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Show ,, I TKE CONTROVERSY S 1 ON THE SCRIPTURES j Etile Has Suffered in Hands of Its Woald-Be , jj rriends Tkelr Altitude Condemned ' .h &y Early fathers. I 1 1 v' :v diould be Riblo. which, Ave are told, was f; 1 . ' ' !"1 ir":n Iflit of day for many centuries, fj 1" 1 ;l "ou roe of consternation and doubt to the I t f..i!v.. r of the reformers f Luther, the monk of ;J Wif : berg, hnasiod that "he- dragged it out from . I v.:.-!--' :!' bench." Dean Stanley .in 1S7'. ad.lres--V I fashionable audiemv in New Y.rk, assured I !vn. Mutt "Martin Luther first loosed ihe shakels I ..Id restraint and laupht Us what tlie Bible jj v.'.-;." "loinpora niutautur et nos cum illis" (the i '; vw- "'' changed and we with them apply to J ' th.-present advanced vanguard (the higher critics) "! Luther's followers in 'heir altitude loward; the j ; h;M Falsehood travels quicker than truth. It I v.ik'I .'li.-ircle the globe whilst truth advances only j 1. u- paces. It lias talon three and a half een- j , T" make an intelligent ago hilievc that from i 1 ' '' :' !" '-" X, Luther's contemporary, the wlnde j C;.;h..lie world, clergy and laity, acknowledged the ; .!!.mv Scriptures to be the inspired word of Cod. j .ib-tated by the Holy Clu.-t to faithful scribes for-i for-i . '"'iietit of humanity. Xo doubt, if Dean Stan- I-"'- address was directed to the advanced Biblical t y-U-'liWy tii the followers of the reformation of to-.iav to-.iav lie would change his tactics, and instead of s "Martin Luther tauaht us what the Bible j rally wa-," he would say, "Luther's principle of .;-ivaie intcrpretatiou has led the world into doubt. I the advanced Biblical students of Germany, J i : dand and America who Took his principle to .! l..-art. namely, lhat il? dead letter was a rule of I ?; i'ii. which 'very one was at liberty 1o interpret, ,;,. carried out this principle to its logical -on-i s . in. nee. What is the result ( Biblical knowledge i- Icadiiifj' his most advanced followers into Mibtle : .'..ai.t and bold denials. They have come to know V!..'-e than Luther himself, "who lauqht them what ill. Bible 'really was,"' and that is. that Christ was ).:''!iiny more than a great teacher of humanity. ' superior, if may be. to Confucius. Mahomet and A eil.crs wln preceded or Miceooded him, but none I M"r. divine or niira-ulous in his mission or birth. 'J'V.i- "ild bo as true, and more so. than to say. as i p.-.ut SoMuey ail: "Luther tatilit us wliat the Bi- i - i-.'i.liy was." But to admit all this would be .'.-.'.'!!. ;.( inucli. It remains for the higher '''!' i- irf.v to sjread the light, which, we were so 1 :.:! !,.),). that the Catholic church alone fermerlv 1 ; d. ii he sail at this late day that the church i-I" . ncourage Biblical science f The ency- t a-;iN ihe late iilu1riius pontiff would contra-die contra-die ioM-rtion. But it is said that Catholics Ii'i! .lowii by the chains of church authority, ; :i ! e..-reise their judgment as to what bonoks j :i.-pir-d r iKt, or le-iling for themselves the -ii. N,.ilM. of -eertain lextr. of Scripture. A serious ! n,tr:z' i- thi- from a lrot'stant standpoint. But v ; .v deimi the higher critic- for doing what .:! .!;, .; cjjiinot do; Consistency is a jewel -which 5- principles cannot asssimilatc. The Catholic ; ' :l ' !i i twenty countries old. and her memory is I ': '' i'. -Ii a- to simihir eh irges madi in the days ) 1 ' "inh. As we delve down ileeep into the I !';' w. t;nd St. Ireneus. in Ihe second century, j ,! :' iidtng ihe church against a similar charge 1 !:;e:e ie the heretic- of his day. who jiroclaimed ,!':,: di.-y ah.ne understood the Bible. lie wrote: "'Aid'.- v..n,!ci-'ully extolling themselves, they in-1 in-1 against us a- utdcarued. and utterlv ignor-1 ignor-1 ' "' '"' They (heretics) seduce the I' " "f the unlearned, and by falsyfying tlie li-v li-v ! I'.iel.-. or by wrong-fully explaining what - ; idiil'ully said draw them into bondage, and, 1 i' j-reti xt of scieiK-e, overthrow the faith of .''. l're-is(dy what is now reaiized in the case ' higher erilics and their numberless follow- i ' Augustine, in the fifth century, made a I coiiiphuiit. lie wrote that heretics at- ;' - d to "do.-oive Catholics by false iroinises of ' : ; -cieiiee." and in his sermons on the ; '' -.-'I- he cautioned his flock against "those who f ' " : 1 1 i - of Christ's dispensation, inasmuch as : 'i i.iI. Us 10 believi the unknown, and hold ' u- on their part a promise of certain knowl- ' - - a- all heretics are accustomed to do." v ' ""l. 'i in their own creed, St. Augustine knew -. ' J h" spoke, and his testimony tothe alllur- i j ' 1 I'Mjii-i -, of those who won him away from his - : !"- faith are no ditierent from the ironiises ' .ire made today and have beeen made since .i..y of th( apostate monk. "To those." he I "whom ihey wish to cntraj they promise ; --;!; t i 1 1 eerything. no matter how obscure, and 'hiine ihe Catholic church ohieliy on Ibis ae- i. that -he commands all who come to her to ; i , : ,,.; u.y l.oast 1 1 tii t t hey impo-e no neces- ' "! believing, bill oell the sources ef tertcll- ." Had the great j.od learned doctor skipjieil a i.-.'-ud veals, or outlived Mcthusala's j:ge of. flo! r . he could not more fitly or apily iiud words : "the solitary monk who -hook the world."' - ilie proplids of old, his words are verified 11 years after his (bath. "See," he wrote, "how .' .! re hri ng i i;ir about the destruction of all Scrip-: Scrip-: authority by making one's private opinion the - - of what h" is to approve or disapprove in j.'ure; in other words, every one, instead of h iiiing subject to faith by Scripture authority. ; ts the Si-ripture do himself, so that nothing 1 : - - iiim. because it i- vou-h(-l for by this high ; : i '.ritv; but each one considers it written well. h'-;.use it pleases him." These words lit exactly 1 ine-eni controvrrsy. The poimlar preacher of 1 "lay is ihe one who. "instead of becoming subject i'aiih by Scripture authority, subjects tlie Seri- !; in suit his congregation." Sot only this, but 1i" -y daim 4heir rivilege to reject as inspired y. im s. ehaiiters and whole- boooks os their jirivate .""'dginoiit or caprice )ron-.jts them. "Their critic-. I ie! .-ye." wrote St. Jerome, "discovered at a glance fl i viii. h epistle was St. Paul's and which was not; i ff ,nii' decision," he adds, "was pronounced with II niagcstcrial tone ;-o ieculiar to. heresy! All of f '"i- .a- we shall see, applies to the dictatorial poli- i ci' adopied by Luther iu accepting or discarding j i , . i . . . . any portion or book of Scripture lhat did not suit his newly organized creed or conform to his pri- vate views. t F. D. |