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Show NEW RULE OF FAITH i : f j Protestant Interpretation of the .Bible j Old Method and New The Ritualists; jj. and the Mass Necessity of a Head to ; j Cement Christendom. j j The Church Times, the organ of the Ritualist3 1 in England, published an article some years ago, U-saying, U-saying, "The Mass should regain the position which ! it once occupied in the Church of England, and ' f which it still preserves in every other branch of ' historic Christendom, Latin or oriental." Com- : I pare this with a decree promulgated by the dele- gates to the International Council of Congrega- 1 tionalists held in London the same. "Our Council," f saidone delegate, "compared with the twenty Ecu- menical Councils of the Roman and the fifty! f small councils of the Anglican Church, has loftier ( aims; for, we are met together, not to frame theo- j t logical definitions, but to deal with the great press- i ing questions of the day." We would suppose among I ; these would be found how to provide for the poor of London, bringing capital to a closer union and better understanding, and making the lives of men and women better and their state in society happier. These new forms of development show that whilst the tendency of one was to come back to old historic his-toric Christianitythat of the other was to recede fahther from truth. The former, with its new V, forms of error, proclaims the necessity of an ade- ' quate knowledge of Catholic history, tradition, the sacrament and Catholic devotion. It proclaims the necessity of introducing what had been considered "Popish corruptions" for three hundred years. They 1 also acknowledge the necessity of reading the Bible in the Catholic sense, whilst the old form of error persist in interpreting the Bible for one's self, in misrepresenting Catholic truths and teachings by declaring that each person should possess a copy of the Bible, which it took a person his whole lifetime 15 to copy. To combat the Ritualists in their tendency towards to-wards Rome, what is known as "The Church A?so- ciation" was founded less than forty years ago. The Ritualists had their "Society of the Holy Cross" and other societies, which, it was claimed. were working in the quiet to introduce the Mass, the Confessional and other Catholic practices which were under the ban of the Established Church. To show the hostility between the two contending divisions di-visions within the Anglican Church, it is only necessary to state the fact that, a few yeara ago, !. "The Church Aspociation" made public that, "under "un-der the advice of its lawyer, the Council instituted a second suit, in order, to bring before the House of Lords the evidence that idolatrous worship had, in fact, been publicly said before the graven images set up in St. Paul's Cathedral." It would seem that the introduction of the "Mass and the Confessional" was the limit in the development of the new form of error, but no, like the heathen, they are accused of worshiping gods fashioned by their own hands. "The Society of the Holy Cross," and "The Church Association," under the command of High and Low Church members, are, in their development, develop-ment, moving in opposite directions, yet all claim membership in the Established Church. The former for-mer are retracing their steps and want to come back to historic Christianiay which held sway in : England for a thousand years before the Reformation. Reforma-tion. The Pope is no longer looked upon as anti-Christ anti-Christ ; in fact, he is needed to cement that reunion of Christendom to which they aspire, and for which they so fervently pray. The latter claim the right to do away with any living authority in the Estab-lished Estab-lished Church. From "The Church Association" I the members of the Established Church, lay and ' cleric, are to learn-what the Bible teaches, and what ' must be rejected as "corrupt doctrines." This new ( development, where ecclesiastical authority is ignored, ig-nored, could be condoned only where tho broadest latitudinarianism is tolerated. It is the subject dictating dic-tating to his superior, the soldier to his commander, j the manner and form of discipline that should be observed. So given to their spleen and hostility to High Church pretensions, "The Church Associa- ; tion," during Gladstone and Salisbury's regime, i sent an encyclocal to the British Nation, censuring ; those Prime Ministers' for appointing more High Church prelates than Low Church prelates to va- cant Sees. It was an appeal to the people to elect only Low Churchmen to Parliament. With a ma- jority of Low Church members the Prime Minister would not be free to bestow his patronage on High Church aspirants for the Episcopacy, but would be obliged to fill vacancies from the ranks of Low Church members, who, on becoming bishops, would have to take their religion from "The Church Association." Asso-ciation." This comedy in the development of the form error is continuously going on in the Established Estab-lished Church tdthe joy and gladness of skeptics, free-thinkers, rationalists and all unbelievers. The inconsistencies and strange developments increase as the years roll by. Old errors in new forms are springing up every year. It can not be otherwise, for in rejecting the Catholic Church, the Reformers Reform-ers turned their backs on the supernatural element of the religion, retaining only the natural, which is always liable to err and incapable of retaining unity which is the true and legitimate offspring of infallibility born of the supernatural. F. D. |