamaliel "having arisen?ANA2TA25?in
the Sanhedrim, commanded to put the
Apostles outside lor a little while," etc.
In VIII, 27: Philip having been divinely or
aereu to go clown to the Gaza road to meet the
Eunuch, "having arisen?AN AST AS?went."
in IX, 11: Ananias of Damascus is bidden,
"having arisen?ANASTAS?to go to Judas'
house in straight street to seek for Paul. He
goes though very hesitatingly; speaks to the
blinded, now penitent persecuter from whose
eyes these fell immediately, as it were, seales:
"And he (Paul) having arisen?ANASTAS?
was baptized." In Verse 39, Peter at Lydda is
sent for to come to Joppa on account of Dorcas'
death: "And Peter having arisen?ANASTAS?
went with them," the messengers.
In X, 13: Peter at Joppa, seeing the vision
of the sheet, let down from heaven, hears the
command: "Having arisen?ANASTAS?Peter,
slay and eat." In Verse 20, he is bidden; hav
ixjg arisen?AiNAiiAi?descend and go with
them? (Cornelius' messengers). In verse 23:
"And on the morrow having arisen?ANASTAS?he
went with them."
In XI, 17: Peter is narrating to the Apostles
at Jerusalem the story of his visit to Cornelius
and repeats the divine command: "having
arisen?ANASTAS?slay and eat." In Verse 28,
Agahus, one of the prophets from Jerusalem,
"having arisen?AN AST AS?signified to them
the great famine about to come upon the whole
earth."
In XIII, 16: Paul and Barnahus in the synagogue
at Pisidian Antioch are invited by the
rulers of the synagogue to speak: "And Paul
having arisen?ANASTAS?and motioned with
his hand, said," etc.
In XIV, 20: Paul had just been stoned at
Lystra, the disciples were gathered around
him, and he "having arisen?ANASTAS?went
into the city."
T__ VTT
in av, /: rne Apostles in session at Jerusalem
are considering the question of Gentile
circumcision: "And Peter having arisen?
ANA2TA2?said unto them."
In XXII, 10: Paul on the steps of the castle
at Jerusalem is trying to tell the maddened
Jews below the story of his conversion. He
tells how, on the way to Damascus, he heard
the command while prostrate on the ground:
"having arisen?ANA2TA2?go into Damascus,"
etc. Also in Verse 16, he repeats Ananias'
words to him: "having arisen?ANA2TA2?he
baptized"?the only instances we have of
Paul's using this participle, and these by quo
tatiuil.
In XXIII, 9, occurs the last instance of Anas
tas in the New Testament. It is the morrow following
Paul's speech on the castle stairway.
The Governor gives him a hearing before the
priests and the Sanhedrim; and Paul shrewdly
divides the crowd by interjecting the resur
recti on doctrine, the Scribes of the Pharisee
(Continued on Page 11.)