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Show I lBLiIGIOUS (sONGIESSBS. 0AIJHOUIG1SM AMD t;f50iPUSl?AIIWlSM. B CVJ. l 9. B One of the grandest concepllona ol B tlm age wilt be cmbcxtleil In tlie rerlcs of religious conferences to be lieUI in Chicago In connection with tho World's J l'alrnext cir. They arc purt of the organization known M tho Auxiliary 1 Congress, which Is under the mamgc- K inent of the directors of the Columbian B xposltlon and comprise confircnces ot t'e lending men of the world Interested BB In agriculture, englncring, commerce and finance; education, philosophy, BB literature; philanthropy, reform, tcni. BB perance, municipal, natlonil and Inter- national laws, peac arbitration, Jurl's- BB prudence, labor problems, medicine BB music, archllecturr, and other arts, nnd BB final!) rcllglou. It Is safe to siy, that of BB all the brilliant asicmblagcs tint will bL BB gatliered for the discussion of the BB arlous subjects here enumerated, none BB will surpass in popular interest those BB that will gather in tho Interest or BBT religion. BB The religious congresses are to com' BB prise, first, a great parliament with BB reprcsentatles of all the religions of BB the world Here Christians and Jcus, BB Mohammedans and Hindoos, Ilralimln' BB and Confucians arc to fraternlce In the BB 'rlendly exchange of thoughts and BB ideas Second, a Christian congres BB composed of mcmlHrs of the artous HB denominations that profess to folluw BBl the great Naaarene Here Komau BBf Ctthollcs, Creek, Orthodox, Armcnhni, BBl Lutherans, Iliptists, I'plscopals, Mctho- Bflj diits I'reshtcrlans, etc, etc, will be Bflf r prrsenud Third, betuitu tuent)- Bflf five or thirty spcchl conferences of BB i liffercnt churches Thire will thus be a Bflf Cithollc confirmee, a Iloptlst lonftr. Bfljl ence, a Presbjterhn coufrrenco and so BB! on Tlierc will furtliur be great con- BB fcrences of arlous missionary organic BB atlons an 1 an International siuton of Bflf thchiangelic Alllmct. In brief there BB will be such nn exhibition of rellglnus BBT thought tint prohibl) neter before entered into the mind of man ns a BBl possibillt) BBT And all this Is no wild project, no plan BY on paper only, but n conception to he H realired in n near future As soon ai Bk the plan was mrnlioned It met wit, Bfi heirty response all over the world BBT' The greit prelstes of tho Catholic BBl church responded cordially I'rotes BBT l"nts bccime cigrr and enthtishstk Bflj and tM.ii Jewish rabbis uxpreaictl theli Bflj wtlllllgnes to take part in the pro Bfljj gramme A nutvl ins henomeiion Bflj Can It be tl at the wi ltd at last Ins h" BY come cunsctu is of Its helplebS condition Hi t -w BflBitflr s iJflfl. nd Is willing to Imcstlgate the possibility possi-bility of saving the arIous frjgmcnts of religion from total destruction? Has the time come for the ' warriors of tho Cross" to transform their swords Into mplcmcnts of peace, prrptratory to the diwnlng of the day of universal brotherhood? brother-hood? The purpose of these religious gither-Ings gither-Ings Is stated to be u friendly exchange of opinions. I here will be no dcbiti, of controversial or polemic nature. No denominations will be expected toabon ilon Its peculiarities. Lach will Inve n filr oppottunlt) of stating through Its representatives, Its position on the various var-ious iiuesllpns. 1 he meetings 111 be of thesame tenor as those of the I vanillic Alliance, onl on a astly larger scnlc. It Is not strange Hint the xanous pro-testanllc pro-testanllc bodies should embrace the opportunity with enthusiasm, for It Is the ery nature of Protestantism to court investigation and discussion. It Is apparently more strange tint the Cilholics should be In favor of meeting their niKersirles In such a congress I xciplions hue been tiken b some ardent followers of llut filth lo the uholo plan on the supposition that "there will bo no harmony of thought" and lint ' truth ' will sulfer b) the 'luxts. position of error," To which Archbishop lrelnnd In Ills dedicatory speech with admirable clearness ol perception answers t "Tliere Is no force In iha rrmsik. Trie vtut prim, MaI IruttiN r garamic the f preme flat Hill be conks!! by ftll. Tl proclinutluu of tl c Irulhl will I14 great gain llcyund thU tbi to who twllcve Ihcy Hru Ihe truth netil not Tear. Trutti should not tio timid. Uathrr MiouM she court puttlo'tron this as on all oil cr chxmIoci. tn order thst itio t knMn ant loved It en st all be no ducutons no ion-irovanles ion-irovanles The purpow itull tie to thow foith In tnethoiti of -iue wlut are Ih i rofeu ons of f lih und ll c religious works of the uor! I at tl e present time, tioin tho Uni of the depart menl of irlfion ol lh oongrvst auitllary no