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Show CHRISTIANITY IS NECESSARILY DOGMATIC Unscctarian Christian a Contradiction Rests cn the Authority of God Who Reveals thcLaw Theology a Human Science In no Wise InfaUible. -TradItlons of Men," and Divine Traditions. (Written for the Intennountain Catholic.) Opposition to religion may be traced to two causes, (1) the multiplication and introduction ot so many new forms of religious belief, and (2) the misunderstanding of the real meaning of and significance sig-nificance of Christian truths. The former has led thinking minds to doubr the efficacy and necessity, ne-cessity, not only of the newly invented creeds, but of all the old forms of Christian belief.' The- doubts, whether the result of higher criticism or f f indifference to Christian t aching, are so widespread wide-spread that a distinguished Protestant writer, in a work entitled "Free-thinking and Flam-speaking," has asked the question: "Are we Christians t" 'Christianity,'' he writes, "as it is understood by ultramontanes or by ultra-Protestants implies a body of beliefs of unspeakable importance to the world. They may be true or they may be false, bur. they cannot be set aside as perfectly indifferent. Man is or is not placed here for a brief interval which i to decide his happiness ..r his misery . J throughout all eternity. His situation dors or does not depend upon his allegiance to the Church nr upon his undergoing a certain spiritual change. f Christ came or did not. come from God. and died 1 or did not die to reconcile man to his Maker. An infidel is a man who accepts the negative of th"-e propositions; a Christum ii one who take the yf- urinative: an unscctarian Christian, if he has any belief at all is one who says that they may or may f not be true, and that it does not much matter. If that is a roundabout way of expressing agreement with the infidel the statement is intelligible, though i its sincerity is questionable. Hut, taking it liter- j ally, it is surely the n.ost incredible of all the as- sertions that a human being can possibly put for- ward. Can it, possibly be a matter of indifference whether or not bell is gaping for nie, and heaven i opening its doors? whether or noi. there is only one means provided by my Creator of escape from the dangers that environ us, and whether or not I 1 avail myself of them'-' I ''The unscctarian Christian." which is a contra- I diction to whom the writer directs attention is becoming more and more numerous each year. . f They refer to Christ only as an ideal person, and j present His moral code as the totuiii. or only es- 1 sential for Christian truth. Christianity, viewed from their standpoint, i. e., stripped of its posi- tive teaching, stands on the same IavpI as ihe teachings of Confucius, Mohammed or the stoic I philosophers whose ethical codes and wise saying- j are interwoven with Christian principles. The writer who grasps the effect of this indifference to real Christian truth, says: "To proclaim unscctarian Christianity i, in circuitous language, to proclaim that Christianity is dead. The love of Christ, as representing the ideal perfection of human nalure. may indeed 1 still a powerful motive and powerful whatever the . j view which Ave take of Christ's character. The advocates ad-vocates of the doctrine in its more intellectual form represent this passion ;i the true essence of J Christianity. They assert with obvious sincerity ' of conviction that it is the leverage by which alone j the world can be moved. Hut, as they would them- f selves admit, this conception would be preposterous I if. with Strauss, we regarded Christ as a mere hu- I man being. Our regard for him might differ in ; degree, but would not. differ iu kind, from our r- f gard for Socrates or Pascal. It would be impossi- j ble to consider it as an overmastering and all- j powerful influence N'o! the essence f of tho belief is the belief in the divinity of Christ. j But accept that belief, think for a moment of all . that, it implies, and you must 'admit that your : I Christianity becomes dogmatic in the highest de- I gree. Our conception of the world and its mean- . i ing are more radically changed than our concep- tions of the material universe when the sun instead f of the earth became its center. Every view of history, his-tory, every theory of our duty, must be radically transformed by contact with that stupendous mystery.'' mys-tery.'' "The essence of the belief is the belief in the divinity of Chirst. But accept that belief, think . for a moment of all that it implies, and you must admit that your Christianity becomes dogmatic in the highest degree." I Very true, the whole Christian edifice rests on the divinity of its founder. The denial of that " dogma has been the real battleground between the Church and all who have separated from her com- munion for twenty centuries. Some, it is true, like the writer, who cling to the belief that '"the essence - , of belief is the belief in the divinity of Christ," f are unable to extend Christian dogma farther, be- ' ! cause they are confessedly fallible, and therefore f uncertain of what is or may be included in the j dogmatic teaching that logically follows from that' admission and convection of Xathaniel, the guiless Israelite, who said: ''Rabbi thou are the Son of God, Thou are the King of Isreal." ' j The heart of humanity, under the influence of - i religious requirements, and propelled by the ne- ' ' cessity of religion, aches for dogmatic teaching. It demands certainty, and nothing but something po- ; sitive and certain will satisfy the demands of the reason. The Euglish divine admits this, for he says: "Admitting the divinity of Christ, you mut f admit that your Christianity becomes dogmatic in the highest degree." He is certain, like Xathaniel, that "Jesus is the Son of God." This certainty givs him a positive assurance that the divinity of the Christian religion is "dogmatic in the holiest degree." Farther he does not go. and instead of icouting down to a bill of particulars regarding any other dogmatic teaching, he deals in vague gener-(Continued gener-(Continued on Page k.) , CHRISTIANITY IS DOGMATIC. i (Continued from Tage 1.) alities. Why? Because he has no supreme court, ( which can infallibly define and interpret the divine law and assure him with certainty of its ineaninsr. r and make it "dogmatic in the highest degree' (2) Realizing the necessity of positive religious teaching to produce certainty, and be in pes,cssuii of dogma, the writer, instead of testing the claims of the Catholic ehtfrch. misunderstands or wil fully misinterprets her position and claims, when he says: "We may treat believing as a branch et ; gymnastics." i. e., an attempt to "drill the mind into a docile acceptance of outworn superstitions." supersti-tions." ' The writer fails to distinguish what is ami always al-ways was an article of faith, and what may ur may not be an outworn superstition."' The fomn-r is accepted on the divine authority of the divino ; founder of Christianity, which makes it. 'dogmatic 'dog-matic in the highest degree." The latter, be they :; "outworn superstitions" or not, are mere speculations specula-tions of theologians, whose opinions are taken by intelligent, well-informed Cathol ics for what they are worth. The objection rests on a false assumption, assump-tion, which would hold the Church responsible t"r all that has taken place in the past by churchmen or Catholic princes, supposing their actions t, have the sanction of an infallible Church. Thi-reasoning Thi-reasoning rests on a false premise. Therefore the conclusion drawn from the premises does not fellow. fel-low. Catholics . and non-Catholics alike have two forms of traditions. The one, which Christ him- self designated as "traditions of men," and the other divine traditions which though not contained con-tained in the revealed word, have apostolic sanctionfor sanc-tionfor example, keeping the first day of the i week holy, rather than the Sabbath, or Saturday. The "traditions of men" do not form any part of tho deposit of faith. They may have the sanction of devoted and zealous churchmen, but they arc not dogmatic or defined doctrines, and are left to the ' individual conscience, according to his convictions. t Divine traditions are incorporated in the deposit of faith and must be believed as divine truths. The former are simply a subject of theology, which is i itself a human science, and in no sense infallible; i whilst the latter are matters of faith contained in the revealed word, therefore certain and dogmatia in the highest degree." F. D. ' . (To be continued.), - - - . . . -v -' : |