i(ht U tl go .! remits can follow It ma) be prLSiimed th it the prelite iuspeiklng of 'truth nfera pirtlcti-laily pirtlcti-laily to I lie doctritks of the Komau rhuicli that his aim Is to allay thcfiars of thoie, who ire concerned about the Melon of Konianlon In oilier words, die Archbishop holds that his church need not fur nn op n prochnnllon of her doctrines. Komanism is nble to hold its oiMiin the midst of an exhibition exhibi-tion of tho world a religions Tills may lie startling to those who possibly think that the Horn in Catholic theology U onl) a net of absurdities and superstitious, llut these are wronf and 1 the Archbishop is right 1 lis cliun h to (h) Is the strongest of the churches of iheworld not only numerically but also 1 1 other respects. T he exponents of Komanism count in their ranks Koine of the leading Intellects ' of tho uge, and Ihcy lne n sybtem of theology w hlch lor apparent consistency, profundity and logical connection of the various links Is unexcelled. In brief, III, theology cf Koine isns pcifeet us ' mere human wisdom, guided b) the txjcricike of centuries, can make It. Audit Is at all limes open to improve, ment Kome claims apparently with much force to have divine authority, derived de-rived through an unbroken chain ol succession suc-cession from the first Apostles of our Lord. Kome Ins a cult which, with Its gorgeously nltlred clergy, Imposing ceremonies cere-monies of alleged worship. Its mignifi cently ormmenleU sacred bulldlni,saind Its splendldsmuslcal exercises nppcals lo the outw ird senses ol Its devotees, more than any other ChilMisn religion Rome tikes In ever) thing, makes use of everything every-thing for her own purposes. Through her benevolent Institutions, the poor are reached. The wealthy are appealed to through the luxuries of the services. I he philosopher Is given some of the profoundcsl problems to solve In her theology. This clvillicd state Is Inllii-encedby Inllii-encedby hcrstibtle statesmen, nnd the savage tribes, by her mUslonarles. All fn Utt il l"i- In almost every one ol these pirtlc-ulars, pirtlc-ulars, the I rotestants are lonnil w ititlug. As far ns their theology goes, It Is defective, defec-tive, even in its logic. The deferent pirts do not fit, a tact which Is Inst llhHInled by the existence of broadly spciklng countless I ictlons. I'rotes lantlsm Is re illy nothing but Kominism broken to pieces, scattered resolved into n chaotic condition, b ihe mighty forces which, at the time of the reformation, refor-mation, convulicd the northern pirts ol 1 urope. It U the result of a inlkhl) social eruption, more destructive thin creative, although necessary for Ihe completion of the hlstor) of the world and the development ot truth, bbuuld It therefore conic to a comparison w ere I rotestanllsm and Catholicism placed sldeb) side, it would beenma apparent to any intelligent observer, tint the former resembles the litter about Jti-t as much ns Charleston after the eaith-fimhe eaith-fimhe resembled Itsell before the catastrophe lhls Is perhins more clearly visible in the rltuil and the ordinances of 1'iotcs tsutlc denominations' than in the doctrinal doc-trinal sstcms. What a striking similarity simi-larity there is In the divine services, the formulated prajcrs, the confessions of faith, the administration of ths sacraments, sacra-ments, the uniforms of the clergy, and a dozen other things And ) et, how iibso lutely poor do the Protestants look compared com-pared lo Kome In some churches there laabsolntel) nothing to satisfy the J-st-tctlc tiste of the cultivated mind 1 loquence Is nn exception in many dust) pulpits, or what is worse, they are occupied b political demagogs. Music Is represented bv a discordant volume uf sound competing with roaring organ-pipes, organ-pipes, unless, resin some churches, tliere is no attempt at music at all. Sculpture Is banished as suggestive of idolatry, ind iiilnllmris scanty, f tolerated at all. Ihe whole make up Is suggestive of Ihuiagerticss with whli.li bomebod) tore things down without abilltv to build up A comparison cannot fail to reveal this. Hut where Protestantism Is weakest, Is In its utter disregard of divine authorll) , 1 he position of the sereders from Kome In this retard is utterly absurd I tither. himself, liked to feel kcenlv, that he had undertaken a work fir which he had no direct divine author 111 . Put he consoled himself wllll the thought, that he had been regularly appointed to his ecclesiastical eccle-siastical olhce by the church of Kome, which had the right to opnqlnt. He tiled to argue that this mittiorlty once conferred upon him could not be taken aw a), nnd that he, consequently, always al-ways had It, Put at other times, he saw that the same church that had conferred con-ferred the priesthood on him had the right to take it, and that this had actually been done, when he was dls' fellowshiped. At such times he used to nrg'io that Kome, being a fallen church, had no authority to confer and no authority auth-ority lo tike aui), but that what lie performed w as done by authority of the books of the Bible. Anil this Idea was adopted b Protestants as the safer one. And the) claim to this thy to have their aole authority In the lliblc Hera Is where the absurdity becomes most glaring Tho sacred volume records re-cords at least two ihllercnt dispensations. dispensa-tions. Doth clilm eiiual Importance; both are the works of Cod. llut they havo dillercnt scopes, clilfercnt ordinances, ordinan-ces, dllterent cmnmandim nts. Men who claim nothing but the llible as their source of author!!) hive these alternatives The) must either reject one dispensation and accept the other as the pattern of il i faith and practice. or the) must ne pi parts of both nnd reject puts of both, where the discre pandes are irreconcilable. This latter alternative has been chosen by the Protestants. Pro-testants. 1he accept pirts of the Old lestament and parts of the Nen, nil the time trying to make people believe tint they accept It all lleure the miserable patch work of religion known ns Protestantism and hence the endless ronttntlons mining; themselves, because no two bodies of 'Christians" and, Indeed, no two prominent individual theologians can agree between thein selves about which patches to use and which to discard. Koinanlim is not guilty of llusabsur dit). It believes In the llible, but It believes also that theo ogy like every science is progressive! that new fa-ts canbe discovered and old ones, better understood It pretends to believe In the presence of the Divine Spirit who guides into all truth anil requires Its followers to accept as truth what the so-called so-called Infallible representative of the Almlglisy declares to be Ihe truth. Tills ends the controversy. Whit the head of the church declares to lie the doctrine of the church is accepted as such whether it is found In so many words In the llible, or only tn tradition, nr In the records of the ecumenical councils. Ihls Is authoritative and sives the church from a glaringly absurd position. In a contest with 1 rotestantism Rome must therefore become victorious. It w is not the intrinsic value of the reformation, refor-mation, tint saved It from destruction in northern 1 urope It was the victorious arms of the Swedish heru who gave his life for it at I utren llut for that, Germany would undoubted! hive shared tne file of I ranee nnd Spiln It was, and still is, a contest between two equallv false systems Komanism Is as radically wrong as Protestantism, but the former falsehood his the greater appeirance of truth, ton casual observer it least , It has the more elegint surface It is therefore more attractive to the multitude, and Archbishop Ireland can without fear state that ' truth, ' as he see II, has nothing tp fear ftoiu a Juxtaposition Juxta-position to ' error " 1 rom the oriental churches Komanism his much less to fear. As Protestantism Protestan-tism Is nothing but Romanism crushed to fragments, so the oriental churcnes arc the Komau church in her various stages of Infantile development, Kome progressed so fast in the early centuries on the path that led her astray, that all her branches could not follow. They dropped oil, one niter another and e ich remains to this day very much ns It was at the time of secession. They are powerless hi a contest of this nature. In fact, the desire is growing In the orient for a reunion with the mother church. . Judaism la a religion of the past. Us mission in the history of the world will soon be accomplished. It Is impotent in a contest of religions. The only power to which not only Komanism but all other ) stems of religion must cventuall) give way is the power of God as manifested In His true Church. No doult, the day Is approaching, when the decisive contest shall stand between real truth and error. Perhaps the various churches and religious of the world must enter Into snmo sort of nlllance with each other for this last bitlle losslbl), the thoiic.hi that suggested the gathering of a universal uni-versal congress of religions may lead to further preparations, for the struggle Under nil circumstances, It must be hailed with delight b those who believe in the hnal triumph of God s truth. I.et the opposing forces prepare themselves them-selves And let that preraratlon be the signal to the hosts of Jehovah to arm themselves with truth and faith, and then stand firm for the right, for, there Is no doubt about It, Truth will prevail. |